Faughs claim victory over St Judes at O'Toole Park in PTSB Dublin SHC 1

PTSB DUBLIN SENIOR 1 HURLING CHAMPIONSHIP GROUP 2

FAUGHS 1-21

ST JUDE’S 2-16

Faughs produced a strong finish at O’Toole Park on Saturday evening to earn their first win in Group 2 of the PTSB Dublin Senior 1 Hurling Championship at the expense of local rivals St Jude’s.

Having lost out to St Brigid’s in their opening game of this year’s competition, Faughs were facing the prospect of back-to-back defeats when they trailed 2-16 to 0-17 with just under five minutes remaining in normal time. Yet thanks to a superb unanswered haul of 1-4, Faughs came out on top in the most dramatic of fashions.

Like their neighbours (both teams are based out of Wellington Lane in Templeogue), Jude’s were hoping for an ideal response to losing out in the opening round of fixtures in Group 2 of the Dublin SHC in 2026. The navy and blue outfit had kick-started their campaign in the same venue last Thursday week and were on the receiving end of a loss to Cuala.

Added to the starting line-up for this game, Cathal Martin replied to early Faughs points from James O’Brien and Ciarán Nagle with successful frees on both occasions.

Jude’s had the elements behind them in the opening 30 minutes and created momentum when Joe McManus, corner-back Ciaran Mangan and full-forward Conor Nolan (with a free from inside his own half) all raised white flags in quick succession.

Faughs were displaying plenty of attacking intent, however, and subsequently moved a point clear with consecutive contributions from O’Brien, Liam Mostyn, Seán McDonald and Cormac Dowd. There was a nice flow to the tie during these early exchanges and Martin enhanced his personal tally to level matters for Jude’s in the 12th minute.

Goal-scoring opportunities were initially at a premium, but when the ball came in the direction of Jude’s inside forward Callum Graham, he found the bottom left-hand corner of the opposite net with style and aplomb. This offered Jude’s some breathing space, as did a later point from industrious wing-forward Declan O’Connor.

A free from the dependable O’Brien helped Faughs to finally interrupt this scoring sequence on 17 minutes, but Jude’s kept their composure. Following a fine catch, run and point by John Carty, former All Star hurler Danny Sutcliffe (who was named at centre half-back, but played in an advanced role for the majority of the contest) also added his name to the scoresheet from a left-hand angle.

Faughs corner-forwards Aedan Mostyn and Brian Murray found the target as the play progressed, but a Diarmaid McLoughlin point in between these efforts left Jude’s with a 1-10 to 0-9 cushion at the interval.

While it now looked trickier on paper to get scores owing to the conditions, Jude’s did get up and running quite quickly in the second half with a free from Martin. Faughs were still very much in the reckoning though and a two-point salvo by O’Brien brought their deficit down to three on 34 minutes.

There was the same gap between the sides when Martin and Mangan points were cancelled out by Murray and O’Brien (free), but a fine O’Brien score from play made it a two-point game inside the final-quarter.

Nonetheless, a Martin point brought a sense of calm back to the Jude’s ranks and an outstanding individual goal by Graham (his second) in the 48th minute suddenly had them in sight of the victory they craved.

Three successive points in the space of two minutes courtesy of O’Brien (two) and Chris Bennett kept the Faughs hopes alive, only for Jude’s to seemingly reinforce their authority with additional points from Mangan and McManus.

However, credit must go to Faughs for the way they battled and when a wind-assisted puckout from Eoghan MacNamara landed in towards the opposition goal on 56 minutes, Bennett pulled impressively to the net.

This provided Faughs with a lifeline and after another pointed free from O’Brien left the bare minimum on the scoreboard, an exciting period of stoppage-time was upon those in attendance.

Faugh had their tails up when Liam Mostyn wiped out the Jude’s lead two minutes into time added on and when he stepped forward to negotiate a free inside his own ‘45’, netminder MacNamara showcased nerves of steel to spectacularly knock the ball over the bar.

This had Faughs back in front for the first time since the third minute of the action and although he was forced to shoot from an acute angle, another Liam Mostyn score off a resulting attack put the seal on a gritty comeback win for his side.

Scorers – Faughs: J O’Brien 0-10 (8f), C Bennett 1-1, L Mostyn 0-3, B Murray 0-2, E MacNamara 0-1 (f), S McDonald, C Dowd, C Nagle, A Mostyn 0-1 each. St Jude’s: C Martin 0-6 (6f), C Graham 2-0, C Mangan 0-3, J McManus 0-2, C Nolan 0-1 (f), D Sutcliffe, J Carty, D McLoughlin, D O’Connor 0-1 each.

Faughs: E MacNamara; C Leahy, C McCabe, L Gammell; C O’Mahony, J Kenny, S McDonald; L Mostyn, C Dowd; N Fitzgibbon, C Bennett, C Nagle; A Mostyn, J O’Brien, B Murray. Subs: O Walsh for Dowd (41-42, blood), S O’Brien for McCabe (44), O Walsh for O’Mahony (49).

St Jude’s: M Hartnett; C Mangan, G McManus, S Wynne; E McCallion, D Sutcliffe, J Carty; D McLoughlin, J McManus; D O’Connor, J Nugent, O Costello; C Graham, C Nolan, C Martin. Subs: D Malone for O’Connor (42), E McLoughlin for Costello (54).

Referee: Fergal McDonagh (Round Tower Clondalkin).