Dublin AHL 1

Kilmacud Crokes . . . 0-12
Ballinteer St John’s . . . 0-8

Daire Walsh

GOALKEEPER Eddie Gibbons delivered the goods at both ends of the pitch at Silver Park on Sunday as Kilmacud Crokes kick-started their Adult Hurling League Division One campaign with a four-point win over Ballinteer St John’s.

In addition to registering a brace of points – including a thunderous effort from play – the Stillorgan netminder also turned away a Rob Aherne penalty in the closing minutes. Marc Howard and Fionn Ó Ceallaigh were also amongst the scorers and while Ballinteer produced a spirited display throughout, the Dublin SHC holders came away with the spoils.

Despite the absence of Fergal Whitely and Ronan Hayes – on inter-county duty the night before – the Crokes management were still able to call upon nine players who featured in last November’s county final success over Na Fianna. James Dillon and Howard were included amongst this contingent and they got the wind-assisted hosts up and running with a brace of early points.

Ballinteer deployed James Gilligan in a deep role as the visitors battled against the elements, but Crokes extended their lead through additional scores by Ó Ceallaigh and wing-back Cian Ó Cathasaigh. Nevertheless, St John’s persisted and eventually got up an running with an 11th-minute point from Brian Smith.

Aherne also knocked over a subsequent free and with Crokes recording a succession of wides, Ballinteer weren’t out of the reckoning just yet.

Kieran Dowling’s side eventually settled into a more familiar rhythm, however, with Gibbons converting a monstrous free to supplement an earlier effort by midfielder Sean Kinsella.

After Caolan Conway and Ó Ceallaigh added to their tally, Gibbons stepped forward as part of general play and dissected the posts from inside his own ‘65’. While this eased Crokes towards a 0-9 to 0-2 interval buffer, they recognised scores would be hard to come by on the resumption.

From a Ballinteer perspective, it only took them eight minutes to surpass their opening period total – Aherne (two) and Jack Gilligan finding the range in style. Crokes did respond with a Cormac Murphy point from out towards the right-flank on the stroke of 40 minutes, but this was to be their final score in normal time.

Although Ballinteer passed up some good opportunities, unanswered frees from Cian Deignan and Fionnán Clabby left them just three points adrift with six minutes remaining. They had a golden chance to wipe out the Crokes cushion moments later, only for Gibbons to superbly turn behind Aherne’s firmly-struck penalty.

Clabby slotted over the resulting ‘65’ to keep Ballinteer in the hunt, but with Howard and substitute Aaron O’Toole ending a lengthy scoring drought with stoppage-time points, Kilmacud ultimately triumphed in this top-flight affair.

MATCHFILE

Scorers – Kilmacud Crokes: E Gibbons (1f), M Howard, F Ó Ceallaigh 0-2 each, C Ó Cathasaigh, S Kinsella, C Murphy, C Conway, J Dillon, A O’Toole 0-1 each. Ballinteer: R Aherne 0-3 (2f), F Clabby 0-2 (1f, 1 ‘65’), C Deignan (f), Jack Gilligan, B Smith 0-1 each.
KILMACUD CROKES: E Gibbons; R Smith, B O’Carroll, D Butler; C Ó Cathasaigh, M Grogan, R O’Loughlin; S Kinsella, C Murphy, S Veale, C Conway, M Howard; F Ó Ceallaigh, A Considine, J Dillon. Subs: S Purcell for Considine (h-t), C Ryan for R O’Loughlin (39), A O’Toole for Ó Cathasaigh (45), L O’Loughlin for Veale (53), C Hughes for Butler (60).
BALLINTEER ST JOHN’S: J Maher; E Davis, D Gormley, J Kelly; B Smith, F Clabby, J Gilligan; E Coffey, I Ó hEithir; R Aherne, S Fenton, T Aherne; James Gilligan, S Casserly, B Mannion. Subs: C Deignan for Casserly (15), J Graham for Ó hEithir (30+1), R Fanning for T Aherne (37).
MENTORS – Kilmacud Crokes: K Dowling, D McGovern, M Dunne, D Howley, R O’Loughlin. Ballinteer: K Sheehan, J Maguire, T Williams.
REFEREE: P Faughnan (St Patrick’s, Palmerstown).
WIDES – Kilmacud Crokes: 12 (7+5). Ballinteer: 8 (0+8).
CONDITIONS: Windy, but dry.
PLAYER OF THE MATCH: Eddie Gibbons (Kilmacud Crokes).