Costello and Mannion point way for senior footballers

LEINSTER SFC QUARTER-FINAL

DUBLIN 0-26 KILDARE 0-11

Dublin progressed to the Leinster SFC final following this 15-point victory over Kildare in Sunday's provincial semi-final at Croke Park in front of an attendance of 36,126.

While the Dubs were convincing winners on the final scoreboard there were aspects of their play they will be working on ahead of the Leinster decider against Meath in two weeks' time.

While Jim Gavin's men didn't raise a green flag they had to thank Stephen Cluxton for his razor reflexes to deny the Lilywhites on two occasions as the bore down on goal.

The Parnell's man marked his 100th SFC appearance with a top quality display.

Cluxton made a point-blank save from Ben McCormack in the opening half. After the break Ben McCormack looked set to score before he sliced wide as Cluxton advanced and with 20 minutes to go McCormack angled in on the Dublin goal but lost his footing under pressure before offloading to Keith Cribbin who had his goal effort brilliant thwarted by Dublin's captain.

Dublin's scoring heroes though were Cormac Costello again and Paul Mannion as both gave an masterclass in precision and accuracy.

Costello, who hit 1-12 last time out against Louth, tallied 0-9 while Mannion's tally of seven points included some very stylish long-range points off his left foot.

Dublin hit pockets of impressive football including the opening 13 minutes at which stage they led 0-7 to 0-1 and again over the concluding 20-plus minutes when the outscored their opponents 0-11 to 0-2.

Kildare opened the day's scoring with a pointed free from the impressive Adam Tyrrell but Dublin found their stride early on as points from Mannion (two), Costello (three, one free, one '45'), Cian Kilkenny and Brian Fenton had Dublin 0-7 to 0-1 clear after just 13 minutes.

The Lilywhites though responded as Dublin's work-rate dropped and clipped the next three points before the 16th minute with the potent Ben McCormack on target on two occasions.

By the interval Dublin were 0-11 to 0-7 in front with Cluxton having to make a great close-range save to deny McCormack following a good ball from the high-fielding Kevin Feely.

Dublin got the opening three points of the second half when Costello (free), Mannion and Brian Howard were on target to make it 0-14 to 0-7 but in between Kildare's McCormack blazed wide with the goal at his mercy.

In the 50th minute Cluxton showed his athleticism to deny Keith Cribbin and with that Kildare's challenge faded.

Over the concluding 20 minutes Dublin played some fine combination football to outscore their opponents convincingly and set up their Leinster final against the Royal County.

One concern for Dublin was the sight of Darren Gavin hobbling off injured in added time, as the Dubs had used their allowed subs he could not be replaced.

SCORERS - Dublin: C Costello 0-9 (0-2f, 0-2 ’45’), P Mannion 0-7, C O’Callaghan, C Kilkenny 0-3 each, B Fenton 0-2, B Howard, P Small 0-1 each. Kildare: A Tyrrell 0-4 (0-1f), B McCormack 0-3, N Flynn (0-1f), M O’Grady, K Feely, D Hyland 0-1 each.

DUBLIN: S Cluxton; M Fitzsimons, C O’Sullivan, D Byrne; J McCarthy, J Small, J McCaffrey; B Fenton, MD Macauley; N Scully, C Kilkenny, B Howard; P Mannion, C Costello, C O’Callaghan. Subs: P Small for Macauley (53), P McMahon for O’Sullivan (53), E Murchan for McCaffrey (62), D Gavin for Kilkenny (62), P Andrews for O’Callaghan (64), R O’Carroll for Fitzsimons (65), D Gavin (inj, 72).

KILDARE: M Donnellan; P Kelly, M O’Grady, M Dempsey; D Hyland, E Doyle, K Cribbin; K Feely, T Moolick; D Slattery, F Conway, C Healy; A Tyrrell, B McCormack, N Flynn. Subs: K O’Callaghan for Flynn (29), C O’Donoghue for Moolick (57), J Hyland for Healy (59), E O’Flaherty for Cribbin (61), C Hartley for Slattery (67).

REF: C Lane (Cork).