Despite a blistering start Thomas Davis came up short in encounter with Crokes
By Daire Walsh
Despite making a blistering start to the contest, Thomas Davis came up short in their Dublin Senior One Football Championship semi-final encounter with defending champions Kilmacud Crokes at Parnell Park on Sunday.
Galway star Shane Walsh kicked eight points for Crokes as the Stillorgan club eventually ran out 0-12 to 1-3 winners.
Finalists in 2019, Davis dramatically knocked out neighbours St Jude’s in the group stages of this year’s competition. They went on to record an emphatic 1-12 to 0-5 triumph over Castleknock in the quarter-finals and having defeated Kilmacud in the penultimate round three years ago, Davis believed that history could repeat itself in 2022.
Current team manager Ciaran Farrelly was one of their goalscorers in that 2019 semi-final success, but it was one of the Tallaght side’s younger contingent who did the business for them in the early moments of this game. Fionn Murray was part of the Dublin U20 squad earlier this year and he found the net in the fourth minute to supplement a breakthrough point from defender Gavin Carruth.
This threw down the gauntlet to Crokes, but the title holders responded in clinical style. Although Paul Mannion was marked absent through injury, the nine-time Dublin champions knocked over eight points without reply.
Five of these came from Footballer of the Year nominee Walsh, while Dan O’Brien, Shane Cunningham and Dara Mullin also found the target. Conor Guilfoyle finally responded for Davis in first-half stoppage time, however, and this left them just three points behind (0-8 to 1-2) at the interval.
They remained in the hunt during a cagey start to the second period and a superb solo effort from Dublin senior hurler Davy Keogh on 41 minutes kept Crokes very much on their toes. Nonetheless, Kilmacud are a hard team to peg back once they move into the ascendancy and another brace of Walsh frees offered them additional breathing space.
The subsequent dismissal of midfielder Ryan Deegan left Davis hamstrung in the closing moments of the tie and Crokes made full use of their numerical advantage. Even though Robert Crilly pulled off an outstanding save from Walsh, the Galwegian and substitute Cian O’Connor knocked over late points to leave Davis six in arrears at the final whistle.
As disappointing as this result was in the end, the Kiltipper Road men still have a shot at silverware as they currently sit at the summit of the Adult Football League Division One table with one game remaining.
Kilmacud Crokes: C Ferris; D O’Brien, R McGowan, M Mullin; C O’Shea, R O’Carroll, A McGowan; B Shovlin, C Dias; A Jones, S Walsh, T Fox; H Kenny, D Mullin, S Cunningham. Subs: C O’Connor, S Horan, C Casey, A Quinn.
Thomas Davis: R Crilly; A Fallon, E Lambert, A Shorten; G Carruth, C Murphy, A Waddick; R Deegan, S Kennedy; S Farrelly, E Conroy, D Keogh; F Murray, E Kirby, C Guilfoyle. Subs: O Kelly, E O’Toole, J Lambert, C Sallier.