Dublin eased to another All-Ireland final this afternoon, trailing briefly in the first-half before sloughing off the challenge of Galway in the second-half to earn a nine-point win at Croke Park.
It was standard stuff from the Dubs, albeit after an uncharacteristically slow start. Galway, meanwhile, looked flat and fatigued for much of the game, missing the intensity that characterised their game in the league and in the earlier stages of this championship.
On Sky Sports after the game, Jim McGuinness accentuated a lack of intensity over the 70 minutes. While Peter Canavan conjured a clip from the 56th minute when the Galway defence made a series of heroic blocks, McGuinness said that Galway needed to show that level across the full game.
That's the exception, rather than the rule.
For me, in championship football, that should be every single play. The exception should be when you are half-hearted, what we used to call the 'hope-you-miss' mentality: pushing out with your hand out hoping the guy misses. There is too much of that going on, too much shadow tackling going on.
That was championship mentality, but that was the 56th minute. So that's the problem I've got with that.
We have to redefine this word, intensity. To bring in that level. That's what it should be from the first minute from the last.
Speaking earlier on the same topic, McGuinness said that Kevin Walsh needs to ratchet up the intensity over the next few months
The big thing for me, Rachel. This phrase 'championship intensity', what does it mean? If they are to go to the next level, they need to be more ruthless in everything they do.
For me, it's about every single thing you do.
Dublin, nonetheless, advance to another All-Ireland final on the first Sunday in September where they will face an opponent they vanquished on the way to last year's final: Monaghan or Tyrone.
