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The 42
8 hours ago
- Sport
- The 42
'He's a different player' - The late developer that has provided Dublin's midfield solution
A CROKE PARK press box conversation midway through the second half of Dublin's win over Cork last Saturday, when the Dubs were a point down and taking on water. 'Which of the golden era performers would you take back, if you could have just one? Which of Dublin's former stars would make the most difference if slotted back into this current, stuttering, side?' Jack McCaffrey's jet heels from wing-back or James McCarthy's bulldozing power and surgeon's touch around the middle would certainly help. As would Michael Fitzsimons' defensive miserliness or Paul Mannion's rapier instincts closer to goal at the opposite end. All four of them retired after last year's championship while Dean Rock walked away 12 months earlier. The options are endless, right back to talisman performers like Paul Flynn, Bernard Brogan or Michael Darragh Macauley, who operated as recently as 2019. The answer everyone settled on? Brian Fenton. On the basis that the midfielder of his generation was so good, and so impactful, in such a central position, that he could immediately transform a team's fortunes. This Sunday is the one year anniversary of Fenton's last game for Dublin, alongside McCarthy at midfield, when they lost to Galway in the 2024 All-Ireland quarter-finals. But wait! There's a strong final 15 minutes from Dublin against Cork and ultimately a three-point win which wouldn't have been possible without the interventions of Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne, Fenton's replacement. Paddy Small was named man-of-the-match afterwards but O Cofaigh Byrne should have been. He's not the new Fenton, as Flynn pointed out on The Saturday Game that evening. 'He's a different player,' said Flynn. Cork's Colm O'Callaghan and Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne of Dublin in action last Saturday. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO But he's making a good effort all the same at plugging the gaping hole left by, perhaps, the game's greatest ever midfielder. Advertisement It's already a different game too, from when Fenton played, with a strong emphasis on ball-winning ability at midfield this year, the one area where Ó Cofaigh Byrne may even trump the Raheny great. Six-foot-seven inch Cuala powerhouse Ó Cofaigh Byrne tortured Cork with his aerial ability. And it was the 25-year-old that won the free which created the opening for Brian Howard's goal. 'We just need him to win primary possession and lay it off, and that's what he's doing, and he's doing it better than anybody else in the country,' said Flynn. One analysis piece produced on Ó Cofaigh Byrne's impact prior to Dublin's fourth game of this year's championship, against Armagh, showed he had won primary possession and come away with the ball from 50 percent of the aerial contests he'd been involved in. That lord-of-the-skies ability helped propel Cuala to an All-Ireland club SFC title win that last January that nobody saw coming. Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne celebrating Cuala's All-Ireland club final win. Bryan Keane / INPHO Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO And it is the sort of form which could very soon have people picking someone other than Fenton when considering which ex-Dublin star they'd like to pluck from retirement. Fenton came late to the Dublin party, in 2015, with no great underage career to speak of, complimenting the skills of MacAuley, the 2013 Footballer of the Year, at the time. Prior to that, Ciaran Whelan had stoked the fires in the Dublin engine room. Ó Cofaigh Byrne has had to bide his time too but now looks set to be the county's latest midfield totem. The son of TV presenter Blathnaid Ni Chofaigh made his Dublin senior debut as a sub in the 2019 Super 8s game against Tyrone. But a combination of hamstring and groin problems in 2020 and 2022, allied to the enduring excellence of Fenton and McCarthy, restricted him to just four more championship appearances, and only two starts, across the next five seasons. For three of those championship campaigns – 2020, 2022 and 2023 – O Cofaigh Byrne didn't feature at all. It wasn't until Fenton and McCarthy exited the stage that opportunity suddenly came knocking for him. 'It is an opportunity, definitely,' said Ó Cofaigh Byrne last January. 'But they are 100 percent tough boots to fill, James and Brian's.' After returning late to Dublin duty following the club success, Ó Cofaigh Byrne has started the last seven games, and all five in the championship. The standard is about to jump significantly with he and Ciaran Kilkenny set to go up against Tyrone's 2021 All-Ireland winning midfield pairing this Saturday evening; Brian Kennedy and Conn Kilpatrick. Tyrone's Brian Kennedy with Dara McVeety and Cormac O'Reilly of Cavan. Ryan Byrne / INPHO Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO The expectation is that Ó Cofaigh Byrne will go head to head with Kennedy, who is also six-foot-seven. Former Tyrone midfielder Sean Cavanagh met Kennedy at a game in Moy recently and found himself looking up to the 2021 All-Star when speaking to him. 'Ó Cofaigh Byrne is a good player, don't get me wrong, but I think if you stand beside Brian Kennedy, you'll realise that he'll not be overawed by the size of anyone,' said Cavanagh. 'Unless they've Shaquille O'Neal playing for Dublin on Saturday night, I don't think it's going to annoy him!' Dublin great Barney Rock summarised the modern game, as in football under the new rules, as 'all about the break around the midfield'. He has been impressed so far by trainee solicitor Ó Cofaigh Byrne's impressive numbers around clean fetches and breaking ball. But there is a but. 'Ó Cofaigh Byrne now is going to be meeting somebody equally as tall as him from here on in,' noted Rock. Fenton always rose to that challenge and Ó Cofaigh Byrne has suggested so far that he can too.
Irish Times
14-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Dublin dump Derry out of the championship with narrow win in Newry
All-Ireland SFC: Dublin 0-22 Derry 0-20 The Dublin and Derry players remained on the Páirc Esler pitch with supporters long after the final whistle of this All-Ireland SFC round-robin fixture. For Dublin, it was a case of job done. For Derry, it marked the end of the road. The sides served up a thrilling encounter in Newry but ultimately Dublin just had a little more class, a little more desire. Nobody exemplified that more than Ciarán Kilkenny. Just four weeks after delivering a masterclass against Galway, the Castleknock man heaved Dublin up on his shoulders on Saturday evening and carried them back to Croke Park next weekend. Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne shouldered some of that burden with Kilkenny, the Cuala midfielder producing his best ever performance in a Dublin jersey. The duo were immense on kick-outs, the ball seemingly drawn to them like a magnet to a fridge. READ MORE There were periods when Derry just couldn't get out beyond the middle of the field because either Kilkenny or Ó Cofaigh Byrne repeatedly won the restarts. 'He was a real warrior tonight,' said Dessie Farrell of Kilkenny afterwards. 'To be fair to him, I think he might have had only one bad game this year so far. So he's definitely been leading the charge and showing great leadership, particularly when so many lads have gone who have the knowledge and the experience and the game IQ. He's really stepped up.' As a team, they all did. Dublin registered 18 wides in their defeat to Armagh last time out. Here, they kicked just seven 'You don't become a bad footballer overnight or for some reason you don't unlearn how to kick a ball over the bar,' said Farrell. 'There were definitely issues we needed to address but building confidence is important as well and we were well primed for today, we knew what was at stake, so delighted with the lads, the effort and the composure they showed at different stages.' Dublin's John Small in action against Derry's Dan Higgins. Photograph: Evan Logan/Inpho From the first throw-in Dublin looked on it. Ó Cofaigh Byrne outjumped Conor Glass for the throw-in and immediately fed Con O'Callaghan – who had started on the sideline as the nominal second midfidler and immediately raced towards acres of unoccupied lush green grass to fist over the game's opening score after only 13 seconds. It was a set-play Dublin reproduced at the start of the second half as well. Derry knew it was coming but were powerless to prevent O'Callaghan and Ó Cofaigh Byrne combining again. O'Callaghan had missed the Armagh match because of a hamstring injury and was initially named on the bench for this encounter. However, he lined out from the start and came through the entire 70 minutes. 'You're never sure, you know, and we toyed with the idea maybe of holding him and keeping him for impact,' admitted Farrell on whether to start his captain. 'But the risk with a player who's been injured and keeping him is that you use a sub and then he goes down and you have to use another sub, so we said we'd go with Con from the start and we're just delighted he was able to get through the game. 'We weren't in a position to take him off and give him some time and rest at the end unfortunately but he got through it and seems to be out the other side of it which is great.' The first half was a titanic battle. Dublin tore through Derry in a whirlwind start that left the 12,342 in attendance fearing a one-sided affair. They led 0-4 to no score after only two minutes and 23 seconds of play. Apart from Derry goalkeeper Ben McKinless – who was a late starting addition after Odhran Lynch picked up a quad injury at training on Thursday night – no Derry player had managed to get their hands on the ball during that time. The Ulster side looked in real trouble. Dublin's Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne is challenged by Derry's Niall Toner and Ciaran McFaul. Photograph: Evan Logan/Inpho But Glass – who delivered yet another tour de force – steadied the sinking ship with a point in the sixth minute and Derry started to get to grips with Dublin. Shane McGuigan was faultless in front of the posts for Derry in the first half and he kicked three two-pointers, all from placed balls. The second of those pushed Derry 0-7 to 0-6 in front in the 17th minute but Dublin were back level soon after courtesy of a Cormac Costello free. It was frenetic stuff, Kilkenny popping out of rucks with the ball from among a forest of Derry bodies, Ó Cofaigh Byrne lording the skies, Glass bursting his way through Dublin tackles like a hammer through a paper bag. The last play of the first half came after the hooter, McGuigan kicking over a two-pointer to send the sides in level, 0-13 apiece. But Dublin made their move in the third quarter. It started with O'Callaghan's point after 18 seconds of the restart and when he whipped over another score in the 50th minute the Dubs were 0-20 to 0-15 ahead. Derry never got back level. Brendan Rogers, who spent the game marking O'Callaghan, made a surge up the field just after the hour mark and found himself in a goalscoring position, only for his shot to drag wide of Stephen Cluxton's far post. Derry, who have not won a game all season, emptied themselves in search of an equaliser but they never got any closer than within two. Derry's Conor Glass and Ethan Doherty in action against Dublin's David Byrne. Photograph: Evan Logan/Inpho 'It's another tough one to take,' lamented Derry manager Paddy Tally. 'Coming out the wrong side of another tight game. 'We were pretty good for most of the match. We had a poor start but then by half-time we looked really back in it. There was a crucial time in that second half where Dublin got out to four, or maybe up to five points. 'We missed a couple of opportunities, we missed a goal chance but we can have no real complaints, the players played as well as they possibly could. That was a serious game of football.' Dublin finish second in the group and so will have a home preliminary quarter-final against one of the third placed teams. The draw takes place on Monday morning. 'Compared to what I saw from Dublin (against Armagh) they're like a different team today,' added Tally. 'Dublin are still a very powerful team and they're going to be there at thereabouts for the rest of the season.' Same as it ever is. DUBLIN: S Cluxton (0-1-0, 1tpf); S MacMahon, T Clancy, D Byrne; B Howard, J Small (0-0-1), L Gannon (0-0-2); P Ó Cofaigh Byrne, K McGinnis (0-0-3); C Kilkenny (0-0-1), S Bugler (0-0-2), N Scully; P Small (0-0-2), C O'Callaghan (0-0-5), C Costello (0-1-2, 1tpf, 1f). Subs: E Murchan for McGinnis, C Murphy for Clancy (both 49 mins); R McGarry for Scully (54); T Lahiff for Gannon (60); N Doran for P Small (68). DERRY: B McKinless; D Baker, B Rogers (0-0-1), E McEvoy; P McGurk, C Doherty, P McGrogan; C Glass (0-0-2), D Higgins; N Loughlin (0-0-2, 1m), P Cassidy (0-0-1), C McFaul; S McGuigan (0-3-4, 3tpf, 3f), N Toner (0-0-1), E Doherty (0-0-3). Subs: L Murray for Toner (45 mins); C McCluskey for McGurk (51); R Mullholland for McFaul (59); R Forbes for Cassidy (62); C McMonagle for Loughlin (68). Referee: B Cawley (Kildare).
