Dublin SHC final: Kilmacud Crokes 2-18 Na Fianna 3-16
Na Fianna retained the Dublin senior hurling title in the most dramatic fashion at Parnell Park on Saturday night with a 63rd minute-winning goal stealing victory in a game they trailed for almost the entirety.
The defending champions were two points adrift of Kilmacud Crokes when they were awarded a free just outside the 20 and directly in front of the posts in the last of three added minutes.
Goalkeeper Jonathan Tracey was brought up the field to take the free – a sure sign Na Fianna felt a goal was their only hope. Tracey’s shot was saved on the line but it rebounded to Paul O’Dea, whose effort was also blocked but ricocheted to the far post where Ciarán Stacey raced in and patted to the back of the net.
“I just saw the ball spinning in the air, I thought if I have a swing on this I’m more than likely to miss it so I just put my hurl there, let the ball hit it and hope for the best, luckily it just spun inside,” recalled Stacey.
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“I was just hovering outside, waiting for a chance, you never know what can happen. When we knew Johnno was coming up, it was do or die really.”
It was a cruel defeat for Crokes, who had weathered a Na Fianna comeback midway through the second half and appeared set for a first title since 2022 until Stacey’s last-gasp winner.
Na Fianna scored the opening point of the night but were behind by the third minute and never led again until Stacey’s goal at the death. They did get level midway through the second half but that was merely for seconds before Crokes took to the front again. In total, Na Fianna led for approximately three minutes.
“Huge character and will to win,” said Na Fianna manager Niall Ó Ceallacháin, who was recently appointed as the new Dublin senior hurling boss.
“We were nine points down at one stage in that first half, really struggling, they were coming in waves and waves but we stuck in there.”
It is only the Mobhi Road outfit’s second Dublin senior hurling triumph, coming on the back of their breakthrough victory last year – a game they won by 16 points.
For Crokes, this defeat was the club’s second final heartbreak in six days after losing the football decider the previous Sunday.
Na Fianna posted the first score of Saturday night’s encounter courtesy of a superbly executed sideline cut by Gavin King inside the opening minute.
But that was to be as good as it got for the 2023 champions early on and they trailed 0-7 to 0-1 by the ninth minute.
Crokes were first to every breaking ball and whenever the sliotar emerged from a contested possession, invariably it did so in the hands of a Kilmacud player.
Na Fianna finally slowed Kilmacud’s momentum just before the quarter hour mark with a quick volley of scores to reduce the gap to three points, 0-8 to 0-5.
The fifth of those Na Fianna points came from a blistering AJ Murphy shot – the ball rising on its way to goal and whizzing just inches over the Kilmacud crossbar.
Seconds later Crokes had the ball in the Na Fianna net as David Purcell fired low and hard beyond Tracey. It felt like a significant swing in the game once again, and Na Fianna were suddenly taking on water once more.
Crokes led 1-13 to 0-7 in the 24th minute when Na Fianna’s Jack Meagher hit the woodwork with a rasping shot, and you couldn’t but wonder if it might not be their night.
A butchered goal chance did nothing to dampen such thoughts after Stacey’s miscued pass left Murphy with an acute angle, and his shot went wide.
But just before the interval Na Fianna’s persistence finally paid off. Stacey again was haring through on goal in a similar fashion as previously and this time he picked out defender Conor McHugh with a popped pass to his right.
McHugh fumbled the ball initially before readjusting his stride to smack it beyond Eddie Gibbons. It was the last score of the half, seeing Kilmacud’s lead closed to five at the turnaround, 1-14 to 1-9.
Both sides were guilty of some wayward shooting in the second half but Donal Burke’s surging run to slice through the Crokes defence in the 37th minute earned his side a penalty, which the Dublin star himself converted to leave just the minimum between the teams.
A monster score almost from down on Mobhi Road by O’Dea finally brought Na Fianna level again in the 43rd minute.
But Kilmacud responded with a goal. They worked the ball down the field in the very next attack and Oisín O’Rorke fired the ball to the Na Fianna net, 2-16 to 2-13. They had weathered the storm. Or so it seemed.
Crokes still led by two deep in injury-time when Na Fianna were awarded a free. After a quick chat on the Na Fianna sideline, the message went out to Tracey. They were going for goal.
“It was a quick decision. There was going to be one more puckout, that had been flagged,” said Ó Ceallacháin.
“But we are not here to draw games, we are here to win games and we’d back Johnno any day on that. Listen, it didn’t work out with that free but we got the next chance, thankfully.”
For Crokes, it was a devastating loss.
“They got the goal, that was it, we were trying hard to get back down and get the equalising score but that was never going to be easy playing against a very good team. We just couldn’t get level, that was that, all over then,” said Crokes joint manager Kieran Dowling.
If it was heartbreaking for Crokes, it was the stuff of fairytales for Na Fianna.
“It’s the type of thing you dream about when you are visualising what might happen in a game, I can’t think of anything better, to be honest,” smiled Stacey.
Right at the very end, there’s no better time to lead.
NA FIANNA: Jonathan Tracey; Seán Burke, Conor McHugh (1-0), Kevin Burke; Paul O’Dea (0-2), Liam Rushe, Peter Feeney; Brian Ryan (0-2), Seán Currie (0-1); Jack Meagher (0-2), Colin Currie (0-7, one 65, four frees), Ciarán Stacey (1-0); Donal Burke (1-0, penalty), AJ Murphy (0-1), Gavin King (0-1).
Subs: Joe Kavanagh for King (41 mins), Diarmuid Clerkin for Ryan (51), Shane Barrett for Murphy (57).
KILMACUD CROKES: Eddie Gibbons; Brendan Kelly, Brian Sheehy, David Lucey; Cian Ó Cathasaigh, Cian MacGabhann, Mark Grogan; Brian Hayes (0-2), Dara Purcell (0-2); Fergal Whitely (0-1), Oisín O’Rorke (1-7, four frees), Caolan Conway; David Purcell (1-0), Ronan Hayes (0-2), Conal Ó Riain (0-4).
Subs: Padhraic Linehan for MacGabhann (34 mins), Michael Roche for Conway (44).
Referee: Seán Stack (Parnells).
