By Daire Walsh

Thursday January 19 2012

DUBLIN NORTH 1-19

DUBLIN SOUTH 3-11

The triumvriate of Paul Winters, Ciarán Kilkenny and Cormac Costello were to the fore in Parnell Park last Sunday afternoon, as Dublin North advanced to the Leinster Colleges SH ‘A’ Championship quarter-final at the expense of their metropolitan rivals, Dublin South.

North now face the daunting task of St Kieran’s, Kilkenny in the last eight, but on the basis of their display here they’ll be formidable opponents for any team remaining in the competition.

South had started this game brightly, however, with early points from James Roche and Naoise Greene, the latter going extremely close to finding the back of the North net. Dublin North would soon burst into life with a brace of frees from St Brigid’s clubman Winters, in what was proving to be a very lively opening.

Kilkenny and Dublin South’s centre-back Jamie Desmond then swapped points, before Costello flicked Kilkenny’s long delivery to the net for the game’s first goal on 12 minutes.

This was certainly a set-back to the prospective challenge of South, but they managed to keep in touch for much of the half, as points from Roche, Desmond and Tom Devlin cancelled out efforts from Costello, Aaron Jesson and Winters.

North did threaten to pull away with scores from Winters (three) and Kilkenny, but well-taken efforts for Dublin South, from Devlin, Ben McEntee and Desmond, meant there was only four points between the sides (1-10 to 0-9) at the half-way stage.

The game was still there for either team heading into the second period, but North made by far the better start after the resumption, as points from Jesson (two), Winters and Kilkenny opened up an eight-point gap.

Lively

Yet, just when it looked like North were going to run away with it, South forced their way back, as a fourth long-range free from Desmond was followed by an excellent goal by lively corner-forward Greene, who pulled to the net on 41 minutes via a pass inside by Roche.

This gave North something to ponder heading into the final quarter, but they managed to regain control, with further scores from Winters (two), Conor McHugh and dual star Kilkenny putting them 1-18 to 1-11 in front heading into the final 10 minutes.

They did have to endure a late scare, however, as South managed to bag a goal, either side of Kilkenny’s 57th-minute penalty miss, with a second Greene major added to by a penalty of their own from Roche.

This proved to be too little, too late for South, though, as North managed to hold out for a narrow victory.

SCORERS — Dublin North: P Winters 0-9 (8f), C Kilkenny 0-4, C Costello 1-1, A Jesson 0-3, C McHugh 0-2. Dublin South: N Greene 2-1, J Roche 1-2 (1-0 pen, 0-1f), J Desmond 0-4 (4f), T Devlin 0-2, B McEntee, P Doherty 0-1 each.

Dublin North: D Green; E Howard, M O’Dea, L Carey; K Rogers, S McClelland, G Burke; A Jesson, C Boland; C McHugh, C Kilkenny, C Costello; AJ Murphy, P Winters, G Williams. Subs: P Graves for Murphy (37), F McGibb for Rogers (53), C Smith for Williams (58).

Dublin South: P Tighe; E McLoughlin, R Tierney, K Wigglesworth; T McGrath, J Desmond, S Drummond; C O’Shea, B McEntee; D Butler, T Devlin, P Doherty; N Greene, J Roche, E Pendergast. Subs: N O’Dowd for McLoughlin (h-t), G Harrington for Butler (36), M Geraghty for Devlin (54), K Ward for McEntee (57).

REFEREE: T McCarthy (St Vincent’s).

– Daire Walsh