Counsel/Gaels preserve their Inter Club C’ship status
By Daire Walsh
GOOD Counsel/Liffey Gaels retained their Dublin Intermediate Club Football Championship status for 2023 with a 3-10 to 1-5 relegation play-off win over St Mark’s at McGee Park on Saturday evening.
After both sides finished bottom of their respective groups, they were forced into a fight for survival. Mark’s claimed the junior crown in 2021, but found life difficult on their return to the intermediate championship grade.
Although the Tallaght men were hoping to make the best use of home advantage for this encounter, it was Good Counsel/Liffey Gaels who flew out of the traps.
Points from the Quinn brothers – Alex and Ben – offered the visitors an early platform, before a superb goal from marauding defender Josh O’Brien created a substantial distance between the two teams.
Sean Dowling impressed throughout for Counsel/Gaels and made it tough for the Mark’s attack to secure a foothold in the play.
Nevertheless, the home team did receive a lifeline after Wayne Crosbie was hauled down inside the square at the end of a lung-bursting run.
Jamie O’Connor stepped forward to convert the subsequent penalty, leaving Mark’s just four points adrift at the interval. The tie remained alive for both sides on the resumption, especially with the Mustangs beginning to ask serious questions of their Galtymore Road counterparts.
Despite the loss of captain Graham Whelan to injury – although he did re-appear towards the end of the action – Mark’s cut further into their deficit with fine scores, the pick of them being an excellent O’Connor effort from play.
Yet Counsel/Gaels did not allow panic to set in, and a penalty of their own, courtesy of Robbie Ryder, moved them six points in front at an advanced stage of the second half.
Michael Nestor and Conor Forrester were starting to dictate the flow of the game and this eventually led to a game-clinching major from Dylan Kearns in the closing stages.
The dead-ball prowess of Sean O’Kane also proved pivotal as Counsel/Gaels enjoyed a satisfactory conclusion to a difficult championship campaign.
St Mark’s are currently 13th in Adult Football League Division Four with one game still to play against Clann Mhuire and while there will be obvious disappointment at how the intermediate championship has ended for them, they will know that they are capable of an immediate return from the junior ranks.