Issue link: http://digitaleditions.uberflip.com/i/1391459
STATS 30 mins 21 mins 12 mins 15 mins 25 mins 7 mins 10 mins 3 mins 32 mins 27 mins 19 mins 24 mins 9 mins 39 mins 37 mins 51 mins 52 mins 44 mins 55 mins 5 19 4 8 8 8 7 8 19 3 14 7 Kickout won by Dublin Kickout won by Cork Number inside circle = Player that won possession 35 mins 61 mins 48 mins 62 mins 53 mins 50 mins 57 mins 31 mins 64 mins 20 mins 14 mins 10 mins 11 mins 33 mins 31 mins 12 24 12 13 15 15 23 14 21 14 12 13 11 20 11 Wide / Short Goal / Point 46 mins 11 mins 11 mins 6 mins 20 mins 4 mins 17 mins 23 mins 57 mins 42 mins 61 mins 36 mins 62 mins 31 mins 64 mins 50 mins 53 mins 34 mins 2 6 20 4 11 7 20 2 11 2 8 2 3 5 7 Kickout won by Dublin Kickout won by Cork Number inside circle = Player that won possession 32 mins 21 mins 25 mins 27 mins 39 mins 54 mins 9 mins 15 mins 9 mins 10 12 9 14 10 13 20 11 6 Wide / Short Goal / Point WHAT DO THE NUMBERS SAY? Clinical and Decisive. Two words which, from a stats perspective, sum up Dublin's performance in this League final. Cork put up a stern test for large parts of the game, but Dublin did the basics well and retained possession when needed at crucial parts of the game. Kickouts Dublin retained 89% of their restarts and from the pitch map it's obvious they never really entertained the idea of a long ball. Short and snappy kickouts to corner backs (or whoever was available) kept the tempo of the game high and, most crucially, gave Dublin the possession to start attacks. Although Cork retained a similar percentage of kickouts (84%), their routine was more predictable than Dublin's. Although Martina O'Brien distributed the ball, the runs from central areas out to the wing from outfield players were predictable and allowed Dublin to pick their moments and turn over possession as Cork half-backs were forced to kick down the touchline or forced into contact through the middle. The Attacking Third The key difference between the two teams came in the attacking third of the pitch. Although Cork had more shots from play (15) and a better attack conversion rate (percentage of attacks that result in scoring opportunity - 66%), they were wasteful in front of goal and only converted 53% of their shots from play. Dublin, on the other hand, were clinical and converted 89% of their shots from play and 90% of their scoreable free opportunities. They also attacked more often than Cork (Cork 33 attacks, Dublin 36 attacks) and with greater variability by attacking both sidelines and being less reliant on punching a hole down the middle of the pitch. 25 20 15 10 5 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 0 Points per minute (Scoreable frees + shots from play) Game time (minutes) Points Dublin Cork Points per minute (Scorable frees + shots from play) CORK DUBLIN JENNIFER DUNNE, DUBLIN DUBLIN CAPTAIN SINEAD AHERNE LIFTS THE CUP