Gaelic Games

Champions St Vincent’s to meet Ballyboden in Dublin final

Ballyboden overcome sending off of Michael Darragh Macauley to triumph over Clontarf

Diarmuid Connolly’s five points helped St Vincent’s claim a place in a third straight Dublin SFC final. Photograph: Cathal Noonan/Inpho
Sun Oct 25 2015 - 17:42

St Vincent’s 0-22 Na Fianna 2-9

Holders St Vincent’s booked their place in their third successive Dublin Senior Football Championship final after overcoming Na Fianna at Parnell Park on Sunday afternoon.

The seven point winning margin failed to reflect the control that they exerted for the large part with Na Fianna staying in contention through goals in either half from Adam Caffrey and Odhran Ó Maoiléidigh.

After a strong start that saw them open the scoring through a Tomás Quinn ‘45’ in the second minute, St Vincent’s moved three points clear by the fourth minute following points by Diarmuid Connolly and Gavin Burke.

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However, a defensive uncertainty that was a negative feature in their quarter-final win over Lucan eight days ago again came to light with Tomás Brady electing to take his point when clean through while Aaron Byrne hit the side-netting for Na Fianna when well placed.

At the opposite end, St Vincent’s were clicking through the gears with Burke, Ciaran Dorney and Ruairi Trainor adding points and Cormac Diamond’s point ensured the attacking sextet had all scored by the 16th minute.

Michael Concarr and Connolly increased their lead as the half progressed but Na Fianna were handed a lifeline in the 22nd minute when Conor McHugh intelligently found Adam Caffrey at the back post for a palmed goal past the helpless Michael Savage.

The half ended with the champions re-emphasising their dominance with two wonderful scores by Connolly pushing his side six points (0-12 to 1-3) clear by the interval.

St Vincent’s appeared to play within themselves upon the resumption but they managed to tag on scores through Shane Carthy and Trainor with Na Fianna keeping in touch to a degree through frees by Jack and Adam Caffrey.

There was a greater fluency to the St Vincent’s attack that proved telling as the contest evolved with substitute Joe Feeney enjoying a lively cameo with three second-half points while Trainor also shone as Vincent’s moved nine points clear with 10 minutes remaining.

Ó Maoiléidigh’s goal offered a modicum of hope to Na Fianna but their opponents saw out the win at their ease with Feeney and Quinn adding late points on the scoreboard.

ST VINCENT'S: M Savage; H Gill, J Curley, M Concarr (0-1); B Egan (0-1), G Brennan, N Mullins; D Murphy, S Carthy (0-1); G Burke (0-2), D Connolly (0-5), Cormac Diamond (0-1); R Trainor (0-4), C Dorney (0-2), T Quinn (0-2, one '45'). Subs: J Feeney (0-3) for Dorney (36), Cameron Diamond for Mullins (47), K Golden for Murphy (53), A Baxter for Cormac Diamond (59), M Loftus for Carthy (60).

NA FIANNA: R O'Flaherty; J Cooper, N Cooper (0-1), E Murchan; E Mullan, N McGovern, G O'Reilly (0-1); JJ Martin, C O'Connor; T Brady (0-1), D Quinn, J Caffrey (0-1, free); C McHugh, A Caffrey (1-2, 0-2 frees), A Byrne (0-3, two frees). Subs: O Ó Maoiléidigh (1-0) for Quinn (38), E Neville for McHugh (41), N Flannery for J Caffrey and E Connolly for Mullen (50), A Farrell for O'Reilly (57), A Fitzgerald for Brady (59).

Referee: Darragh Sheppard (Round Tower Lusk)

Ballyboden St Enda’s 0-12 Clontarf 0-10

Andrew Kerin and David O’Callaghan scored two late points to help 14-man Ballyboden St Enda’s complete an expected but narrow 0-12 to 0-10 victory over Clontarf in the semi-final at Parnell Park.

After opening up a 0-4 to 0-1 lead after 10 minutes thanks to three Andrew Kerin frees and a Ryan Basquel point, Ballyboden lost their way to a large degree against a Clontarf team that belied their underdog status.

Matias MacDonncha and Ciarán Johnson kicked a brace of points apiece as Clontarf landed five unanswered scores and they were further boosted in the 30th minute as Michael Darragh Macauley was dismissed for Ballyboden for a second booking.

With the sides deadlocked at 0-6 apiece at the break, Clontarf maintained early control upon the restart following scores by Jack McCaffrey and Morgan Walsh.

However, despite their numerical disadvantage, Ballyboden enjoyed a large degree of possession with Basquel and Darragh Nelson to the fore and they levelled matters by the end of the third quarter thanks to a Kerin free and a Seán Gibbons point.

That experience shone through in the closing stages and Kerin and O’Callaghan added decisive scores at the death to confirm progression to next Sunday’s final.

BALLYBODEN ST ENDA'S: C Dooley; B Dwan, S Hiney (0-1), S Clayton; S O'Connor (0-1), D Nelson, D O'Reilly; MD Macauley, D O'Mahoney; S Gibbons (0-1), R Basquel (0-1), S Gibbons; C Basquel, C Keaney, A Kerin (0-7, seven frees). Subs: D McCabe for Davey (Half-time), S Molony for C Basquel (44), D O'Callaghan (0-1) for Gibbons (49), R McDaid for Dwan (54).

CLONTARF: R O'Hanlon; S Coen, A O'Halloran, D Monaghan (0-1). ; F Dodd, J McCaffrey (0-1), P Breen; A Foley, M Walsh (0-1); C Cronin, M MacDonncha (0-2, one free), R McCullagh; A O'Neill (0-1), C Johnson (0-3, two frees), M Dufficy. Subs: K McGrath for O'Neill (35), I O'Dwyer (0-1) for Dufficy (37), M Hughes for McCullagh (46), P Synon for Walsh (56).

Referee: Gary McCormack (Naomh Barróg)