UCD ... 1-11 Raheny ... 0-10 No hiccups, thankfully. There was a winner and a loser and not a grey wig in sight. After an embarrassing charade in the capital's musty legal chambers, the Dublin championship returned to the field yesterday morning at Parnell Park and served up so-so fare.
Raheny's anxious wait throughout the judicial appeal for the Na Fianna Six did them little good. In front of an expectant village support, they were leaden and nervous over the first 30 minutes and managed just three points. Worse, they helped the academics build a handsome win with needless and repeated fouls which JP Casey and Ciarán McManus were only too happy to punish.
The lowest point for Raheny was in the 28th minute when McManus actually scuffed a free-kick. His low attempt flew into a crowd of players and when the Raheny defenders failed to tidy, Ray Ronaghan fired home the only goal of the game with a plain old soccer shot. That left UCD, with their healthy collection of marquee names, looking good at 1-7 to 0-2 up.
Everything went right for the college boys. Their top scorer, Casey, had actually been demoted to the bench before the throw-in but his successor, Dara Breen, managed to injure himself in the warm-up. Handed a reprieve, Casey did more than enough to guarantee his place in the final against St Vincent's.
Missing were John Divilly of Galway and Beano McDonald from Laois. No major problem when you can draft in Meath midfielder Nigel Crawford and call upon a substitute of the calibre of Joe Fallon at a crucial time.
UCD bring that multi-provincial glamour to the championship to make up for the inevitable lack of parish pride. They had a tiny support base at Parnell Park - possibly just boffins from the Law faculty hoping to witness an obscure legal infringement live and uncut. Raheny, in contrast, appeared to have several generations from each family cheerfully encouraging the pride of the village.
Central to their hopes was Ciarán Whelan. Heavily shadowed, the Dublin star only once managed to deliver his trademark dashing score, coming with 10 minutes left when his team was in the midst of a great comeback.
At that stage, they had the winning of the game in their grasp. The withdrawal of Crawford by UCD came after a run of four successive points by Raheny.
Colm Donegan and Donal Ryan came alive at half forward and combined beautifully on 42 minutes for Donegan to leave a goal between them. JP Casey managed an invaluable point for UCD but Raheny stormed on, with Donegan and Ryan leaving just one point between them as the game entered its last 10 minutes.
Having worked so hard to reach near parity, they entered an inevitable lull phase and UCD pulled away again in the closing minutes with points from substitutes Peter Curran and Joe Fallon. They closed the match out with a Casey free.
Despite that soporific first half, Raheny might be preparing for the final but for two great saves from UCD's Gerry McGill. He bravely threw himself in front of Redmond Barry's shot in the opening exchanges and denied the same player just after half-time. Both stops were crucial.
So after a long wait, St Vincent's, the aristocrats of the city game, face its intelligentsia. Only a classic can save a marred and unsavoury season that has done little for the spirit or goodwill of the game in Dublin.
UCD: G McGill; A Costello, C Evans, B Ó hAnnaidh; N McGuire, J Lynch, D Ó hAnnaidh; C McAnallen, N Crawford; S Lucey, R Barry, J Hanley; R Ronaghan (1-0), C McManus (0-3, one 50, one free), JP Casey (0-6, 4 frees). Subs: P Curran (0-1) for J Lynch (half-time), O Ó hAnnaidh for J Hanley (37 mins), D O'Connor for N Crawford (44 mins), J Fallon (0-1) for R Barry (49 mins).
RAHENY: C McMahon; P McCabe, B Keane, A Hurley; G Murray, M Beirne, D Henry (0-1); C Whelan (0-2, one free), C Murphy (0-1); C Brady, K Kehily (0-1), C Donegan (0-2); L Eviston (0-2, free, 50), P Murray, D Ryan (0-1). Subs: E Curley for A Hurley (51 mins), M Staunton for C Murphy (53 mins), J Keogh for D Ryan (55 mins).
