Kilmacud Crokes defeat St Vincents in style in PTSB Dublin SHC1 opener

KILMACUD CROKES 2-26

ST VINCENT’S 0-16

Brian Hayes claimed a brace of quickfire goals at a sunny Parnell Park on Saturday afternoon as Kilmacud Crokes opened their PTSB Dublin Senior 1 Hurling Championship Group 1 campaign with a confident win over St Vincent’s.

Ronan Hayes and Dara Purcell also helped themselves to a combined haul of 10 points in the Donnycarney venue as the seven-time champions sent out a serious signal of their intentions for the 2026 top-tier championship.

While Crokes got the ball rolling just 50 seconds into this contest when corner-forward Alex Considine knocked over a point from play, Vincent’s centre half-back Harry Curley was picked out off the resulting puck-out and struck an excellent long-distance score.

Wing-forward Matteo Cardiff also raised a white flag in response to back-to-back efforts by Oisin O’Rorke (free) and Fergal Whitely at the opposite end, before Crokes once again enjoyed a mini scoring blitz through the sticks of Ronan Hayes and Considine.

James Mulcahy slotted over a fine point for Vincent’s as the action progressed, only for Kilmacud half-backs Mark Grogan and Cian O’Cathasaigh to both add their names to the scoresheet in quick succession. Although Mulcahy and Brian Bolger split the posts either side of Grogan’s second of the half, Crokes impressively asserted their authority just past the first-quarter mark.

After breaking forward at pace down the left-wing, Dublin senior star Brian Hayes drilled a superb shot to the bottom right-hand corner of the net on 17 minutes. Vincent’s responded immediately with another Curley score, before Hayes capitalised on excellent approach work from Considine to bag his second goal of the game a little over a minute after his first.

This was a significant double blow for Vincent’s, for whom the experienced John Hetherton was missing from their starting line-up. Conor Burke, Bolger and Cardiff added points as the opening half wore on, but Kilmacud very much remained in control.

Thanks to additional contributions from Ger Veale, Dara Purcell (two), O’Rorke and Grogan – his third of an accomplished personal display – Crokes brought a commanding 2-13 to 0-9 buffer into the interval.

Conversely, Vincent’s were left with an uphill task on the restart and despite briefly reducing the gap with another Mulcahy point, substitute Finnian O’Donohue and Purcell quickly restored order for Crokes.

Even though Vincent’s added two points on the bounce via Paul Reynolds-Hand and Burke, Kilmacud did likewise through O’Donohue and Brian Hayes to underline their credentials once again. Bolger was doing his best to carry the fight for Vincent’s and he knocked over three points (including a brace of frees) either side of the third-quarter mark for the Marino men.

Yet Crokes maintained a potent attacking threat and continued to keep the scoreboard ticking over as the play developed.

Following the withdrawal of O’Rorke in the early stages of the second half, Ronan Hayes took over dead-ball duties and he contributed a point each from a free and a ‘65’ to supplement an earlier effort from play. Whitely, Purcell, O’Donohue and Veale raised further white flags in advance of Ronan Hayes converted a second ‘65’, but following a number of attempts close to the opposition goal, Vincent’s finally interrupted this scoring sequence with a point from corner-back Rory Dunne.

Kilmacud were determined to have the final say in the action, however, and Purcell’s fifth point in the opening minute of second-half stoppage-time rounded off an assured display from the southsiders.

Scorers – Kilmacud Crokes: B Hayes 2-1, R Hayes 0-5 (2 ‘65’, 1f), D Purcell 0-5, M Grogan, F O’Donohue 0-3 each, O O’Rorke 0-2 (2f), F Whitely, G Veale, A Considine 0-2 each, C O’Cathasaigh 0-1. St Vincent’s: B Bolger 0-5 (2f), J Mulcahy 0-3, H Curley, C Burke, M Cardiff 0-2 each, R Dunne, P Reynolds-Hand 0-1 each.

Kilmacud Crokes: E Gibbons; B Sheehy, P Linehan, D Geraghty; T Stakelum, M Grogan, C O’Cathasaigh; B Hayes, C Conway; F Whitely, R Hayes, G Veale; D Purcell, O O’Rorke, A Considine. Subs: F O’Donohue for Considine (h-t), G Flannery for O’Rorke (37), C Keys for Grogan (48), B O’Carroll for Stakelum (55).

St Vincent’s: D Perry; R Dunne, B Moorehouse-Carroll, P O’Connell; S Mulcahy, H Curley, P Gilroy; O Mulcahy, C Burke; L McGovern, B Bolger, M Cardiff; P Reynolds-Hand, J Mulcahy, T Connolly. Subs: K Ward for McGovern (h-t), B Murray for Curley (37), C MacCanna for Connolly (38), D Dunne for Mulcahy (43), S McCarry for Mulcahy (53).

Referee: Sean Stack (Pobal Parnell).