Jude’s power on in Senior Football Championship
ST JUDE’S……………………………….2-10
LUCAN SARSFIELDS……………………0-8
By Daire Walsh
ST JUDE’S sealed top spot in Group Two of the Dublin Senior One Football Championship with a convincing eight-point victory against Lucan Sarsfields at O’Toole Park last Saturday afternoon.
Padraic Clarke’s 14th-minute goal created a strong platform for the Wellington Lane outfit and with the reliable attacker helping himself to 1-3 over the course of the contest, they preserved their 100 per cent record in consummate fashion.
Brendan Gallagher and Dublin senior panellist Darren Gavin flew the flag for Lucan throughout, registering an impressive combined tally of seven points. The efforts of the 12th Lock men could not be faulted, but Gareth Roche’s charges were ultimately the slicker of the two teams.
Lucan had come into this game knowing their quest for a quarter-final place was firmly in the balance. Following an opening round defeat of Ballinteer St John’s, they subsequently lost out to Na Fianna in St Mobhi Road at the beginning of this month.
With the Glasnevin brigade expected to have the measure of Ballinteer, Sarsfields required a win to keep their campaign on track. Jude’s, on the other hand, had an element of breathing room as a consequence of their back-to-back triumphs at the expense of Na Fianna and Ballinteer.
The decision was made by the Jude’s management to keep star forward Kevin McManamon in reserve and this led to Clarke being promoted to the starting line-up. The Sligo native repaid the faith shown in him, but it was Tom Devlin who initially broke the deadlock with an excellent curled point on four minutes.
Netminder Liam Byrne had come to the rescue of Lucan moments earlier, turning away a Niall Coakley penalty in superb style. Sarsfields were generating a number of scoring opportunities, but struggled to find the target on a consistent basis.
They were simultaneously keeping a tight leash on the Jude’s attack, with the tenacious defensive work of Ciaran Smith and Daire Newcombe limiting the shooting options of their opponents. Disaster struck for Lucan towards the end of the opening period, however.
After a short kick-out went astray, Jude’s inside forward Clarke held his nerve to slot the ball beyond the reach of Byrne. This presented Lucan with an uphill task and while Gavin brilliantly split the uprights from a distance of 45 metres, Clarke and Chris Guckian proceeded to raise white flags for Jude’s.
Sarsfields did enjoy a purple patch in the latter stages of the half – Gallagher (free), Gavin and Jordan Delmar finding the range in quick succession. The dependable Gallagher also converted a ’45’ but with Brian Coakley and Clarke adding points of their own, Jude’s were 1-5 to 0-5 in front at the break.
Seeking to underline their credentials, the Tymon Park side recorded unanswered points on the resumption through midfielder Kieran Doherty, Clarke and Niall Coakley.
Lucan persisted with their challenge and Jude’s custodian Paul Copeland (an All-Ireland U21 winner with Dublin in 2003) produced a point-blank save from the raiding Smith on the stroke of 40 minutes. Niall Coakley had the ball in the opposition net off a resulting attack, only for it to be called back for an advanced mark.
The former Cork star comfortably dissected the posts to leave the favourites 1-9 to 0-5 in front heading into the final-quarter. Although Coakley contributed his third score in this juncture, Lucan reduced their deficit to five points via the dependable boots of Gavin and Gallagher (two).
There was never any doubt surrounding the final outcome, however, and substitute Dara Kavanagh’s three-pointer deep into stoppage-time was the icing on the cake.
With two defeats from three games, Lucan’s 2020 championship odyssey is now at an end. For St Jude’s, they can now look forward to a last-eight meeting with Skerries Harps.
ST JUDE’S: P Copeland; O Manning, J McGuire, C Fitzpatrick, T Lahiff, M Sweeney, A Hassett; C Murphy, K Doherty; T Devlin, C Guckian, B Coakley; D McLoughlin, N Coakley, P Clarke. Subs: D Sheehy for B Coakley (39), C McLoughlin for Fitzpatrick, R Martina for Hassett (both 49), D Kavanagh for Guckian (53), S Ryan for Murphy (57).
LUCAN SARSFIELDS: L Byrne; A Murphy, C Smith, D Newcombe; C Dowling, S Newcombe, E Allen; D Gavin, B Creed; J McCormack, S Cleary, H Ladd; J Delmar, B Gallagher, J Carey. Subs: M Lavin for Creed (36), K Moran for McCormack (49).