Preview: PTSB Dublin Senior 1 Hurling Championship Final

Cuala and Kilmacud Crokes will renew final hostilities when they meet in the PTSB Dublin Senior 1 Hurling Championship decider at Parnell Park on Saturday night (7.15). 

The southside rivals fought out the 2016 and 2017 finals with Cuala coming out on top by three points on both occasions and it’s unlikely that the margin at the weekend will be any greater given how well-matched the teams are. 

Both sides came through the group stages unscathed, winning all five of their matches and both finished on the front foot in their semi-final victories over Na Fianna and Lucan Sarsfields last Sunday week. 

Cuala’s win against the holders was the more noteworthy one with goals at either end of the contest from Conall O’Toole and Colm Cronin bookending their 2-21 to 1-19 victory. 

With Con O’Callaghan choosing to focus exclusively on football this campaign, O’Toole’sscoring contributions in attack have been crucial while Cronin’s work rate and perseverance have caused numerous headaches for opposing full-backs. 

It is further down the field that Cuala have impressed the most however with Seán Brennan making crucial saves all year, offering a calm presence to complement the defensive security of Eoghan O’Callaghan and Cian O’Callaghan in their full-back line. 

Aodhán English has made great strides for the Dalkey side this season, whose seven successive victories adequately reflect the influence of both Diarmaid Ó Floinn and Sean Moran from half-back. 

Crokes will be doing their utmost to curb that particular springboard and in the likes of Fergal Whitely and Ronan Hayes, they have players that can keep their opponents on the back foot for the large part. 

Brian Hayes is another potential match-winner for Kilmacud and it will be interesting to see if Cuala’s Conor Groarke is assigned a man-marking role to curb the influence of the Dublin midfielder.

Hayes is due a strong performance and the same could be said for Brendan Kenny, who looks underutilised at corner-forward given the energy and scoring potential that he can offer further out the field. 

Despite that, Crokes have enough attacking threat in the form of Alex Considine and Dara Purcell to post a winning tally while Oisin O’Rorke and Ger Veale are great options to bring in from the bench.  

Cian Ó Cathasaigh’s likely absence from injury weakens the Kilmacud defence but they defended heroically in their 0-20 to 0-19 semi-final win against Lucan, especially after the dismissal of Brian Sheehy early in the second-half. 

The likes of Darragh Geraghty, Mark Grogan and David Lucey made light of their numerical disadvantage on that occasion and to come through such a tight battle should do wonders for their morale. 

How Cuala’s dual players deal with last Sunday’s SFC1 final will also prove instructive but with Groarke and Jamie Conroy only introduced off the bench, there shouldn’t be too many issues in terms of fatigue. 

For those unable to attend on Saturday night, the final will be shown live on RTE2, with their coverage starting at 7.00.