Kilmacud Crokes 1-12
Éire Óg 0-4
Kieran Murphy reports from Netwatch Cullen Park
KILMACUD CROKES ARE into the semi-finals of the Leinster SFC championship after the Dublin club enjoyed a painless victory over Carlow champions Éire Óg at Netwatch Cullen Park.
The reigning champions played a patient game against inexperienced opponents. Within two minutes a free from Shane Walsh and a point from play through Dara Mullin gave them a degree of momentum. The latter added another point before Éire Óg opened their account with Benny Kavanagh coming forward from deep and firing the ball over the crossbar.
The home team had enough possession but their danger men up front were struggling to gain a foothold in the game.
In the meantime, Kilmacud picked off further points with Mullin and Dan O’Brien on the mark. Colm Hulton’s curled effort saw Éire Óg move into the ascendancy for a short period with Jordan Morrissey converting a free.
Yet the Dublin champions were just that bit too economical and on multiple occasions in the half, the Carlow side were penalised for over-carrying. With half-backs Mark O’Leary and Andy McGowan both raising white flags, Kilmacud Crokes led 0-8 to 0-3 at the interval.
The second half was a pedestrian affair with the only goal of the game coming in injury time when Éire Óg lost the ball and Shane Walsh was put clear. His finish put a gloss on the winner’s performance.
Scorers for Kilmacud Crokes: S Walsh 1-2 (1 ’45, 1f)’ D Mullin 0-4; A McGowan 0-2; M O’Leary, D O’Brien, P Mannion, B Sheehy 0-1.
Scorers for Éire Óg: J Morrissey (1f), C Hulton, B Kavanagh, A McCarron (1f) 0-1 each.
Kilmacud Crokes: David Higgins; James Murphy, Theo Clancy, Dan O’Brien; Cian O’Connor, Andy McGowan, Mark O’Leary; Brian Sheehy Rory O’Carroll; Anthony Quinn, Paul Mannion, Dara Mullins; Hugh Kenny, Shane Cunningham, Shane Walsh.
Subs: Luke Ward for O’Connor (47), Darragh Dempsey for Kenny (54), Liam Flatman for O’Carroll (54), Tom Fox for Cunningham (54), Dan Murphy for Quinn (56).
Éire Óg: Johnny Furey; Cathal Kelly, Shane Buggy, Benny Kavanagh; Mark Behan, Mark Furey, Diarmuid Ruth; Jordan Morrissey, Murtough Ware; Kyle Nolan, Sean Gannon, David Dunphy; Colm Hulton, Ross Dunphy, Adam McCarron.
Subs: Lee Moore for Behan (26), Kelvin Chatten for D Dunphy (42), Kieran Nolan for Ruth (42), Josh Brady for McCarron (56), Eoghan Byrne for Kelly (59).
Referee: Fintan Pierce (Offaly)