Cuala keep three-in-a-row in sight with win over St Vincent’s

Cuala 4-16 St Vincent’s 2-16

Holders Cuala kept their hopes of a third successive county title alive when overcoming St Vincent’s by 4-16 to 2-16 in their Dublin SHC semi-final at Parnell Park on Sunday afternoon.

The underdogs started brightly thanks to three points in as many minutes from Alan Moore, Diarmuid Connolly and John Hetherton but were rocked by the concession of two goals to Cuala’s Colm Cronin in the sixth and ninth minutes.

Hetherton responded when converting a penalty in the 17th minute and a Rian McBride goal six minutes later left the bare minimum between the teams.

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Crucially, Cuala finished the half on a high as Jake Malone fired home in injury time to hand his team a narrow 3-8 to 2-7 interval lead.

Vins brought that deficit back to a bare point following two Hetherton scores and a Connolly score but with David Treacy firing six frees upon the restart, Cuala confirmed their win through a Con O’Callaghan goal eight minutes from time.

CUALA: S Brennan; O Gough, Cian O'Callaghan, S Timlin; P Schutte, S Moran, R Tierney; D O'Connell, J Malone (1-1); S Treacy, C Cronin (2-1), D Treacy (0-11, 10 frees); C Sheanon, M Schutte (0-1), Con O'Callaghan (1-1).

Subs: S Stapleton (0-1) for Tierney (35 mins), C Waldron for Sheanon (37 mins), N Carty for M Schutte (60 mins).

ST VINCENT'S: D Russell; M O'Farrell, R Trainor, M O'Keeffe; S McCaw, J Cooke, T Connolly; D Connolly (0-2), R McBride (1-0); G Giblin, A Moore (0-1), C McBride (0-1); C Burke (0-1), J Hetherton 1-9 (1-0 pen, six frees, two 65s, one sideline), K Connolly (0-1).

Subs: R Fallon (0-1) for Giblin (8 mins), F O'Sullivan for Moore (54 mins), C Billings for D Connolly (56 mins), J Walsh for Burke (60 mins).

Referee: Terry Carton (Naomh Fionnbarra).

Kilmacud Crokes 1-13 Lucan Sarsfields 0-13

A 58th-minute goal from Ross O’Carroll helped Kilmacud Crokes to account for Lucan Sarsfields by 1-13 to 0-13 in their Dublin Senior Hurling Championship semi-final at Parnell Park on Sunday afternoon.

Kilmacud played with the benefit of the breeze in the opening half and early scores from Oisín O’Rorke and Barry O’Rorke helped them to settle initially.

However, with Chris Crummey and Barry Aird impressing in the Lucan defence, Sarsfields looked more impressive and scores from Matthew McCaffrey, Tommy Somers and Peter Kelly reduced their deficit to a single point by the 25th minute.

Kilmacud finished the half in the ascendancy however with Caolan Conway, Cían Mac Gabhann and O'Carroll tagging on scores to ensure a 0-9 to 0-5 interval lead.

That lead was almost fully eroded within the first three minutes of the restart as Johnny McCaffrey added an inspirational point to a brace of Somers frees.

Lucan enjoyed the momentum and led through scores by Paul Crummey and Kevin O'Reilly but O'Carroll's scruffy goal was an apt conclusion to a contest high on energy but lacking in composure.

KILMACUD CROKES: E Dalton; N Corcoran, B O'Carroll, J Clinton; D Kelly, R O'Carroll (1-2), C Mac Gabhann (0-3, three frees); L McMullan, C Conway (0-1); R Hayes, F Whitely (0-1), N Ó Riordáin; S McGrath (0-1), B O'Rorke (0-1), O O'Rorke (0-4, four frees).

Subs: R Murphy for McMullan (40 mins), A Considine for Ó Riordáin and R O'Dwyer for B O'Rorke (both 43 mins), S O'Dwyer for Considine (53 mins).

LUCAN SARSFIELDS: K Roche; P Claffey, B Aird, P Smith; J Bellew, C Crummey, J McCaffrey (0-1); R Smith, C Dowling; P Kelly (0-1), M McCaffrey (0-1), P Crummey (0-2); T Somers (0-4, four frees), K Fitzgerald (0-1), CJ Smith.

Subs: K O'Reilly (0-3, two frees, one '65') for Somers (48 mins), D Quinn for Roche (58 mins).

Referee: Seán Stack (Parnells).