MAC POINTS WAY FOR SYLS
Dublin SFC1 Group 3
ST SYLVESTER’S…………0-19
PARNELL’S………………….0-6
Daire Walsh
MICHAEL McCarthy and Ed Walsh registered a combined tally of 15 points last night in Balgriffin, where St Sylvester’s recorded a commanding victory over Parnell’s in their Dublin SFC Group 3 encounter.
Though there was little to separate the sides in the opening stages, the pace and power of Syls was ultimately too much for their Coolock counterparts to handle.
After reaching the quarter-final of last year’s competition, Jack Sheedy’s charges will be seeking another productive campaign in 2018.
For this encounter at the home of Innisfails GAA, Parnell’s were able to call on the services of veteran Dublin goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton.
However, rather than taking up a position between the posts, the five-time All Star was selected in a pivotal centre-back role.
Following an opening scoring by Syls midfielder Jack Hazley, Cluxton superbly split the posts from a 35-metre free.
Corner-forwards Stephen Duffy and Jamie Sammon were on target either side of a Walsh effort at the opposite end to offer Parnell’s a slender advantage.
Their Malahide opponents suffered a double blow when a John Peacock black card was compounded by an injury to centre-fielder Simon Owens, but they grew in confidence as the half progressed.
Unanswered scores courtesy of McCarthy (two), who was a member of Dublin’s All-Ireland SFC winning panel in 2011, and Walsh boosted their prospects, before Cluxton found the range for Parnell’s. While this latest effort kept them in contention, the remainder of the half was dominated by Sylvester’s.
Thanks to seven points without reply – including four by the impressive McCarthy – the Malahide men entered the interval with a 0-12 to 0-4 buffer.
Parnell’s were struggling to contain an increasingly rampant Syls side, and it was hoped that the half-time introduction of Adam Myler and John Sammon would kick-start a barn-storming revival.
Jamie Sammon split the posts in spectacular style five minutes after the break, but this only provided a temporary respite to the Chanel outfit. After Ciaran Charlton opened his own personal account, Walsh added his fifth point at the end of another patient attack.
John Sammon raised a white flag for Parnell’s on 48 minutes, but this proved to be their final score on an underwhelming evening in the northside venue. Additional two-point salvos by McCarthy and Walsh created further daylight, while Jamie Kennedy was also on target as Sylvester’s closed out of the game in considerable style.
Scorers – St Sylvester’s: M McCarthy 0-8 (4f), E Walsh 0-7 (2f), J Hazley 0-2, C Charlton, J Kennedy 0-1 each. Parnell’s: S Cluxton (2f), Jamie Sammon (1f) 0-2 each, S Duffy, John Sammon 0-1 each.
ST SYLVESTER’S: M Shiel; J Peacock, C Quinn, C McArdle; J Walsh, G McArdle, P White; S Owens, J Hazley; C Charlton, E Walsh, R Palmer; G Hazley, M McCarthy, D Brennan. Subs: G Greenan for Peacock (12, BC), J Kennedy for Owens (13), A Cunningham for Quinn (37, BC), A Hartnett for White (55).
PARNELL’S: E Walsh; C Nolan, C Oonon, S McCluskey; S McGrath, S Cluxton, B McCarthy; A Doyle, E Brunton; M Boyd, M Gleeson, T Davis; Jamie Sammon, D Joyce, S Duffy. Subs: A Myler for Doyle, John Sammon for Boyd (both h-t), A Jameson for McCarthy (39), R O’Shea for Nolan (50), C May for Davis, for G Collins for Joyce (both 54).
Referee: D Sweeney (St Oliver Plunkett’s/Eoghan Ruadh).