DUBLIN SFC1 FINAL

Daire Walsh

KILMACUD CROKES 0-11

NA FIANNA 0-10

They were forced to dig deep by a resolute Na Fianna side, but Kilmacud Crokes ultimately retained their Dublin Senior 1 Football Championship crown at a rain-soaked Parnell Park on Sunday.

Galway attacker Shane Walsh kicked four points from play as the Stillorgan club held their nerve to secure county honours by the slenderest of margins for a second consecutive year.

Just like St Jude’s in 2021, the Glasnevin outfit proved themselves to be admirable adversaries over the course of the action.

However, with Craig Dias joining Walsh in producing a big performance, Crokes kept their dreams of a back-to-back senior championship double alive for another week.

Kilmacud’s two-in-a-row-chasing hurlers face Na Fianna in this weekend’s small-ball decider and will take strength from watching their football counterparts claiming silverware.

While Na Fianna – playing in their first final at this grade since 2005 – stormed ahead with early points from Paddy Quinn and Aaron Byrne, Crokes had edged in front by the 10th minute courtesy of unanswered efforts by Dara Mullin, former Dublin stalwart Rory O’Carroll and Walsh.

Their opponents issued a swift response to the latter score with a free from David Lacey, before Crokes wing-back Andrew McGowan and Conor McHugh traded points in a lively opening quarter.

While Crokes created daylight through Dias and Mullin points, it was their Glasnevin counterparts who were the happier side at the interval.

Following successive contributions from Michael Day, Lacey (free) and Byrne, Na Fianna brought a slender 0-7 to 0-6 buffer into the dressing rooms.

Walsh was briefly forced off with a blood injury, but he subsequently emerged for the second half sporting a bandage on his head. Given they were already lining out minus the services of six-time Celtic Cross winner Paul Mannion, Crokes needed his presence on the resumption.

Although Dublin defender Eoin Murchan and his inter-county colleague McHugh were on target for Na Fianna, Ben Shovlin and Walsh cancelled out these efforts with points of their own.

Facing into a stiff breeze, Lar Norton’s challengers were finding scores increasingly hard to come by and left the door open for Crokes with a succession of wayward kicks at goal.

The loss of Quinn to a black card on 46 minutes was also keenly felt as Crokes made hay in his absence.

Supplementing a brace of Walsh points, Dias registered his second of the day to help the title holders regain the initiative.

Walsh split the uprights from 40 metres to give Crokes additional breathing space and despite Brian O’Leary reducing the deficit to the minimum in the seventh minute of stoppage-time, last season’s All-Ireland finalists did enough to hold out.

Match file

Scorers – Kilmacud Crokes: S Walsh 0-4; D Mullin (1m), C Dias 0-2 each; R O’Carroll, A McGowan, B Shovlin 0-1 each. Na Fianna: D Lacey (2f), C McHugh (2f), A Byrne 0-2 each, E Murchan, M Day, P Quinn, B O’Leary 0-1 each.

KILMACUD CROKES: C Ferris; M Mullin, C O’Shea, D O’Brien; R O’Carroll, A Jones, A McGowan; B Shovlin, C Dias; T Fox, S Walsh, S Horan; H Kenny, D Mullin, S Cunningham. Subs: C Casey for Walsh (30 to h-t, blood), C O’Connor for Fox (39), Casey for Horan, C Pearson for Cunningham (both 47), A Quinn for Kenny (65).

NA FIANNA: D O’Hanlon; G Farrell, E O’Dea, A Fitzgerald; J Cooper, E Murchan, A Rafter; M Day, P Quinn; D Quinn, A Byrne, D Lacey; G O’Reilly, C McHugh, B O’Leary. Subs: S Caffrey for O’Reilly (41), J Doran for D Quinn (52), Dean Ryan for Rafter, Donal Ryan for P Quinn (both 57).

MENTORS – Kilmacud Crokes: Robbie Brennan, Fionnán Kennedy, Robbie Davis, Ronan Ryan, Vinny Mooney. Na Fianna: Lar Norton, Conor Scully, Enda Ledwith, Shay Cloherty, Hugh Gallagher.

REFEREE: B Tiernan (O’Dwyers).

WIDES – Kilmacud Crokes: 8 (4+4). Na Fianna: 10 (4+6).

CONDITIONS: Wet and windy for the most part, making conditions quite tricky.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: Shane Walsh (Kilmacud Crokes).