KILMACUD CROKES 1-11 GLEN 1-9
Kilmacud Crokes buried the hurt of last year’s All-Ireland final defeat at Croke Park this afternoon, but it was nearly deja vu all over again.
Goalkeeper Conor Ferris sprung to his right to deny Conor Glass from a low rolled effort as they thwarted a late goal chance that could have denied them for a second year running.
Ferris came in for plenty of stick in the wake of last year’s All-Ireland final defeat by Kilcoo when he turned over the ball late on as Jerome Johnston shot a last gasp winning goal.
For Glen it was heartbreak in their first final and they will have regrets over a couple of second half goal chances that went a begging as Crokes won a third All-Ireland title to go with the titles in 1995 and 2009.
Substitute Stevie O’Hara half hit a great goal chance on 49 minutes and Ferris stood up to make the save after fine set-up play from Jack Doherty.
Ethan Doherty also had a sniff on 54 minutes as he sythed through the Kilmacud defence but he was repelled.
A couple of points from the goal chances would have kept Glen right in the hunt.
The O’Hara chance wound up in point at the other end as Shane Walsh slotted a free.
It was a crucial four point swing.
Glen had got off to a flyer with Danny Tallon dummying Micheál Mullin and holding off a retreating back to fire to the net in the first attack.
Two minutes later Alex Doherty fired over for a four point lead, but it would turn out Glen needed that early start as Kilmacud dominated the rest of the half.
If the Dublin champions had their shooting boots on they could have been well ahead at half time.
Five wides - two apiece from Craig Dias and Paul Mannion - and four efforts dropped short with another coming off the post kept Glen in it.
Two of the misses were frees - one from Mannion, which struck a post and came back into plan - and the other from Shane Walsh.
Walsh atoned by firing a penalty to the net in the 16th minute and would finish with 1-3, all from dead balls.
Shane Cunningham ran a back door cut and was fouled by Ryan Dougan, off a fist pass from Dara Mullin with referee Derek O’Mahony spreading his arms straight away.
Crokes really took over with Glen losing four long kicks outs which meant they couldn’t control the tempo of the game.
The physical power, pace and movement of Kilmacud was beginning to tell.
Ethan Doherty had a couple chances to hurt the Leinster champions on the break, but the ball was turned over as Glen lived on scraps in the final 20 minutes of the first half.
Glen turned it around in the second half in front of a crowd of 22,890, as they got on top of the Kilmacud kickout.
But it was the Dublin side that just about held the edge, scoring the last four points of the game to come from 1-9 to 1-7 behind to win with Dan O’Brien and Dara Mullin among their star performers.
Conleth McGuckian’s late prodded effort drifted wide of the post and there was time for no more.
KILMACUD CROKES: C Ferris, M Mullin, T Clancy, D O’Brien (0-1), A McGowan, R O’Carroll, A Jones, B Shovlin, C Dias (0-1), C O’Shea, S Cunningham (0-2), P Mannion (0-1, f) H Kenny, D Mullin (0-2), S Walsh (1-3, 1-0pen, 2fs, 1 45).
SUBS: C O’Connor (0-1) for Kenny 46mins, S Horan for Jones 50mins, L Ward for Cunningham 57mins, T Fox for Mannion 63mins, C Casey for Mullin 63mins.
GLEN: C Bradley, C Mulholland, R Dougan, C Carville, T Flanagan, M Warnock, E Mulholland, C Glass, E Bradley (0-2, 1f), E Doherty, J Doherty (0-1), C Convery, A Doherty (0-2,1mk), D Tallon (1-3, 1-0pen, 2fs), C McGuckian (0-1).
SUBS: S O’Hara for Convery 37mins, P Gunning for A Doherty 59mins.
REFEREE: D O’Mahoney (Tipperary)
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