Kilmacud Crokes 1-15 Ballyboden St Endas 1-8
A dream double of Dublin senior county title successes remains a distinct possibility for Kilmacud Crokes after powering through to the football final.
Aided by Man of the Match Paul Mannion, and with goalscorer Shane Cunningham also sparkling in the forwards, the Crokes footballers matched last weekend’s achievement of their hurling counterparts by cruising through to the decider.
Mannion, on a break from Dublin duty in 2021, struck 0-4 in total and his freewheeling performance came as a reminder of just what Dessie Farrell’s Sky Blues missed in his absence.
Three of Mannion’s points arrived in the first-half as Crokes turned the screw early on, virtually wrapping up the win and securing a repeat of the 2018 final with southside neighbours St Judes, by half-time.
It was Mannion that put Crokes into a 0-8 to 0-2 lead approaching half-time and Cunningham then struck his goal, beating Kieran Kennedy in an aerial battle before getting a low shot away to the ‘Boden net.
It left Crokes 1-9 to 0-3 up at half-time and they would outscore 2016 All-Ireland champions ‘Boden by a point in the third quarter to stretch the gap even further.
Back to back Cunningham points in the 50th and 53rd minutes all but put this game to bed, even if ‘Boden threw the kitchen sink at it late on in search of, if not redemption, then at least a goal or two.
They did eventually find the net four minutes into stoppage them when Simon Lambert latched onto a ball across the goal and blasted to the roof of the net but it was far too little, far too late.
Goalkeeper Conor Ferris also got on the scoresheet for Robbie Brennan’s Crokes with two points from placed balls, the second of which closed out the scoring in the 59th minute.
Kilmacud Crokes: C Ferris (0-2, 2f); M Mullin, A McGowan, C O'Shea; C O'Connor, R O'Carroll, D O'Brien (0-1); B Shovlin, C Dias; T Fox (0-2, 1f), S Cunningham (1-2), S Horan (0-1); P Mannion (0-4, 3f), D Mullin (0-2), H Kenny (0-1).
Subs: C Casey for Dias 45, R McGowan for Fox 46, C Pearson for Kenny 54, B Sheehy for Shovlin 58, A Jones for Mannion 59.
Ballyboden St Endas: D Gogan; H Donaghy, S Clayton, C Flaherty; S Lambert (1-0), K Kennedy, J Holland; A Waters, D McCabe; D O'Reilly, C Basquel (0-1, 1f), A Flood; C Keaney (0-2), R Basquel (0-3, 2f), W Egan.
Subs: R McGarry (0-1) for O'Reilly h/t, D O'Mahoney for Flood 42, C O'Reilly for Egan 46, P Dunleavey for Waters 46, D Nelson (0-1) for McCabe 51.
Referee: D Sweeney.
