ST VINCENT’S 1-14 ST JUDE’S 1-12
Late, late points from Damien Russell and Thomas Connolly saw St Vincent’s scramble into the semi-finals of the Evening Herald Dublin SHC ‘A’ at O’Toole Park on Saturday evening.
After playing into the breeze the Marino side trailed by five points at the interval, 1-8 to 0-6, and were reduced to 14 men early in the second half when Cian McBride was sent off.
Cormac Grogan got the Jude’s goal in the seventh minute when he followed up on the rebound after John Ryan’s initial effort was parrier by Tom Carroll.
However, it was until the final passages of the opening half that Jude’s began to capitalise on wind advantage with Grogan and Stephen Larkin on target from frees before Ryan hit three impressive points inside two minutes to hold a five-point half-time lead.
Fine points from McBride and Diarmuid Connolly immediately on the restart saw Vinnies close the gap but Sam Lehane responded with a point for Jude’s shortly before McBride was dismissed.
But it was Vincent’s who got the next crucial score when Keith Connolly skilfully flicked the sliotar to the net past Ger McManus, who had a fine game in the Jude’s goal, to see the Marino men reduced the gap to the minimum.
The balance of power swung one way then back the other in the final minutes with Vincent’s hitting four points without reply with Thomas Connolly (two frees), Russell and Keith Connolly all on target to see their side edge two points in front.
Jude’s were not done though as sub Seán O’Connor and Ryan brought the game level again before Vincent’s raised their game in the final minutes with those two late scores guaranteeing victory.
SCORERS – St Vincent’s: K Connolly 1-2, T Connolly 0-5 (0-5f), D Russell 0-3, C McBride 0-2, R Fallon, D Connolly 0-1 each. St Jude’s: C Grogan 1-3 (0-3f), J Ryan 0-4, S Larkin 0-2 (0-2f), D Sutcliffe, S Lehane, S O’Connor 0-1 each.
ST VINCENT’S – T Carroll; R Pocock, D Qualter, M Kirwan; R Trainor, C Billings, W Lowry; D Connolly, R Fallon; C McBride, P Fleury, S O’Neill; K Connolly, D Russell, T Connolly. Subs: M Chawke for Fleury (43), E Drumgoole for K Connolly (63).
ST JUDE’S – G McManus; B Farrell, R O’Brien, V Walsh; S Larkin, C Coone, P Crean; N Mangan, R Joyce; D Sutcliffe, J Ryan, C Guckian; D Ryan, S Lehane, C Grogan. Subs: T McCarthy for D Ryan (ht), S O’Connor for Grogan (56), R Hardy for Mangan (59).
REF – E Mullarkey (Lucan Sarsfields).
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