St Jude’s set up title-match encounter with Crokes
By Daire Walsh
FOR THE third time in their history, St Jude’s will compete in a Dublin Senior Football Championship final as a result of their 1-18 to 3-5 victory against Lucan Sarsfields at Parnell Park last Saturday evening.
Despite a gallant final-quarter showing from their 12th Lock counterparts, Gareth Roche’s Tymon Park men were full value for their semi-final win.
Awaiting them in the forthcoming championship decider will be Kilmacud Crokes, who ended the title hopes of Ballyboden St Enda’s with a 1-15 to 1-8 triumph at the same venue on Saturday.
This will be a repeat of the 2018 final, which saw Crokes securing the top-tier crown with five points to spare (2-12 to 0-13).
While Roche has assumed the managerial reins from Padraic Monaghan since that day, the nucleus of the squad remains intact.
Although Brendan Gallagher (who was to end the game with a haul of 3-3) did his best to keep Lucan – the conquerors of previous champions Ballymun Kickhams at the quarter-final stage – ticking over, Jude’s were the dominant force in the opening half of Saturday’s curtain-raiser.
In addition to three points from the boot of David Mannix, ex-Cork footballer Niall Coakley (two), Alan Connolly and Colm Murphy were on target to give Jude’s a commanding 0-7 to 0-2 interval lead.
A coolly-converted Gallagher penalty offered Lucan renewed hope on the resumption, but their Tymon counterparts registered 1-7 without reply in response.
This included two-point salvos from Pat Spillane (son to the Kerry legend of the same name) and Sky Blues star Kevin McManamon as well as a 36th-minute goal courtesy of Coakley.
Whereas Spillane’s father finished his career with eight All-Ireland senior titles to his name, McManamon matched that haul with Dublin in 2020.
Their side looked set for a comfortable success in Donnycarney, but Lucan weren’t prepared to go down without a fight.
After hammering home a rebound following a Paul Copeland save off his second penalty of the game, Gallagher completed his hat-trick when referee Dan Stynes awarded Lucan another spot-kick with one minute of normal time remaining.
Yet, when the gauntlet was thrown down to them, Jude’s maintained their composure and advanced to another county decider.
Their maiden final appearance at this grade was in 2009 and it ended in a reversal for the Templeogue side at the hands of the aforementioned Ballyboden St Enda’s.
Anthony Rainbow’s Firhouse Road men were aiming to reach a third senior championship showpiece in succession when they faced Kilmacud in front of the RTE cameras.
Yet even though former inter-county dual star Conal Keaney was busy throughout, they ultimately fell well short of achieving this feat.
While Ryan Basquel, Warren Egan and Keaney were all on target in the opening period, a Shane Cunningham goal propelled their Stillorgan counterparts into a 1-9 to 0-3 interval cushion.
With Cunningham and ex-Sky Blues attacker Paul Mannion to the fore, Crokes had placed the outcome beyond doubt well before the end. Boden persevered in the face of adversity, however, and Simon Lambert grabbed a stoppage-time goal to leave them just seven points adrift in the end.