Plenty up for grabs in Round 2 of SHC ‘A’ Group encounters

Tue, 16th April 2019

The Dublin SHC 'A' moves up a gear this week with Round 2 of the Group games.

Reigning holders Ballyboden St Enda's face Whitehall Colmcille this Friday in their Group 4 clash in Parnell Park (7.30) - it forms part of an attractive double-header with the meeting of neighbours Craobh Chiaráin and St Vincent's in Group 3 (6.0).

A Finn McGarry point in the second minute of added time saw Boden defeat Lucan Sarsfields 1-15 to 1-14 in their opening tie at Parnell Park.

St Enda's hit the last three points of the contest to edge to victory despite playing for over 50 minutes with 14 men following the dismissal of Dean Curran.

Lucan led by four points, 1-11 to 1-7, in the 38th minute following Donal Flannery's goal but lifted by Conal Keaney, who was introduced as a sub in the sixth minute of the second half, and Paul Ryan Boden hit four of the next five scores.

But points from Ciarán Dowling and a Flannery free had Lucan in front by two, 1-14 to 1-12, before Boden struck for victory with Paul Ryan contributing 0-8 (4f, 1 '65', 1 sideline) overall.

Craobh Chiaráin were the top scorers in the opening round cruised to a 35-point victory (7-23 to 1-6) over and understrength Nh Fionnbarra in their SHC 'A' Group 3 encounter in Parnell Park.

The Donnycarney men made light of the conditions, which deteriorated into the second half, as they played an attractive brand of accurate first-time hurling.

Barrs' cause was not helped, to state the obvious, by the loss of several players to injury including Dublin forward Eamonn Dillon.

Cian Derwin starred for Craobh in the half-forward line and apart from striking over eight frees he also hitting five from play as well as contributing well to his side's game-plan.

St Vincent's launched their 2019 SHC 'A' Group 3 campaign with a comprehensive 13-point victory (1-20 to 1-7) over St Oliver Plunkett's/ER.

The Marino men were clearly the better side throughout and with wind advantage were 0-14 to 0-1 in front at the interval, Plunkett's only score coming in the 17th minute when Stuart Mullen converted a free.

Conor Burke put in an impressive opening for Vins and by the break he had five points from play to his credit, his brilliant strike from just inside his own half in the 15th minute being the pick of the collection.

John Hetherton tallied five successful deadball situations in the opening period and with Mark O'Farrell, Ruairi Trainor and Rian McBride strong at the back it was mostly one-way traffic.

By the 16th minute Vincent's were 0-10 to 0-0 clear following Mark O'Keefe's point following great defensive play by O'Farrell and they never looked in any trouble despite an improvement by Plunkett's in the second half with the wind in their favour.

Whitehall Colmcille, with many of their dual players who defeated Nh Olaf's in the SFC2 last Sunday, overcame Setanta 2-22 to 0-9 in their opening contest.

Eoghan O'Donnell and Mikey Noonan got Whitehall's goals while Seán Gray hit ten points over the hour.

Anthony Daly's Kilmacud Crokes, beaten finalists of the last three years, will look to improve on their Group 1 opener against Na Fianna when it took a Ronan Hayes goal deep in injury-time to snatch a 1-16 each draw in Parnell Park.

They face O'Tooles in Parnell Park on Wednesday evening (6.45) - the game is following by the meeting of Na Fianna and Faughs (8.15) in the same Group.

Na Fianna looked to be heading for victory when points from Feargal Breathnach, Seán Currie, Colin Currie (free), Donal Burke and AJ Murphy had them 1-16 to 0-15 clear as the game moved into added time.

Ronan Hayes then converted a 45-metre free, following a foul on Fergal Whitely, before dramatically earning a share of the points for the Stillorgan men with his goal in the third minute of injury-time.

Na Fianna, who shot 17 wides over the hour, led 1-8 to 0-7 at the interval with their goal coming from Seán Currie while Donal Burke, who finished with 0-5 from play, struck some excellent scores for the St Mobhi Road outfit who led 1-8 to 0-5 after 20 minutes before Crokes concluded the opening half on the up with points from Ronan Hayes (free) and Alex Considine.

Recent two in-a-row All-Ireland club champions, Cuala, face St Jude's on Wednesday night at Monastery Road, Clondalkin (7.30) in Group 2.

Cuala had not difficulty overcoming St Brigid's 3-26 to 1-12 in O'Toole Park in their opener.

David Treacy's first half goal had Willie Maher's men well on the way to victory by the interval as they held a commanding 1-13 to 1-4 advantage.

Brigid's had three men dismissed in the second half as Cuala added to their woes with goals from David Treacy, who finished with 2-9, and Cillian Sheanon.

Dublin footballer Con O'Callaghan lined out for the Dalkey men and contributed three points from play while Colm Cronin helped himself to 0-5.

DUBLIN SHC 'A' GROUP PHASE - ROUND 2

WEDNESDAY

GROUP 1

Parnell Park: O'Toole's v Kilmacud Crokes, 6.45

Parnell Park: Na Fianna v Faughs, 8.15

GROUP 2

Monastery Road, Clondalkin: St Jude's v Cuala, 7.30

GROUP 3

Lawless Park, Swords: St Oliver Plunkett's/ER v Nh Fionnbarra, 7.30

FRIDAY

GROUP 2