By John Harrington

Dublin manager, Dessie Farrell, says he’s not concerned that his team didn’t blow the opposition away in Leinster to the same extent this year as in recent years.

Today’s eight-point win over Kildare in the Leinster Final was their smallest margin of victory in a provincial decider since 2013 and the first time they haven’t scored a goal in one since 2005.

“I don’t necessarily see it as a concern,” says Farrel. “We just have to take every game on its own merits and you can’t look back and compare to what has gone on, you have to look forward and understand and interpret the challenge that lies ahead, and get yourself right for that.

“Ultimately it is about winning games and being as competitive as you can to win games and that is what we are going out to do.

“To be honest, we don't focus really on what the narrative is out there. That will be for others. All we can do is, to use the cliche, control the controllables.

“And that's how we focus on preparing and practice, and all the stuff that's in our gift, if you like. That's what we'll do, and that's what we'll continue to do.

“We're happy, obviously to win a Leinster title. It's a milestone in our calendar. Provincial titles are always important. We're definitely very pleased with the victory today.

“You look at the performance, we'll do a better job in assessing that in the coming days. But some pleasing aspects, possibly a lot of work-ons as well. We'll take that as it comes in the next 48 hours or so.”

Dublin led Kildare by just four points after a first half in which they were uncharacteristically sloppy, particularly in the final third of the field.

They were much more clinical in the second-half, though, and eventually pulled away from the Lilywhites comfortably enough.

“It's something we spoke about at half-time,” said Farrell. “I think it just a case of making better decisions, probably being a little bit more patient. In the first-half, we were forcing some shots from difficult angles, maybe not having the time and space to pull the trigger that way.

“It was something we discussed at half-time. I think we did a better job [in the second-half]. The way Kildare were set up, they were difficult to penetrate, so we had just had to be patient, probing, probing, wait for the right opportunity. And I think we managed that a bit better in the second half.”

Dublin now play Mayo in the All-Ireland semi-final on Saturday, August 14th, and Farrell is expecting a typically tough test from their great rivals who caught fire in the second-half of their Connacht Final win over Galway.

“Mayo will probably be disappointed with their own first-half (Connacht Final) performance and they looked exceptionally good in the second-half," he said. "No more than ourselves against Meath I'm sure they'll be trying to bring consistency to their performance as well against Dublin.

“It's going to be a great tussle. There's been very little to separate the teams over the years and we're looking forward to it at this stage.”