AFL1 ROUNDUP – 15TH JULY
ADULT FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION ONE ROUND-UP: JULY 15
Kilmacud Crokes and St Jude’s lead the way in Division One of the Adult Football League, after another round of fixtures took place across the county on Saturday evening.
Crokes secured their fourth consecutive victory of the campaign at home to St Oliver Plunkett’s/Eoghan Ruadh last Wednesday, and after they received a walkover from their proposed weekend meeting with Ballyboden St Enda’s, Gabriel Bannigan’s side now find themselves with an impressive haul of 17 points from 11 games to date.
They are just ahead of Jude’s on score difference, who shared the spoils with Skerries Harps on Saturday. Successive wins against Ballymun Kickhams, Thomas Davis and St Vincent’s meant that Jude’s were in a confident mood ahead of their trip to Skerries, and a first-half goal by Declan Donnelly helped them to establish a 1-5 to 0-4 interval lead.
Enda Dalton and Diarmuid McLoughlin produced impressive performances for the Tymon North outfit, but a brace of goals moved Skerries into the ascendancy during the second period. However, a 0-3 haul by McLoughlin kept Jude’s in touch, and Dalton’s fourth and final point ensured that the sides were ultimately inseparable (Skerries Harps 2-7, St Jude’s 1-10).
This is the fifth league draw of 2017 for Skerries, and they currently occupy eighth-place in the top-tier table. They remain a point ahead of St Sylvester’s, who suffered a narrow loss (1-15 to 3-10) against Lucan Sarsfields at Broomfield.
Lucan played with the aid of a strong breeze in the opening half at the Malahide venue, but although Stephen O’Shaughnessy, Brendan Gallagher and Dublin U21 star Darren Gavin were in fine form, they trailed by two points (1-6 to 1-4) at the break.
Substitutes CJ Smith and Kevin Fitzgerald made significant impacts for the visitors, however, and took the game to their opponents after the restart.
Smith joined Conor Gallagher in finding the back of the Lucan net, and with Darragh Shanahan (0-2) and Dermot Gallagher (0-1) also chipping in with vital scores, they developed a slender lead in the latter stages of the contest.
A serious injury to a Syls player delayed the action for almost an hour, but when it finally resumed, the hosts hit the ground running once again. Yet, just when Sylvester’s looked set for their sixth win of the campaign, Tommy Brennan fired Lucan to victory with a superb three-pointer.
Meanwhile, St Oliver Plunkett’s recovered from their midweek reversal to Kilmacud Crokes with a 2-16 to 1-8 success over Cuala at Martin Savage Park. Goals from Gareth ‘Nesty’ Smith and Conor McGurn provided Paul Curran’s side with a powerful platform, and courtesy of excellent displays by Ross McConnell, Paddy Curtin and James O’Donoghue, they had too much for their Dalkey counterparts.
Na Fianna enjoyed a comfortable 3-16 to 0-9 win against Clontarf at St Anne’s Park, while St Maur’s and St Vincent’s recorded narrow victories over Ballymun Kickhams and Thomas Davis respectively.
By Daire Walsh