St Vincent’s 0-8
St Jude’s 2-11

Stephen O’Meara reports from Parnell Park

ST JUDE’S HAVE torn up the script for the second round in a row to topple St Vincent’s in the semi final of the Dublin Senior Football Championship.

Having already dumped out Ballymun Kickham’s in the previous round, a fortnight ago, their appetite would surely have been whetted, having been level with Vincent’s in last year’s semi, before being reduced to 14, and in turn, 13.

The big talking point as the side lined up was the omission of Diarmuid Connolly from Vincents’ starting line-up for the second time since returning from Boston, not to mention Enda Varley.

Connolly’s absence, however, wasn’t felt in the opening eight minutes, as Vincent’s ran up a 0-4 to no score lead, despite not looking particularly dominant.

With Jude’s typically filtering a sweeper from the half-back line, while Vincent’s typically held Ger Brennan or Brendan Egan to keep a four-v-three inside their “65”, Jude’s would remain composed and work themselves back into the game.

With Mick Concarr’s man-marking limiting Kevin McManamon’s input to one point from play throughout, it was Padraic Clarke who caused the most damage in the opening half, as Jude’s brought the score-line back to five apiece by the 25th minute.

And it was Clarke who pounced in the 26th minute with a fisted goal, when Vincent’s got their lines mixed after Kieran Doherty sent a tasty cross-field ball into the square, seeing Jude’s into a 1-6 to 0-5 half-time lead.

Despite the arrival of Connolly and Enda Varley off the bench at half time, the Marino men would score just one point in the next 23 minutes.

With Jude’s playing an ominous possession game, with the lead, they picked Vincent’s apart from end to end for Séamus Ryan to net in the 41st minute, extending their lead to six.

They would continue to control the game methodically to the finish, never letting Vincent’s mount anything like a comeback, running out winners by an impressive 2-11 to 0-8.

Having overcome 5/1 and 4/1 bookies’ odds respectively in the quarters and semis, they now face Kilmacud Croke’s, who they knocked out in 2016, in the final in a fortnight’s time.

Scorers for Vincent’s: Tomás Quinn 0-2 (2f), Enda Varley 0-2 (2f), Éamonn Fennell 0-1, Lorcan Smyth 0-1, Gavin Burke 0-1, Nathan Mullins 0-1

Scorers for Jude’s: Padraic Clarke 1-2 (1f), Séamus Ryan 1-1, Niall Coakley 0-3 (1f), Kevin McManamon 0-2 (1f), Chris Guckian 0-1, Simon King 0-1, Tom Devlin 0-1

St Vincent’s

1 Michael Savage

15 James McCusker
2 Mick Concarr
18 Fiachra Breathnach

7 Brendan Egan
6 Ger Brennan
10 Gavin Burke

9 Nathan Mullins
23 Éamonn Fennell

8 Lorcan Galvin
11 Lorcan Smyth
12 Cormac Diamond

17 Adam Baxter
14 Shane Carthy
15 Tomás Quinn

Subs

19 Diarmuid Connolly for Diamond (HT)
13 Enda Varley for Baxter (HT)
22 Joe Feeney for Smyth (47)
26 Rian McBride for Mullins ((55)
25 Seán Lambe for Burke (58)

St Jude’s

1 Liam Mailey

2 Oisín Manning
3 Ciarán Fitzpatrick
4 Cillian O’Reilly

5 Tom Lahiff
6 Niall O’Shea
7 Chris Guckian

8 Mark Sweeney
9 Séamus Ryan

19 Ronan Joyce
17 Simon King
12 Kieran Doherty

13 Niall Coakley
14 Kevin McManamon
15 Padraic Clarke

Subs

10 Tom Devlin for Joyce (39)
24 Neal Mangan for King (51)
18 Andy Sweeney for Clarke (60)
20 Billy Sheehan for Coakley (64)

Referee: Damien Burnett

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