Kilmacud show the stuff of champions

GAELIC GAMES LEINSTER CLUB SF FINAL Kilmacud Crokes 2-7 Rhode 1-7:THE MAGIC of the season, as interpreted through the AIB provincial club finals, sprinkled more of its stardust yesterday - this time on Parnell Park - when Kilmacud Crokes somehow survived a match, which hit the first-quarter mark with the Dublin champions five points behind and a man down.

A second-half transformation yielded two goals from Crokes' tried and trusted method of high ball dropping in for Mark Davoren, who, even if he didn't quite get a touch to the second, appeared to mesmerise goalkeeper Colm Masterson, for whom the afternoon will remain an unwelcome ghost of Christmas past, allowing Brian Cavanagh's 49th-minute shot to bounce into the net and give the Dubliners a lead they kept.

It's hard to imagine how Rhode, losing a second Leinster final in three seasons, are feeling about what happened. They looked unstoppable in the first half, slick, penetrative and unfazed by having to deploy an extra man. But whatever happened at half-time, their reserves of composure and confidence drained away.

Rhode started at a pace that Kilmacud couldn't match. They moved the ball with speed and purpose and exerted plenty of early pressure. Where the Dublin champions' defence was desperately coping it was a case of just about hanging on and when it wasn't the scores popped over.

Paul Griffin, given the customary fire officer role, lined up on Niall McNamee and in the opening 10 minutes Kilmacud's key defender shipped a goal and a point from play and fouled for a converted free. McNamee danced through for an 11th minute goal to put the Offaly champions 1-3 to nil ahead.

Mark Vaughan landed a free to give his team their first score in the 14th minute but almost immediately Cian O'Sullivan, just back in the team after serving a suspension, was red carded for a dangerously high tackle. Referee Pat Fox may have made an example of him, as by that stage Kilmacud's discipline was evaporating and O'Sullivan's was not the first nor by any means the worst of such challenges. But significantly the madness subsided thereafter, almost as if the Dublin team realised they had to draw on a massive effort or else the contest was over.

Regardless of how they viewed the task, the cause looked hopeless, a perception that firmed when teenage corner forward Anton Sullivan toyed with Conor Lambe before shooting a trophy point from over in the left corner. Rhode's defence was holding firm whenever their shell-shocked opponents pieced together an attack.

Exemplifying the Offaly team's superiority was a move in the 26th minute, beginning with a sharp block on Brian Kavanagh, carried on by a swift, passing sequence and finished by Niall McNamee firing over for the six-point lead, which they held to half-time.

Afterwards Rhode manager Tom Coffey wistfully recalled two goal chances either side of half-time, the first plopping over for a point when Pádraic Sullivan tried to lob David Nestor after bursting clear onto a good pass from Niall Darby and the second a more difficult opportunity for Niall McNamee, who took the ball around the goalkeeper but found the angle too narrow to finish from.

It proved a turning point for McNamee, who had a horrific second half, featuring five wides to bring his 60-minute total to seven. Seldom will anyone view 1-3 to his name in a senior final quite as joylessly. Five minutes after the restart Kavanagh, whose fortunes ran inversely to McNamee's, dropped a ball into the square and Masterson's attempt to scramble clear was smacked back into the net by Davoren, whose work-rate during the second half mirrored that of his colleagues and contributed to a team effort that left Rhode standing.

Griffin looked at times to be playing both in defence and up front, where he materialised in the 37th minute to finish a fine movement by kicking a point. The two under-21 O'Carroll brothers, Ross and Rory who came in as a replacement, did a great job of holding the full-back line and with Brian McGrath pushing relentlessly from wing back and Darren Magee grafting hard at centrefield, Crokes, fired on by big contributions off the bench from Ray Cosgrove and Niall Corkery, thrived in the chaos of what was by now a largely free-form game.

Vaughan rounded off the scoring with a free to complete a second-half turnaround of 2-4 to 0-1 and give the Stillorgan club their third and most dramatic Leinster title.

KILMACUD: D Nestor; P Griffin (0-1), Ross O'Carroll, C Lambe; B McGrath, C O'Sullivan, K Nolan; D Magee, L McBarron; P Burke, L Óg Ó hÉinneacháin (0-1), A Morrissey; M Vaughan (0-3, two frees), M Davoren (1-0), B Kavanagh (1-1). Subs: Rory O'Carroll for Lambe (25 mins), N Corkery for McBarron (34 mins), R Cosgrove (0-1)for Burke (36 mins); J Magee (capt) for Ó hEinneacháin (50 mins).

RHODE: C Masterson; J Kilmurray, E Byrne, D Murphy; C Heaney, D Hope, B Darby; P Sullivan (0-1), A McNamee (0-1); N Darby (0-1, free), R Malone, G O'Connell; P Sullivan (0-1), P Kellaghan, N McNamee (1-3). Subs: P Glennon for Darby (52 mins); J Kavanagh for Heavey (54 mins); G Hickey for Murphy (61 mins).

Referee: P Fox(Westmeath).