Kilmacud Crokes defeat Ballinteer St Johns in PTSB Dublin SFC 1 thriller

KILMACUD CROKES 1-19 

BALLINTEER ST JOHN’S 1-14

Kilmacud Crokes progressed to the last eight of the PTSB Dublin Senior 1 Football Championship as they overcame Ballinteer St John’s by five points at Parnell Park on Sunday afternoon. 

With Clontarf overcoming Whitehall Colmcille in O’Toole Park, Crokes needed a five-point win to ensure their progression and they managed just that against a St John’s team that will rue some errant shooting in the closing stages. 

It was Kilmacud that held the upper hand at half-time as Paul Mannion helped himself to 1-7as his side enjoyed a 1-11 to 0-9 advantage. 

Eoghan Fitzpatrick’s superb goal early in the second-half brought Ballinteer back into contention but Mannion’s brilliance proved the deciding factor with his sublime two-pointed free in added time seeing his team into the last eight. 

Crokes made the early running through a 3rd minute point by Niall Comerford before Luke Breathnach levelled matters in an instant for St John’s. 

That proved an isolated moment of positivity for Ballinteer in the initial stages as Kilmacud controlled matters with Mannion converting a two-pointed free in the 6th minute. 

Dara Mullin, who has looked in superb form all campaign, added to the Crokes lead within a minute and their lead extended to six points by the 10th minute as Mannion curled over a trademark two-pointer. 

While Luke Cullen popped over a ‘mark’ in the 14th minute, St John’s failed to take advantage of the next opportunity that came their way as Jack Lundy saw his penalty pushed to safety by Robbie Murray after Mark McNally was fouled by Mikey Mullin. 

That miss looked particularly costly as Mannion kicked his third two-pointer in the 19thminute before clinically firing home a penalty two minutes later beyond the diving Aodhán Clabby. 

Lundy atoned for his earlier miss as he kicked an excellent two-pointed free to generate some momentum into St John’s play that yielded further scores from Eoghan Fitzpatrick and Seamus Fenton.

Back came Kilmacud with Conal Ó Riain and Cillian O’Shea on target before Liam Smith completed the scoring as Crokes entered the break leading by five points. 

An outstanding Mannion two-pointer within three minutes of the restart saw that advantage extended but St John’s replied two minutes later as Lundy’s sublime pass allowed Fitzpatrick the time to race in and crash an unstoppable finish past Murray. 

Kilmacud responded well to this body blow through points from Mark O’Leary and Finnian Donohoe but St John’s replied in kind through Lundy and substitute Donal O’Meara. 

The four-point margin was maintained as Mannion and Lundy traded frees early in the final quarter with Ballinteer spurning a number of presentable chances to close the gap further. 

An almighty scramble that saw McNally and Smith denied on two occasions summed up Ballinteer’s fortunes as Mannion calmly slotted over a 50-metre free at the opposite end, finishing the contest with 1-13 to his name.     

Scorers – Kilmacud Crokes: P Mannion 1-13 (1-0pen, 3 F2, 2 P2, 0-3f); C O’Shea, N Comerford, C Ó Riain, F Donohoe, D Mullin, M O’Leary 0-1 apiece. Ballinteer St John’s: E Fitzpatrick 1-2 (1 P2); J Lundy 0-4 (1 F2, 2f); M McNally, L Smith, R Cullen, L Breathnach, L Cullen (‘mark’), S Fenton, D O’Meara, N Devereux 0-1 apiece.

Kilmacud Crokes: R Murray; M Mullin, T Clancy, J Murphy; A Jones, C O’Shea, L Fearon; B Shovlin, N Comerford; C O’Connor, P Mannion, C Ó Riain; F Donohoe, D Mullin, S Horan. Subs: M O’Leary for Horan (half-time), P O’Connor for D Mullin (half-time), C Dias for Ó Riain (48), D O’Brien for Fearon (55), D Dempsey for Donohoe (57).  

Ballinteer St John’s: A Clabby; C Fitzpatrick, M Gardiner, B Millist; M McNally, L Smith, D Devereux; E Fitzpatrick, S Fenton; P Coleman, J Lundy, R Cullen; A Bradshaw, L Breathnach, L Cullen. Subs: D O’Meara for Bradshaw (37), I Ó hEithir for C Fitzpatrick (43), L Fenton for S Fenton (50), N Devereux for L Cullen (55), F Nolan for Coleman (57). 

Referee: Seán McCarthy (St Vincent’s)..