Dublin V Longford 2015 Leinster Championship

For those new to the blog, or who haven’t been here for a while, please find a refresher on the definitions and how the numbers are compiled here

Overall

Team	Possessions	Attacks	Attack %	Shots	Shot %	Scores	Success %	Weighting
Dublin	67	48	72%	39	81%	29	74%	+10.297
Longford	49	29	59%	23	79%	10	43%	-1.405
Avg		37.0		28.7	77.7%	14.7	51.2%

Some of the numbers that Dublin posted are just phenomenal

• A 74% Success Rate is the highest since the start of 2012 – the previous best being Donegal’s 67% against Tyrone in 2013
• Obviously a very high Success Rate will feed into a very high weighting. Mayo’s performance when demolishing Donegal in the 2013 quarter final had the top weighting at +6.813. Dublin just smashed this with a heretofore unthinkable +10.297
• Both B Brogan (3rd) and D Rock (6th) enter the top 10 individual performances from play and deadballs respectively.

Dublin completely overwhelmed Longford. Their opening stat line was 2-14 from 18 shots (82% Success Rate) with the two misses being a B Brogan shot wide right that was touched round the post for a 45 and Kilkenny’s near effort that hit the post – not exactly wild wides!

Now the claim will be that there was no resistance – and there is merit to that argument. Of the 16 shots from play attempted in that first half – when the game should have been competitive – I noted only 25% (4 of the 16) of as being attempted when under pressure. If we had opponent adjustments I have no doubt that the weighting would be a lot lower (as an aside there are no opponent adjustments as we don’t see teams often enough. Since ’12 this is only Longford’s 2nd TV game – how would you adjust?) however I’m not sure Donegal in that 2013 QF provided Mayo any sterner a defence than Longford did to Dublin. And Dublin were miles more accurate. Similarly in 2014 when Dublin had way more attacks (57 then versus 48 here) and shots (48 versus 39) against Meath than they did here they couldn’t put up anywhere near as good a performance.

It’s a truism but Dublin beat poor opposition – but they produced an unnervingly accurate performance in doing so.

Shots from Play

Team	Shots	Scores	Success %	Weighting
Dublin	35	25	71%	+8.725
Longford	18	5	28%	-2.932
Avgs	21.4	9.7	45.3%

B Brogan now has two entries in the top3 performances from play. His 1-06 from nine attempts (+2.806) puts this performance behind only O’Donoghue’s demolition of Cork in 2014 and his own display against Louth in 2012.

He played much closer in to goal than has been the norm with seven of his eight point attempts being attempted whilst in or around the 13m line. It happened so often I began to think the line was acting as a trigger for him to shoot. As an aside his only shot from outside the 20m line was a speculative effort from the right that led to a 45.

It was also good to see a genuinely two footed player put on a show – 3 with the left and six with the right.

Paul Flynn had another super-efficient game scoring 1-03 from his 4 attempts whilst Rock & McManamon combined for 1-04 from their combined 7 attempts.

Shots from deadballs

Player	Shots	Scores	Success %	Weighting
D Rock (Dublin)	4	4	100%	+1.572
B Kavanagh (Longford)	4	4	100%	+1.021
P Collum (Longford)	1	1	100%	+0.506
team avgs	7.2	4.9	68.7%

Rock’s four from four included two 45s. With Cluxton in the ranks this is almost a luxury weapon for Dublin. Up until yesterday Cluxton had three of the top six performances from deadballs – if Rock wants to keep the 45s he’ll have to keep producing performances like this.

If he does stay in the team, and continues to convert deadballs at this rate, he will soon challenge the very top performances. As it is this game sees him slot in 6th on the overall deadball top10.

Kickouts

Dublin’s kickouts	Won	%	Turned into an attack	%	Shot	%
Dublin	12	92%	7	58%	6	50%
Longford	1	8%	1	100%	1	100%
Longford’s kickouts	Won	%	Turned into an attack	%	Shot	%
Dublin	19	56%	16	84%	13	68%
Longford	15	44%	10	67%	8	53%

Nothing much on the Dublin side as they only had 13 kickouts throughout the whole game – though it was strange to see Cluxton fluff a short one and present the ball on a plate to Kavanagh. Still better it happen now than in a more meaningful game.

Longford almost refused to go short. They did quite well on kickouts that dropped short of the 65 but once they went long they were absolutely wiped out losing the possession battle 16 – 3. Dublin launched attack after attack from Longford’s long kickouts scoring 3-04 from those 16 possessions.

Turnovers

Team giving up the ball	Pass	In the Tackle	Shot	Other
Dublin	16	7	3	5
Longford	15	8	7	3

If there is one area that Jim Gavin may wish to emphasise in the post-match briefing it will be ball retention and Dublin’s relatively high turnover rate. In a match that they completely dominated they gave the ball away as frequently as Longford did.

Although 16 passes going astray is quite high 12 different players contributed to that 16. It would appear to have been a team trait, or malaise, rather than any one player. Maybe it can be written off as “one of those things” as players tried to force the ball in quickly against inferior opponents.

Shot Charts

Dublin’s shooting

Longford’s shooting

x = missed, disc = score, yellow = deadball, black = 1st half from play, white = 2nd half from play,

Players with >= 3 shots from play

	Shots	Scores	Success %	Weighting
B Brogan (Dublin)	9	7	78%	+2.806
B Kavanagh (Longford)	5	1	20%	-1.454
P Flynn (Dublin)	4	4	100%	+2.292
D Rock (Dublin)	4	3	75%	+1.104
C Kilkenny (Dublin)	4	3	75%	+0.656
R Connor (Longford)	3	3	100%	+1.618
K McManamon (Dublin)	3	2	67%	+0.782

Tags: 2015, championship, Dublin, Longford