By Michael Devlin

Jim Gavin praised the performance of stand-in goalkeeper Evan Comerford following Dublin’s comfortable 18 point win over Laois in the Leinster final.

Comerford stepped in to make his first Championship start in a Dublin jersey after Stephen Cluxton failed to recover from rib injury he sustained in the provincial semi-final win over Longford. It was the first time in 14 years that the Parnells’ veteran missed a Championship game.

The young Ballymun Kickhams stopper had deputised for Cluxton in the Bord Na Mona O’Byrne Cup and Allianz Football League earlier in the season, and team manager Gavin was impressed with his “seamless” transition to the big occasion of the Championship stage.

“I thought Evan was exceptional, he played really well, and it’s something we’re not surprised at as he’s playing so well in our games in training, so hats off to him," Gavin commented.

“It should be that way, as Evan is playing with these guys in training, so they’ve all got a bit of experience of both keepers. So we mix it up and it showed out there."

Gavin did confirm that the Dublin captain will be back to take his place as the county number one in the upcoming All-Ireland Quarter Final round robin series.

“Stephen had declared himself fit during the week, and obviously we had to get a team in, so we were going to give him every chance," Gavin added. 

“Ultimately it comes down to the management team to make that call, what’s best for the player and for the team.”

Dublin scored 1-9 by half-time against the O’Moore County, but they racked up nine wides in the process, with Con O’Callaghan missing two goal chances in the opening minutes and Paul Mannion stroking his 18th minute penalty wide. 

The lacklustre display in front of goal was not a cause for concern for Gavin though, who was positive about the amount of scoring opportunities his side created throughout the game.

“Obviously in the first half, Laois played really well, and our boys created a lot of scoring chances that we just didn’t convert," Gavin reflected. "We continued that in the second half but the contrast was we were quite clinical. 

“It was really positive how we executed our scores from play, we had nine different scorers, and there were good contributions from players coming back into play. 

“Overall, it was a great team effort, and we’re really pleased at how it worked out for us.”