Dublin exit hurling championship at hands of Leesiders

Daire Walsh

In spite of a spirited final-quarter showing, Dublin’s All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship campaign came to an end at Semple Stadium, Thurles last night.

Courtesy of first-half goals from Tim O’Mahony and Shane Kingston – son of team manager Kieran – it was their opponents Cork who secured the spoils on a final scoreline of 2-26 to 2-24. 30-time winners of the Liam MacCarthy Cup, the Leesiders will now face Leinster champions Kilkenny in the last-four.

Following their provincial decider defeat against the latter two weeks earlier, Dublin were looking to rediscover the form that saw them overcoming Galway so impressively at the Leinster semi-final stage.

This was Dublin’s first appearance in an All-Ireland quarter-final since 2015 and Mattie Kenny’s troops were eager to send out a big statement.

There was considerable local interest within the Sky Blues ranks, with James Madden (Ballyboden St Enda’s), Danny Sutcliffe (St Jude’s) and Chris Crummey (Lucan Sarsfields) included in the starting line-up. Crummey’s brother Paul and Thomas Davis star Davy Keogh were listed amongst the replacements and both players saw action over the course of the contest.

Additionally, former St Patrick’s, Palmerstown defender Liam Rushe – now a member of Na Fianna on Dublin’s northside – was selected in the pivotal position of centre half-back.

The initial signs were promising for the Metropolitans as Donal Burke’s 13th-minute free edged them into a 0-6 to 0-5 lead.

However, O’Mahony’s superb individual three-pointer five minutes later moved Cork into the ascendancy and the Munster giants pushed forward in the remaining minutes of the half.

While Rushe landed an excellent score to supplement a flurry of contributions from Burke, Kingston’s major handed their Rebel counterparts a 2-13 to 0-11 interval cushion.

When Keogh entered the fray in place of Cian O’Sullivan just past the 50-minute mark, Dublin were all of nine points adrift. To their credit, they managed to bring the gap down to four in the closing minutes with Sutcliffe twice finding the target in clinical fashion.

Nevertheless, Cork fired back with four unanswered points to see out the game in fine style.