Jude’s too strong for Crokes as they progress to last-four

ST JUDE'S 0-14 KILMACUD CROKES 1-8

St Jude's kept their dream of a first ever Dublin SFC alive when they saw off the challenge of Kilmacud Crokes in Wednesday night's quarter-final at Parnell Park.

The Tymon North men laid the foundation for the victory in the opening half and by the break deserved held a five-point advantage, 0-9 to 0-4.

Jude's looked the hungrier team and held the upperhand at midfield in terms of clean possession and on the breaking ball.

At the back their defensive system stymied Crokes who struggled to carve many openings.

A Mark Vaughan free from 50 metres got the scoring underway but Jude's assumed control and scored six unanswered points.

Niall Coakley began the sequence with long-range free and the highly influential Kevin McManamon added another free by the ninth minute.

Declan Donnelly angled over their third point following work by Colm Murphy and Kieran Doherty before Seamus Ryan made it 0-4 to 0-1.

Ryan's point was one of the best scores of the net as Paul Copeland's pin-point kickout found Murphy who found Rob Martina to release midfielder Ryan.

A Declan Donnelly free and Kevin McManamon point from play off his left side had Jude's in a very strong position leading 0-6 to 0-1 by the 23rd minute.

Crokes finally responded with points from Callum Pearson and a Vaughan free, following a foul on Pearson.

But before the break Ross O'Brien and Coakley were on target to carry a five-point lead, 0-9 to 0-4, into the break but lost Chris Guckian to injury in the 25th minute.

Crokes sprung Cian O'Sullivan from the bench for the second half and he tried to give his side more of an incisive drive in the second period.

However, points form McManamon (free) and Doherty had Jude's 0-11 to 0-5 clear before Crokes gave themselves a lifeline with a goal from sub Pat Burke in the 43rd minute - set up by Paul Mannion.

Jude's were reduced to 14 men with 12 minutes remaining when Ross O'Brien saw red and when Vaughan converted a free following the break in play Crokes were three in arrears, 0-12 to 1-6.

Vaughan cut the gap to just two in the 57th minute but Jude's saw the game out with points over the close from Ronan Joyce, following selfless work by McManamon and Billy Sheehan, and a McManamon free either side of a Ross O'Carroll wonder point from near the corner flag that was probably an attempted high delivery into the danger zone.

SCORERS - St Jude's: K McManamon 0-5 (0-3f), N Coakley 0-3 (0-2f), D Donnelly 0-2 (0-1f), S Ryan, R O'Brien, K Doherty, R Joyce 0-1 each. Kilmacud Crokes: M Vaughan 0-4 (0-3f), P Burke 1-0, P Mannion 0-2 (0-1f), C Pearson, R O'Carroll 0-1 each.

ST JUDE'S: P Copeland; C Guckian, P Cunningham, R Martina; R Finnegan, B Sheehan, M Sweeney; C Murphy, S Ryan; T Lahiff, R O'Brien, K Doherty; D Donnelly, N Coakley, K McManamon. Subs: C McBride for Guckian (25), R Joyce for Lahiff (40), D McLoughlin for Donnelly (55), E Dalton for Coakley (63), J Donnelly for Finnegan (65).

KILMACUD CROKES: D Nestor; J Murphy, Ross O'Carroll, C O'Shea; A Jones, R McGowan, A McGowan; D Magee, D Campbell; C Dias, B Kavanagh, S Cunningham; C Pearson, M Vaughan, P Mannion. Subs: C O'Connor for  Magee (28), C O'Sullivan for Kavanagh (ht), P Burke for Pearson (38), T Fox for Campbell (42), K Nolan for A McGowan (47), S Horan for Burke (52, bc).

REF: R Malone (St Mary's, Saggart).