DUBLIN STAVE OFF STARS COMEBACK TO PLEASE CLARKE
Young Byrne and Basquel impress stand-in boss as O’Byrne Cup opener looms
Dublin…………………………….2-18
Dubs Stars Football……………2-15
Daire Walsh
THEY were forced to withstand a late onslaught at Pairc Naomh Uinsionn, but Dublin eventually secured a three-point triumph in the Dublin Bus/Herald Dubs Stars Football challenge last Saturday afternoon.
Brought forward because of the early start to the new GAA inter-county season, this annual fixture between the All-Ireland champions and the Dubs Stars served up another entertaining encounter.
Colm Basquel was a lively performer during the opening period at St Vincent’s, and thanks to a brace of goals by Aaron Byrne (the U21 footballer of the year for 2017) Dublin entered the interval with a 2-8 to 0-8 cushion.
Seven points in succession after the restart helped the county men to open the floodgates, and even though the Stars fired back with goals from Jason Whelan and Pat Burke, they ultimately fell short in their bid to mount a dramatic comeback.
Dublin boss Jim Gavin was on the sideline for this game, but 12 months on from guiding the county to O’Byrne Cup glory, Paul Clarke will once again be in the charge for the pre-season competition. The performance of Byrne was a major plus point for the Whitehall Colmcille man, and he also saw positives in the displays of Colm Basquel and Killian O’Gara.
“Aaron is a very fine footballer. It’s again a great plus to have him on board. His skill levels are really high, he’s very comfortable on the ball, he travels at pace. He doesn’t look like he’s moving well, but he’s flying by guys,” Clarke remarked after the game.
“Colm is a great footballer. Great to have him around. Killian, we would have looked at him at the latter part of last year’s competition. He even came on in the final. It’d be nice to have him around, because he gives you a great dimension. He’s a very physical sort of player with nice skill levels.”
Though his son Nathan was unavailable on the day, Stars supremo Brian Mullins was able to call upon a number of his Vincent’s charges. Former county stars Michael Savage, Ger Brennan and Tomas Quinn were included in the starting line-up, and there were also places for Craig Wilson and Jarlath Curley in defence.
Indeed, after Cork footballer Niall Coakley had broken the deadlock from the opening attack of the contest, Quinn pointed a routine free to double the Stars lead. The ace Vinnies marksman later cancelled out a score by Naomh Mearnog’s Shane Carthy, before Dublin levelled matters with back-to-back points from Emmett O Conghaile and Adam Rogers.
Stars gathered momentum with subsequent contributions by Oisin Kelly, Quinn and Coakley, but as the half progressed, the Dublin attack came into their own. Basquel scored a hat-trick of goals in Dublin’s recent triumph against UCD in the official opening of Billings Park, and he split the posts in style from a right-hand angle.
TERRIFIC FINISH
Full-forward Killian O’Gara (younger brother of Eoghan) was providing a direct outlet on the edge of the square, and he set-up Byrne for a terrific 20th-minute finish into the bottom left-hand corner of the Stars net. Gerry Seaver added a point from the left wing, before O’Gara once again released Byrne for a clinical major.
This allowed Dublin to take control of the proceedings, and although Kelly and Coakley (free) found the target for Stars towards the end of the half, Basquel (two) and Rogers ensured that their opponents remained in the driving seat.
Rogers and industrious St Brigid’s forward Mal Tighe traded scores on the resumption, but within the space of nine minutes, Dublin had developed a seemingly unassailable lead.
O’Gara and Byrne singles were followed by a brace of points from the increasingly-influential Basquel, while Colin Doyle, Rogers and substitute Ryan Deegan also found the range in a dominant spell for the Sky Blues. This left the Stars all of 13 points in arrears (2-16 to 0-9), but a superb goal on the run by centre-forward Jason Whelan did offer them a much-needed glimmer of hope.
Glen O’Reilly and Doyle helped to reinforce Dublin’s superiority with well-worked scores but, inspired by inside forward Pat Burke, the Stars found an extra gear in the closing-quarter. Burke has represented both Dublin and Clare at county level, and his he supplemented a Quinn free, with a superb finish from close-range.
Four points on the trot from Fearghal Duffy, Whelan, Burke and Tighe kept things interesting for the spectators in the Marino venue, but Dublin came through with three points to spare. They will now move forward to an O’Byrne Cup clash against Offaly on January 3 at Parnell Park, and though home advantage will be an asset for an inexperienced group, Clarke is conscious that the Faithful County will have a game under their belt by that stage.
“You take the draw as it comes, opposition as it comes. Offaly will have a nice advantage having played Wexford in their first game. They’ll be at the pace of it, and I’m sure they’ll give us a very tough game,” Clarke added.
MATCH FILE
Scorers – Dublin: A Byrne 2-1, C Basquel 0-5 (1f), A Rogers 0-4, C Doyle 0-2, S Carthy (f), G O’Reilly (f), G Seaver, E O Conghaile, K O’Gara, R Deegan 0-1 each.
Dubs Stars: P Burke 1-2 (0-1f), J Whelan 1-1, T Quinn 0-4 (3f), N Coakley 0-3 (1f), O Kelly, M Tighe 0-2 each, F Duffy 0-1.
DUBLIN: A Bunyan; R McGowan, S McMahon, G Hannigan; D Devereux, B Howard, G Seaver; S Ryan, S Carthy; C Basquel, E O Conghaile, K Callaghan; A Byrne, K O’Gara, A Rogers. Subs: D Downey, R Deegan, C Doyle, E O’Brien, C Sallier, G O’Reilly.
DUB STARS: M Savage; C Wilson, J Curley (all St Vincent’s), M Fitzsimons (Cuala); C Keeley (Ballymun Kickhams), G Brennan (St Vincent’s), O Kelly (Thomas Davis); A Elliott (Ballymun Kickhams), R Downey (Ballyboughal); M Sweeney (St Jude’s), J Whelan (Ballymun Kickhams), K Doherty (St Jude’s); P Burke (Kilmacud Crokes), N Coakley (St Jude’s), T Quinn (St Vincent’s). Subs: JB Carthy (St Jude’s), D Kennedy (Na Fianna), M Tighe (St Brigid’s), F Duffy (Ballinteer St John’s), E O’Connell, D McGuinness (Naomh Maur).
MENTORS – Dublin: J Gavin, P Clarke, D Darcy, M Deegan, S O’Hanlon. Dubs Stars: B Mullins, J Lambe.
Referee: D O’Connor (Fingal Ravens).
WIDES – Dublin: 9 (8+1). Dubs Stars: 7 (4+3).
CONDITIONS: Mild and dry conditions.
PLAYER OF THE MATCH: A Byrne (Dublin).