Kilmacud Crokes 1-14 Kerins O’Rahillys 0-14
It was a most uncomfortable feeling of deja vu for Kilmacud Crokes as this AIB All-Ireland club semi-final reached its conclusion.
The better side for the majority of the afternoon, they left themselves vulnerable to a sucker punch goal, which a plucky Kerins O’Rahillys side almost snatched.
In last February’s final in similar circumstances, they were forced to extra time by a Kilcoo goal and then beaten by another one when leading by two points with time almost up.
This time, however, Dara Mullin was on the line to intercept David Moran’s fisted effort over the advancing Conor Ferris in the sixth minute of injury time and a relieved Kilmacud could breathe again as the final whistle sounded seconds later.
“To allow ourselves be in that position was the most disappointing aspect,” said Crokes boss Robbie Brennan. “We were in control, took the foot off. To be fair to O’Rahillys, they came back into it. They’re a good team. Plenty to work on.
“Coming in too easy is never a good thing and we haven’t been fully tested maybe since Na Fianna in the Dublin final. So maybe it’s a good thing. We’ll only know in a couple of weeks.”
Hugh Kenny's goal five minutes into the second half had put Kilmacud in a commanding position as he slotted to the net after Shane Walsh’s point effort had come off the crossbar. They pushed their lead out to seven points from there as O’Rahilly’s lost their way having enjoyed a purple patch either side of half-time.
With David Moran and Tommy Walsh lording the skies at midfield and full-forward respectively, the Kerry club champions matched Kilmacud in the first quarter, at the end of which the sides were level at 0-3 each, albeit Shane Horan had missed a glorious goal chance for the Dublin kingpins in the seventh minute.
Crokes stretched their legs in the second quarter and moved four points clear with all of their forwards on the mark though O’Rahillys hit three of the last four points before the break to trail by a more manageable 0-8 to 0-6 at half-time.
A Jason Foley free on the resumption halved the deficit though Crokes hit 1-3 without reply with Aidan Jones prominent as O’Rahillys went scoreless for 19 minutes and, even when they did break their duck, there was no strong indication that a comeback was on the cards.
Despite Kilmacud sub Luke Ward seeing a goal chance saved by Foley after a brilliant steal and run from Walsh, entering injury time they still led by 1-14 to 0-11 before a point from O’Rahillys sub Gearoid Savage and two Foley frees set up the grandstand finish. But, ultimately, O’Rahillys couldn’t force extra time.
Their manager, William Harmon, felt that the Kenny goal cost them more than just the three points.
He said: “It came at a vital stage and it seemed to act as a bit of a buffer and we were a bit helter-skelter for a few minutes.
“We composed ourselves for the last quarter but it was probably just too little, too late. That goal, I thought it gave them a small bit of a buffer and we just had to stretch that bit more and that gave them a few more gaps that we hadn’t given them.”
Kilmacud became the first Dublin club to reach successive All-Ireland finals since UCD in 1975, with Brennan revealing that he has had the image of Kilcoo’s Aidan Branagan and Conor Laverty lifting the Andy Merrigan Cup as his screensaver for months now.
“About a week after they won it,” he said. “It’s been there since, just in case I forget.
“It doesn’t really come up to be honest with you because there’s not much time to think about. I said to the lads inside, all they’ve done is give themselves an opportunity to be the first team to lose back-to-back All-Irelands in the club, so that’s all we’ve done at the minute!
“Hopefully it won’t be, but that’s the situation we are in at the minute.”
They lost last year’s final without the injured Paul Mannion, who has been sidelined since for the bulk of the campaign with an ankle problem, though the acquisition of Walsh has helped to offset his absence.
The Galway star was limping at the end of the game though Brennan brushed off any concerns about him ahead of the January 22 final against Glen, while Mannion may yet be involved too having been back among the subs today.
“Shane should be ok, it’s just a bit of a niggle. Paul is close, I don't know if you were looking at him in there but he’s running and he’s kicking and I think everybody is happy with where he’s at.
“It’s just whether he’s able to go back in, he hasn’t played since August so it’s a big ask. But he has another couple of weeks, the final was always possibly the plan for him timewise, but if he can play or not is another thing.
“And obviously as I keep saying, he’s got the inter-county season ahead of that and it’s only one game for us so he’s got to balance all of that, so we’ll see how the next two weeks go.”
KILMACUD CROKES: C Ferris; D O’Brien, T Clancy, M Mullin; A McGowan, R O’Carroll, A Jones (0-2); B Shovlin, C Dias (0-1); S Horan (0-1), S Walsh (0-2, 0-1f), C O’Connor (0-1); H Kenny (1-2), S Cunningham (0-2), D Mullin (0-2).
Subs: T Fox (0-1) for Horan (43), C O’Shea for McGowan (46), C Casey for Shovlin (46), L Ward for O’Connor (53), P Purcell for Cunningham (60).
KERINS O’RAHILLYS: S Foley; C Coffey, R O’Callaghan, D McElligott; C Barrett, K Mullins, P Neenan; D Moran, G O’Brien (0-1); C Sayers, J Savage (0-7, 0-6f), T Hoare; C Hayes (0-2), T Walsh (0-1), BJ Keane (0-2).
Subs: Diarmuid O’Sullivan for Barrett (35), B Hanafin for McElligott (42), D O’Connor for Hoare (46), R Carroll for Sayers (56), G Savage (0-1) for Hayes (60+1).
REFEREE: N Cullen (Fermanagh).
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