Round Up: Go-Ahead Ireland U21 Hurling Semi-Finals

The semi-finals of the Go-Ahead Ireland Dublin Under 21 ‘A’ Hurling Championship took place on Saturday afternoon with Kilmacud Crokes booking their place in the decider following their 2-12 to 0-14 victory over Lucan Sarsfields at Billings Park.  

Crokes raced out of the blocks with an instant David Purcell point preceding Brendan Kenny’s 2nd minute goal. 

The visitors settled into the contest with Massimo Pappalardo and Jack Behan excelling intheir defence while points from Ryan Clancy and Darragh Meehan helped trim their deficit to 1-6 to 0-7 by the interval. 

The concession of a goal to Oran O’Keeffe immediately from the restart undermined Lucan’s ambitions and with David Lucey and Luke O’Gorman impressing in defence, Kilmacud held on thanks to seven Purcell points and further scores by James Neary, Eoin Keys and Conal Ó Riain. 

Matters were even tighter at Páirc Naomh Uinsionn as Cuala did just enough to overcome St Vincent’s, prevailing by 0-20 to 2-12.

Despite facing an early five-point deficit, Cuala entered the break with the narrowest of leads courtesy of points from Aodhán English, Cillian Small and Ruairí McGrath.

St Vincent’s gradually restored their lead after the break but the Dalkey outfit finished strongly and scores from McGrath, Cillian Dockery and Small helped them over the line.  

It will be an all-southside affair in the ‘B’ final as well as Ballinteer St John’s and Faughsenjoyed relatively comfortable victories against Commercials and Clontarf respectively.

At Ballinteer Community School, goals in either half from Joey Quirke and Max Caulwell helped St John’s to ease past Commercials by 2-22 to 4-6. 

The likes of Cody Graham, Conor Quinn and Tommy Cullen kept the hosts on the front foot throughout with the latter contributing ten points to the home tally. 

While Diarmaid Ó Dúlaing netted twice and Ferdia Ó Nualláin added another goal for the visitors, St John’s kept on top thanks to four Jack Long points while Cormac Fenton, Quinn, Conor Roche, the lively Caulwell and Dylan Bannan all added scores by the final whistle. 

In St Anne’s Park, a strong start proved pivotal as Faughs got the better of Clontarf by 2-18 to 1-12. 

Goals from Dessie Ryan and Aedan Mostyn in the first quarter opened up a sizeable lead and the visitors kept control of matters through strong displays from Oisín Walsh, Sean McDonald, Ted Duke, David Pryce, Dan Ryan and goalkeeper Kevin Hogan. 

Mossy Moore, Walsh and Paul O’Connor chipped in with four points apiece with the Faughsscoring completed through points by Eoghan Brennan, Pryce and Colm McCabe.

In the ‘C’ Championship, Naomh Mearnóg dominated from the outset when overcoming Round Towers Clondalkin by 1-22 to 2-10 at Páirc Mearnóg. 

Early pressure from the hosts resulted in a Shane Archer point and an Aaron Fahy goal while the free-taking of Aaron Gahan saw them open up a 1-12 to 0-4 lead by the interval. 

The second-half resumed in a similar vein of Mearnóg control thanks to strong displays from James McNamee, Tynam Neville, Matthew Rean, Gahan and Cian Madden. 

Gahan finished the contest with eleven points to his name and despite having Zac Fahy dismissed, they withstood dome late Towers pressure with Archer and Charlie Aston scoring three points apiece.   

U21 ‘A’ HC semi-finals: Cuala 0-20 St Vincent’s 2-12; Kilmacud Crokes 2-12 Lucan Sarsfields 0-14. 

U21 ‘B’ HC semi-finals: Ballinteer St John’s 2-20 Commercials 4-6; Clontarf 1-12 Faughs 2-18. 

U21 ‘C’ HC semi-finals: Naomh Barróg v Fingallians OFF; Naomh Mearnóg 1-22 Round Towers Clondalkin 2-10.