STRONG SECOND HALF POWERS WHITEHALL COLMCILLE TO GO AHEAD SENIOR 2 HURLING GLORY

GO AHEAD DUBLIN SENIOR TWO HURLING CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL REPLAY 

WHITEHALL COLMCILLE 0-25 

FAUGHS 0-15 

By Daire Walsh 

Whitehall Colmcille produced a strong second half against 14-man Faughs at Parnell Park on Saturday afternoon to claim the Go Ahead Dublin Senior Two Hurling Championship title at the second time of asking.

Following their drawn encounter at the same venue 13 days ago, this initially looked like a game that could also go down to the wire. While Whitehall were a point in front at the interval, a Carl O’Mahony free for Faughs on the resumption levelled matters for the 11th occasion in the contest.

However, Johnny Greville’s Templeogue side subsequently lost James O’Brien to a red card and Whitehall pressed forward when presented with a numerical advantage. In addition to a 0-10 haul from Paddy Spellacy, Eoghan O’Donnell and Cormac Costello – who featured alongside each other for the Dublin footballers earlier this year – recorded four points apiece for Whitehall.

Carl O’Mahony (0-6) and Fergal Heavey (0-3) kept Faughs in contention for large spells, but their quest for the second-tier crown ultimately fell short. Nevertheless, it was still a good year overall for the Tymon Park men and they will join Whitehall in the 2023 edition of the Dublin Senior One Hurling Championship as a result of making the final in the first place.

Added to their starting line-up for this game, Heavey got Faughs up and running with an opening minute point. In the latter stages of that initial meeting between the two sides on October 23, Eoghan O’Donnell was propelled into a more advanced attacking role.

Despite donning the number six jersey, the gifted dual star was stationed on the opposition ’40’ on Saturday and split the uprights in response to Heavey’s breakthrough score. Liam Mostyn and Whitehall’s dead-ball specialist Paddy Spellacy proceeded to trade efforts and even though Faughs also missed some early opportunities, a second from Mostyn squeezed them back in front on nine minutes.

Spellacy and Eoghan O’Donnell pointed to edge Whitehall into the ascendancy, however, and the northsiders held onto a slender advantage after Enda O’Donnell cancelled out a sublime strike by O’Mahony on the left-wing.

Although Faughs had the aid of a slight breeze, there was little to separate the two teams as the opening period progressed. Following a brace from O’Mahony, corner-back Sean McDonald also raised a white flag from long-distance to keep the scoreboard ticking over from a Faughs perspective.

At the opposite end, Spellacy contributed a two-point salvo for Colmcilles. Sky Blues footballer Costello opened his personal account with a 24th-minute score, but Faughs finally created some daylight with impressive efforts courtesy of Heavey, O’Mahony and Ciaran Brennan.

Heavey’s third of the day moved Faughs back ahead in the wake of another double from Spellacy getting Whitehall on level terms. Their one-point cushion remained intact at the end of normal time in the first-half, only for Spellacy and Eoghan O’Donnell to combine to good effect in the additional stages.

They fired between the posts to offer the Collins Avenue outfit a 0-12 to 0-11 buffer at the break. O’Mahony’s fifth point of the tie kept Faughs in the reckoning when the action resumed, but O’Brien’s sending off on 35 minutes left them hamstrung.

Even though Eoghan O’Donnell and Sean Kellett found the target to give Whitehall some breathing space, a close-range O’Mahony free brought the Faughs deficit down to the bare minimum inside the final-quarter.

Yet Whitehall went on to build further momentum with Daire Gray, Niall O’Connor and Spellacy (free) firing over points in quick succession. Faughs substitute Jake Moore disrupted this scoring sequence on the stroke of 50 minutes, but Whitehall had gained a firm stranglehold around the middle-third.

In the space of nine minutes, Luke McCarthy, Costello, Spellacy, Enda O’Donnell and Conor Sheedy registered consecutive points to move Whitehall into an unassailable 0-22 to 0-14 lead.

Faughs centre half-back Conor O’Shea did drive over a free on the hour mark, but this was to be his side’s final score of the proceedings. After Spellacy had moved his tally into double figures, Costello knocked over two points in the space of 60 seconds to put the seal on Whitehall’s victory.

Scorers – Whitehall Colmcille: Paddy Spellacy 0-10 (8f, 1 ’65’), Eoghan O’Donnell, Cormac Costello 0-4 each, Enda O’Donnell 0-2, Sean Kellett, Luke McCarthy, Daire Gray, Niall O’Connor, Conor Sheedy 0-1 each. Faughs: Carl O’Mahony 0-6 (4f), Fergal Heavey 0-3, Liam Mostyn 0-2, Conor O’Shea (f), Sean McDonald, Ciaran Brennan, Jake Moore 0-1 each.

WHITEHALL COLMCILLE: Ronan Murray; Sean Giles, Eddie Moran, Sean Kellett; Dillon Constantine, Lee Gannon, Cian Murphy; Luke McCarthy, Niall O’Connor, Daire Gray, Eoghan O’Donnell, Paddy Spellacy; Conor Sheedy, Cormac Costello, Enda O’Donnell. Subs: Jack Darcy, Derry Noonan, Mikey Noonan, Paddy Giles, Gary Howard, Conor Cummins, Sean Gannon, Niall O’Donnell, Stephen Cassedy, Sam Thorp, Niall Carroll, Niall Molloy, Jamie O’Shaughnessy, James Barry.

FAUGHS: Eddie Hogan; Sean McDonald, Gavin Kenny, Sean O’Brien; Jack McVeigh, Conor O’Shea, Ciaran Brady; Ciaran Nagle, Fergal Heavey; David Crokes, James O’Brien, Carl O’Mahony; Liam Mostyn, Niall Fitzgibbon, Ciaran Brennan. Subs: Kevin Hogan, Emmet McKenna, Colm Foley, Jake Moore, Joe Kenny, Eamonn Hennessy, Jamie Maloney, Ronan Hennessy, Colm Leahy, Barry Cusack, Scott McConnell.

Referee: Danny Harrington (St Sylvester’s).