DUBLIN’S Leinster final match-winner has urged his team mates to stay squarely focused on their All-Ireland quarter-final in three weeks time after capturing a fifth provincial title in succession with a pulsating victory over Kieran McGeeney’s Kildare in Croke Park yesterday.

Bernard Brogan says that while the Dubs might previously have emerged from Leinster with one eye on an All-Ireland final spot, they must guard tightly against complacency in the run up to their quarter-final on the August Bank Holiday weekend.

“In the past few years, we might have had one look at September and it has caught us on the hop,” Brogan told GPA TV. “Like Tyrone last year, we thought we were going to turn them over and they came out on the day and blew us away. We won’t take anything for granted, take each game at a time and just knock them down one at a time.”

Brogan kicked seven points (two frees) and Dublin’s last five of the game in a dazzling ten minute spell which ultimately decided the outcome of the game, though he was happy to share the praise for his impressive late salvo with his forward colleagues.

“The lads and the forwards are moving well. We’re throwing the ball around very well. The lads are setting me up, I’m only kicking them over,” he said. “The last day Jayo got six points and Alan got four points. It’s a more a team development than me kicking all the scores.”

Bernard Brogan (0-7) was the star of the show as 14-man Dublin beat Kildare by 2-15 to 0-18 in a riveting provincial final at Croke Park.

The brilliant Brogan landed five points in the last ten minutes as under-pressure Dublin chiselled out a splendid victory against the odds.

A crowd of 74, 573 was treated to an exhibition of pure football, in which the resilient Dubs prevailed despite being a man short for three-quarters of the match. Kildare landed eighteen points from play but the younger Brogan stood up to be counted in the closing stages with a succession of defining scores as the Leinster title went to the capital for the 49th time.


The challengers lost this game in the third quarter when they managed just one point.

Kildare led by 0-12 to 2-5 at the end of an extraordinary first half, which saw all six of their starting forwards register from play. The Dubs had roared into an early six-point lead thanks to Barry Cahill's fifth-minute goal - but aided by the dismissal of Ger Brennan - the Lilies battled back and dominated much of the opening 35 minutes to deservedly lead.

Eighteen of those 19 first-half scores were from open play.

Jason Sherlock's wonderful 25th-minute goal kept Pat Gilroy's team in touch, but Kildare bossed most of the first half after Dublin had torn out of the blocks and then hit a brick wall. At one stage, they outscored the defending champions by 0-8 to 0-1 inside a blistering ten-minute spell as the match turned on its head.

Full forward Ken Donnelly was the key man for Kildare in that first half, notching three points and causing the over-stretched Dublin defence all manner of difficulties. It was also notable that Kildare fisted over four of their twelve first-half points. (Brennan's use of the fist wasn't quite so productive.)

Alan Brogan pointed Dublin into the lead after just 37 seconds. His original effort was blocked down but Jason Sherlock was on hand to pick up the pieces and Brogan made no mistake at the second attempt. Younger brother Bernard was on hand to clip over a delightful point to double the Dubs' lead on two minutes.

The game appeared to be effectively over a minute later when wing back Barry Cahill sprinted unchallenged through a non-existent Lilywhite defence to drive an unstoppable low shot to the back of the net. 'Jayo' was on hand on four minutes, latching onto a low pass from full forward Bernard Brogan to swivel and curl over a trademark score: 1-3 to no score.

It was a nightmare start for Kildare but Ken Donnelly steadied them when he fisted their opening point. In the seventh minute, Alan Smith got out in front of his man and took a delightful point, but John Doyle's first shot from a free tailed wide. Corner back David Henry saw yellow for his part in that incident.

With Dublin gradually relinquishing their grip on the game, Padraig O'Neill was completely unmarked when he slammed over a third Kildare point from 40 yards in the tenth minute, to leave just Cahill's goal between them - 1-3 to 0-3.

On twelve minutes, Conal Keaney tapped over a good Dublin point after the Short Grass County were guilty of over-elaborating at the back. Smith turned Denis Bastick inside-out and blasted over a Kildare point from close range. Dub goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton was almost left red-faced in the 14th minute when he totally misjudged the flight of a high punt into the goalmouth, but much to the No.1's relief the ball bounced outside the posts at the old Canal End (Davin Stand).

Kieran McGeeney moved as early as the 16th minute to try to shore up his defence with Andrew O'Loughlin introduced at corner back for Hugh McGrillen. Then came two fantastic Kildare points inside a minute: a fisted Donnelly effort from distance and a lovely left-footed strike from James Kavanagh.

In the 19th minute, Dublin centre back Ger Brennan deservedly picked up a straight red card for striking the rampant Donnelly in the face off the ball and the big Kildare ful

Bernard Brogan has admitted that he and his Dublin team-mates overdid the celebrations during last month's Leinster SFC semi-final rout of Westmeath.

Brogan and some of his team-mates were criticised for their exuberant celebrations as Dublin inflicted the heaviest championship defeat on Westmeath since 1891.

"That's just people picking holes. I'm probably the worst for celebrating scores," he said.

"My dream was to play for Dublin and to score into the Hill. We probably over-exaggerated it with a couple of scores when we were heavily up.

"But look at Darren Magee's goal. It was his first goal ever in the championship. Whether you're 40 points up or five points down, when you score a goal into the Hill, it's a big moment.

"You do get lost in the moment. If you score for Dublin, you're in a special place and that's where the celebrations come from."