July 16, Croke Park

When people you don't know ring you at unsociable hours the night before a match looking for tickets you know that there is something going on. In clubs around the city many times the allocation could have been dispensed. Not a one was to be had on Sunday and there were as many people in the pubs and on the streets around Croke Park who were not going as were.

At times like this of course there is the temptation to feel the same as Nick Hornby in Fever Pitch who finds himself resenting the fact that his girlfriend - an Arsenal fan of merely one season - should be enjoying the fact that his team have just won the title. Do I feel the same about the neophyte Dubs? Do I wonder where they all were when I was suffering the effects of the thermo frost in O'Tooles the week after Christmas? That I can name the 1974 team. Backwards. When some of them only vaguely know of 'Jayo' and 'Whelo'?

No. I don't. I would if I hadn't got a ticket of course! But no, it is fantastic that Dublin have such massive support. While there are dark mutterings about 'sunshine supporters' and the annoyance caused by a small number of drunken fools, the heart of the Dublin support is the bedrock of the clubs that are often the soul of local communities. Indeed in a city that can be a nasty dangerous place in which all of the problems of the country are distilled into an unpleasant brew, the Boys in Blue are the best thing about us. And when the biggest sporting crowd in the world this Summer - bigger than the World Cup final apart from all its other comparative merits - is to watch two teams of lads who are doing it for nothing more than their pride in their jersey and their club and their mates, then we can all be proud. Even when it is "those arrogant bastards" who win the day.

Speaking of which, the rhetorical question regarding the prospects of Dublin winning the All Ireland can be addressed with a bit more clarity this week. It is a long time since any team won Leinster with such ease and generally when that happens, the team that does so gets to the final and often wins. Last Sunday was not as impressive shorn of the magnificent stage scenery but it was competent and sometimes stylish. It is also clear that Leinster teams are going well this year. Longford and Laois, both beaten by Dublin, are still live contenders and both have accounted for strong opposition. If one was to employ the horse racing technique of collateral form - comparing how well teams have done against one another - Dublin are clearly ahead of most contenders. If it was a handicap, Dublin would be given an extra stone to carry.

Offaly began better and had a point from Niall McNamee within 30 seconds. Were our worst fears about the threat of their inside forwards to be fulfilled? Cluxton showed some early nerves by sending his kick-out over the sideline. Then a quick Dublin attack saw Keaney get on to the end of the movement only to fire his shot against the post. Offaly replied with their second point from Tomas Deehan, the other half of the 'terrible twins'.

Mossy missed a close-in free, Whelan wided and several other attacks floundered before McNamee got another point after 11 and a half minutes to leave them three clear. It was somewhat similar to stages of the Longford match and while there were anxious moments Dublin were still giving all the signs that they were only really getting into gear. Ciara was counselling patience. The man in front of her was eating his fingers which were beginning to bleed.

Keaney relieved the tension with Dublin's first point after 13 minutes. Sherlock set up Brogan for another three minutes later and Quinn levelled matters on 19 minutes. Shane Ryan was playing out of his skin at midfield and won the free that Mossy converted to take the lead after 22 minutes. McNamee restored parity a minute later with another free. Dublin had another goal chance a few minutes later when Whelan punched the ball towards Mossy who was just beaten to it by Offaly goalkeeper Padraic Kelly. Throughout the field Dublin looked the faster and the more determined. Paul Casey was covering vast amount of territory, at one stage putting Neville Coughlan out over the Cusack sideline inside the Offaly '40'.

Offaly were up for it, however, and a second Deehan point - his last of the day - put them ahead once again on 27 minutes. Keaney for the second time might have had a goal four minutes after that but elected to put it over for a point to leave it even again. Ciaran McManus pointed from a '45' to restore Offaly's lead two minutes before half-time but that was quickly negated by Quinn.

There then followed the most controversial incident of the match when Stephen Cluxton spotted a loose Cathal Daly waiting under a dropping ball at the edge of the square. Daly had just come in for Scott Brady at centre half back so his unchaparoned presence was a bad error on Dublin's part. Cluxton was not taking the chance that Daly would be covered by the time the ball did arrive and advanced to take him down. He was fortunate for two reasons; firstly that Daly was not inside the square and secondly that referee Michael Duffy did not send him off. McNamee inexplicably missed the resulting free and there were clear signs that Offaly had been rattled by the incident as several players exchanged pleasantries on their way off at the break, the sides level 0 - 6 apiece.

To relieve the tension I shouted the odds about Offaly's nasty history before myself and Ciara made our way to look for water and minerals. It is funny how quickly people get out of your way even in a mad crush when you have just proven yourself to be a certifiable loon. I really must calm down for the second half I thought. Downstairs there was a long queue to stock up on beer. I fail to see the point of it really. How enjoyable or necessary is a half litre of beer thrown down your throat in two minutes? The Hogan crowd is relaxed and affable but it may not always be so. Greed seems to be the only motive in loading already potentially sozzled and unstable punters with more gargle. An hour an a half abstinence is hardly life-threatening.

Offaly begin the second half exactly as they did the first with a McNamee point after half a minute. Somehow it does not feel as threatening as earlier and Dublin respond. Quinn is brought down in the square but Duffy decides to award a 21 yard free. It is either a penalty or it is not. Quinn puts it over. Perhaps in compensation Keaney is awarded another free three minutes later for what was a perfectly fair shoulder on him, by McConway I think. Quinn does not look the gift horse in the mouth and Dublin are in front again. They will not relinquish it. It is extended by Mossy who puts over a superb kick after a movement that began with Henry and involved Casey and Goggins in a quick and direct transfer of the ball to the danger zone. A further Quinn free and two points by Brogan leave Dublin five clear with less than 20 minutes left.

We relax and even the man who was consuming his hand has stopped chewing. All is well with the world. The stadium echoes with the predictable paean to our heroes and there are even some Offaly supporters who, in brazen disregard for the reputation of the 'Faithful' county, are beginning to doff their tricolour Viking helmets and depart. Cheerio.

They might have lingered because it was not over. Alan McNamee had taken down Goggins in the movement that led to Brogan's last point and Duffy asked to see him once he had pencilled the score into his notebook. The same notebook will also have told him that McNamee was already on a yellow. Off he went. It is an old and hoary cliché, but nonetheless true, that the team that often benefits from a sending off is the one reduced in number. Con Houlihan often argued this and proposed that a substitute be allowed for the man punished. In this way they would not be able to claim a 'moral advantage'.

To their credit Offaly rallied after the sending off and a McManus free and a McNamee point, which might have been a goal, reduced the gap to just three points. Quinn had a goal chance just before that but it took nine minutes after the sending off for Dublin to score again when Brogan got a point on 61 minutes. It had been Dublin's worst period of the match and while overshadowed by the final margin, probably puts it in a truer light. Something that will not have been overlooked by the chaps in blue tops carrying clipboards.

Keaney scored again after 64 minutes and finally the Dublin goal that had long been promised arrived when Brogan passed to an unmarked Jason four minutes from the end. Sherlock made it look easy but it was precisely placed. A minute later Sherlock scored a nice point and the match was over.

Indeed it might have been over before Duffy blew his whistle had some of the arseholes who invaded the pitch arrived even thirty seconds earlier. For one awful moment I thought that Duffy had actually abandoned the game when he waved his hands after an Offaly attack had been broken up at the Canal End. Instead he blew the whistle on the dot and got himself away to safety.

The advance guard of the invasion force was joined by thousands more who made their way from every corner of the ground. It was an awesome spectacle and will hardly be equalled even at the final. Time was when Dublin Leinster victories were greeted in amore sedate fashion. Scarcity, however, has made them more to be cherished especially as it is the first time since two titles in a row were won by any team since Dublin in 1995.

The portents of that are not lost on the fancy. Nor on the bookies who slash Dublin's odds with Powers making them 2/1 favourites, a price that was further clipped under the weight of money - not all of it from Dubs either - to 15/8. Too short we think as we gaze down the road ahead. At the end of that road most imagine they see the orange haze of Armagh but there are other threats along the way. No match will be easy and we might have most to fear from Laois should they extend their recent good fortune through the last round of the qualifiers and against Mayo in the quarter final.

For now at least we have the luxury of almost a month in which to contemplate the next step. The luxury of being able to watch with a certain bemused detatchment the endeavours of others. It is sure not to last for long.