Dublin AHL Division 3

Daire Walsh

THE SCORING prowess of Ciarán Foley and Donal Leavy helped Naomh Olaf to convincingly defeat the previously unbeaten Fingallians in Division 3 of the Adult Hurling League at Páirc Uí Bhriain last Wednesday evening.

Finishing with a combined tally of 1-15, this attacking duo went a long way towards ensuring the Sandyford outfit moved into fifth place in the table.

Gordon Rogers (0-9) did his utmost for the Fingallians cause and even though this result sees them lose ground on pace-setters Castleknock, the Swords men have shown enough thus far to suggest they will still be in the reckoning at the business end of the season.

That earlier run of form put Fingallians in a confident mood for their trip to the southside and this was evident during the opening moments of the contest. Rogers, Ben Stears, Mick Rock and Oisin Johnson fired over consecutive scores to propel their side into a four-point lead.

Olaf’s soon settled into their stride with a trio of unanswered efforts by Foley and despite Rogers splitting the uprights for a second time at the opposite end, the hosts were growing in stature. Leavy and Foley (two) edged them into the ascendancy, before Fingallians equalised through a Rogers free on the 20-minute mark.

The sides remained inseparable when singles from John Carroll and Leavy were cancelled out by Rogers and Johnson for the northsiders, but Olaf’s finished the half much the stronger. Squeezed in between placed-ball strikes courtesy of Foley, Leavy hammered to the net from close range.

While a Sean Hickey shot on 29 minutes was initially awarded as a Fingallians goal, it was ultimately ruled to have hit the side-netting.

Five points ahead at the break (1-10 to 0-8), Olaf’s elevated their performance to another level on the restart.

Although Fingallians got the second-period scoring under way with another Rock point, Olaf’s had stretched seven clear by the 43rd minute.

In addition to 0-2 apiece from Foley and Leavy, Eoghan Doyle and Jack O’Grady found the range for the home team.

Substitute Eoin Howard, Cillian Johnson and Rogers were the sole contributors for Fingallians during this spell, but the latter did spark a mini revival for the visitors inside the final quarter.

Three frees by the dependable number 14 – and a Hickey point from play – ensured Leavy’s major was all that separated the teams with six minutes remaining.

Foley had struck his 10th point on 46 minutes to bring the Olaf’s haul up to 1-17 and it was now time for someone else to chip in. After the ball broke kindly into his path, midfielder Tom McGuirk displayed great composure to grab his side’s second goal.

Rogers dissected the uprights once again in response, only for Leavy and Darragh Hickey to close out the game for Olaf’s.

Match file

Scorers – Naomh Olaf: C Foley 0-10 (8f); D Leavy 1-5; T McGuirk 1-0; E Doyle, J O’Grady, J Carroll, D Hickey 0-1 each. Fingallians: G Rogers 0-9 (7f); M Rock, O Johnson 0-2 each; C Johnson, B Stears, S Hickey, E Howard, D Williams 0-1 each.

NAOMH OLAF: D Pollard; F McLoughlin, B Doyle, S McDaid; L Donnelly, E Foley, N Burke; E Doyle, T McGuirk; J O’Grady, C Foley, J Carroll; D Hickey, D Leavy, E Murphy. Subs: H Byrne for E Doyle (48), D O’Brien for McDaid (55), S O’Neill for Murphy (56), N Gallagher for Carroll (58), C McDaid for O’Grady (59).

FINGALLIANS: D Greene; A Smyth, D Fagan, C Byrne; I Kennedy, S Howard, D Lynch; C Johnson, C Markey; B Stears, S Hickey, M Rock; O Johnson, G Rogers, M Cullen. Subs: C Shaw for Lynch (25), E Howard for Cullen (36), D Williams for Johnson (39).

MENTORS – Naomh Olaf: S Mulvey, S Pollard, C Fleming, B Connolly, M Barry. Fingallians: D O’Reilly, H Hayward, T Fletcher.

REFEREE: K O’Brien (Good Counsel).
WIDES – Naomh Olaf: 9 (4+5). Fingallians: 7 (5+2).

CONDITIONS: Dry and breezy.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: Donal Leavy (Naomh Olaf).