Bernard Brogan has said Dublin “panicked” in their All-Ireland SFC semi-final loss to Donegal, but has insisted they will not change their style of football.
Dublin had been hotly tipped throughout this season to retain their All-Ireland crown and went into the game as favourites, but were beaten by Donegal’s combination of resolute defence and incisive attacking.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Today programme, Brogan said that Dublin had started well, but that after they missed a few early opportunities the tide turned in the visitors' favour.
“Our system was to go out and play football and go at them,” Brogan said. “In fairness to Diarmuid Connolly and Paul Flynn, they kicked some great points in the first few minutes.
"And we’d two goal opportunities; one just went behind me. I couldn’t get around. And then Diarmuid got a ball well saved by [Paul] Durcan, in fairness, in the goals.
“The momentum just swung then. They went down, they got a high ball in, the bounce of the ball went to Ryan McHugh, and he stuck it in the back of the net.
“Games can be won or lost on one incident. And that kind of knocked the stuffing out of us. They scored a couple of points, and we went in at half-time [a point down].”
He insisted that Dublin still felt they could win the game at this point, but suggested that as the second half went on the Dubs lost their composure.
“And we were still confident, and we went out; I think we were just a little bit naive, we said we’d go at them, go at them, go at them.
"We nearly were too aggressive, and a couple of balls over the top, we got caught with numbers, and in fairness to Donegal, they put us away. And we panicked a bit then at the end.”
"It was really hurtful because of the way it went down. We would have felt like we left a lot of the pitch"
Brogan admitted there were lessons for Dublin to learn from their exit, but insisted they would not change their style of football.
“If one of those goals had went in early on, we would have probably won that game, and potentially won an All-Ireland, and everyone would have thought what we did was amazing,” he said.
“We’re very proud of the style of football we play. Maybe it’s just for next year there are lessons to be learned, but you still want to play that expansive football.”
He suggested that if manager Jim Gavin were to have a chance to prepare again for the game, he would introduce “a little bit more balance in the defence, and having a little more structure, that when we’re going forward that we obviously have that defence, [and] the balance right.”
The St Oliver Plunketts/Eoghan Ruadh clubman said the Dublin camp were aware of their tags as red-hot favourites this year, and that complacency was a risk, but he hailed the efforts to combat this of Gavin and his back-room team.
"I think we were just a little bit naive, we said we’d go at them, go at them, go at them"
“Once the summer comes we go into our little hub, and we only worry about what’s being said in our room. Because if you listen to everything that’s going on, and you have people down the road telling you you’re the greatest in the world... You have to distance yourself from that.”
Brogan said losing to Jim McGuinness's side had been “devastating” and that he had not yet “had the guts” to watch a replay of the game.
“Paul Flynn has described it as like a death in the family,” he said. “And it was really hurtful because of the way it went down. We would have felt like we left a lot of the pitch.
“If you lose a game where you give it everything and you can walk away and say, ‘Jeez, I gave everything there and I’m happy with my innings but we were just beaten on the day' [that’s one thing], whereas we thought that we panicked at the end, and we missed a lot of shots that we wouldn’t usually miss. So that’s when it makes it really hurtful.”
He hailed eventual champions Kerry as the aristocrats of football, and said that Donegal had showed too much of their hand in beating Dublin, allowing the Kingdom to learn important lessons ahead of the final.
“I know a lot of people are talking about, ‘Oh, this [Kerry] team is dying, it needs resurgence, they’re in change mode.’ But that’s silly. And they love that talk. They love to be talked down. You look at the way they came through this year; not a peep about them all year.”
