Dublin hurlers leave room for improvement after shaky qualifier win

Twenty minutes and seven wides.

That's how long the Dublin hurlers went without a score in their 4-17 to 0-19 All-Ireland hurling qualifier win against Laois on Saturday night. The barren spell was from the 47th to the 66th minute, and a period like that in their next outing against Limerick will surely spell an end to any championship aspirations for 2015. In that twenty minutes Laois failed to really make an impression on the scoreboard and put pressure on Dublin, but as a snapshot of a team it appears the capital's hurlers appear to be as far as ever away from challenging the big two for the All-Ireland. Saturday's game was meant to be a chance for Ger Cunningham's side to regroup and answer the critics (us included) who had been so disappointed by their Leinster exit at the hands of Galway. However the result, and parts of the performance especially, have almost left us with even more questions about who exactly this side are ahead of a trip to Thurles next Saturday night to face Limerick in the qualifiers. And we're sure a lot of Dublin supporters feel the same. The initial burst from Dublin was encouraging, and Mark Schutte looked like a man reborn with his two-goal salvo inside the opening seven minutes. His performance was a major boost to the visitors and he looks to have recovered some of his sharpness that was lacking against Galway. Paul Ryan also impressed from placed balls, grabbing four of his five points from frees, while Conal Keaney smashed home a lovely goal as part of his tally of 1-3. That would lead any sane person to believe that Dublin's attack at least is back in a fully functioning mode, but the tally of nine wides in the first half alone would suggest that there is much work to be done in engineering closer range shots which would result in a higher conversion rate. Dublin's blistering start was then followed by a period where they left Laois back into the game, pushed ahead again at the start of the second half, and fell away for that twenty minute spell. In the opening period Laois' fightback at least woke Dublin up with Keaney's goal before half-time the game's crucial score, but the long periods of somnambulism that Ger Cunningham's side are prone to must be a concern. Anthony Daly had a similar problem and despite many opportunities he could not put his finger on why his teams seemed to drift in and out of games. It is clearly an equation that Cunningham has yet to find the answer to either. The change in personnel was massively welcome for Dublin at the weekend, and Shane Barrett looked impressive, while the experiment of Liam Rushe as a forward looks like it may be consigned to the scrapheap. The former All-Star looked more assured at six, as well as adding an air of authority under high balls, while his sweeping up was also something that Dublin, and hurling fans, had been denied since his move further up the field. Cunningham made five changes to his side from the loss to Galway in that Leinster replay and all five played well. With no Peter Kelly, Cian O'Callaghan did as well as could be expected at full-back, while Barrett as mentioned enjoyed an impressive championship debut. The qualifiers is an unfair system in that it places teams running on empty against sides who enjoy a break after provincial losses. Limerick will have much to prove to their own fans and themselves when they face Dublin next week. But Dublin should not fear the Munster men too much. They enjoyed a good league win over TJ Ryan's side this season and also have a championship win under their belt from 2011. Room to improve is not always a bad thing, but how much a team can improve in the space of seven days could be the most difficult question facing Ger Cunningham and his selectors. A question they do know the answer to is that a failure to score for a length of time or  anything close to their barren run against Laois  will mean an early championship exit next weekend.