Niall Moyna’s DCU too good for city rivals DIT

DCU 1-16 DIT 1-09

Daire Walsh

A strong final-quarter paid dividends for DCU at Bray Emmets GAA this evening, as the Ballymun Road side booked their place in the semi-final of the Independent.ie Higher Education Senior Football League Division One at the expense of Metropolitan rivals DIT.

Thanks to strong showings by Paul Brogan (brother of Dublin stars Alan and Bernard) and substitute Bryan McMahon, DIT had found themselves on level terms with 12 minutes remaining in the contest.

Niall Moyna’s charges displayed great composure during the closing moments, however, and following a coolly-converted penalty from Roscommon’s Donie Smith three minutes from time, they secured their spot in the penultimate round of the top-flight competition.

Playing on the north Wicklow’s impressive all-weather surface, DCU raced into an early six point lead thanks to 0-2 salvos from full-forward Conor McGraynor and Conor McGraynor, as well as singles by Gary Kelly and Smith.

A fantastic point on the run by wing-back Shane Dowling finally helped DIT, to settle though, and despite conceding another close-range free to Smith on the stroke of 15 minutes, back-to-back efforts courtesy of Louth panellist Conor Grimes and Conor Compton help them to build some much-needed momentum.

Indeed, the decision to transfer Brogan to the edge of the square (which also led to the re-deployment of Tomas O’Connor at midfield) was helping to galvanise the DIT challenge, and the St Oliver Plunkett’s/Eoghan Ruadh club man was heavily involved in the build-up to McMahon’s palmed three-pointer on 28th minute.

With their tails now up, Brogan split the posts from the right-wing to restore parity in time for the interval (0-8 to 1-5).

This set things up nicely upon the resumption, and although DCU continued to threaten through the lively Evan Kelly and Galway’s towering Tom Flynn, well-worked scoresfrom Darren O’Reilly and McMahon twice provided DIT with a slender advantage.

However, with Rory O’Connor and McGraynor adding to an earlier Kelly brace, DCU remained firmly contention as the half wore on.

It was difficult to predict how the game was going to pan out for much of the half, but after McGraynor secured his fourth point of the tie, Smith stepped forward to expertly fire his place-kick beyond the reach of Conor Fergus.

This finally created significant daylight between the teams, and owing to quick-fire points from Smith, McNally and Jonathan Bealin (son of former Dublin player Paul), DCU ultimately eased towards a seven-point triumph.

Scorers – DCU: D Smith 1-4 (1-0 pen, 0-3f), C McGraynor 0-4 (3f), C McNally 0-3, E Kelly 0-2, J Bealin, D Byrne, R O’Connor 0-1 each. DIT: B McMahon 1-1, C Madden 0-2 (2f), C Compton (f), S Dowling, D O’Reilly, P Brogan, A Waters, C Grimes 0-1 each.

DCU: B Flynn; J Smith, D Ring, D Ward; J Bealin, D Byrne, C Daly; T Flynn, S O’Brien; C McNally, D Smith, R O’Connor; G Kelly, C McGraynor, E Kelly.

Subs: S McCoy for Kelly (36).

DIT: C Fergus; O Manning, B Power, S Clayton; S Dowling, S O’Connor, D O’Reilly; P Brogan, A Waters; R Gaughan, C Grimes, E Flanagan; C McGettigan, T O’Connor, C Compton.

Subs: B McMahon for Gaughan (6), C Madden for Compton (h-t), G Gallagher for Clayton (56), R Noonan for Waters (58), P Kiernan for Brogan (60), C Doyle for Manning (62).

Referee: D Gough (Meath).