St Vincent’s 0-15
Castleknock 0-10
Kevin O’Brien reports from Parnell Park
ST VINCENT’S ARE the kingpins in Dublin once again.
Mossy Quinn rolled back the years and Diarmuid Connolly played an instrumental role from centre-forward as the Vinnies were crowned county champions for the 28th time.
Their third SFC title in four years wasn’t quite the blow-out many people were predicting before the game but nonetheless there was an assuredness and confidence about the display of the winners.
Appearing in their first ever Dublin SFC in only their 18th year of existence, Castleknock gave a good account of themselves but ultimately they hadn’t the firepower to live with the Marino-based club.
After under-performing in last year’s final defeat to Ballyboden, St Vincent’s are back on the top of the tree in the Dublin championship.
It was a defensive affair with Castleknock dropping a lot of bodies back behind the ball, which in turn forced Vincent’s to adopt a similar approach.
Diarmuid Connolly had a quiet opening half by his lofty standards. He was well-marshalled by Tom Quinn early on but by the end of the game the two-time All-Star was pulling the strings all over the field.
His link play with Quinn was a joy to behold. Connolly picked out the 35-year-old corner forward with a few delightful passes to set-up a few key scores after the break.
Quinn and former Mayo attacker Enda Varley were extremely accurate up front.
Vincent’s were leading by 0-11 to 0-7 after 45 minutes when Ger Brennan was dismissed for a second yellow card. That gave Castleknock a massive boost and they reeled off a couple of points to give them hope.
Ultimately though ‘Knock were relying on the placed balls of Des Carlos and Vincent’s had the experience and class to steer the ship home.
On a beautiful afternoon in a packed Parnell Park, Castleknock arrived into the game massive underdogs against the three-time All-Ireland champions St. Vincent’s.
With two 2016 All-Stars on show Castleknock played Kilkenny as the lone soldier in a one-man full-forward line, while Connolly lined out at 11 for Vincent’s.
St Vincent’s started the game firmly in control and eased into a three point lead inside the opening ten minutes with Quinn and Varley looking lively.
Castleknock, who were operating with Kilkenny in a one-man full-forward line, didn’t get on the score board until the 12th minute.
They visibly grew in confidence from that point and started to expose Vincent’s on the break. Kilkenny, Kevin Kindlon and Des Carlos found the target to leave the sides level at the break on 0-7 apiece.
Castleknock were slow starters to the second-half as two scores from Quinn and one from Shane Carthy sent Vincent’s into a three-point lead. The game was turned on its head by Brennan’s red card, for a high challenge on Kevin Kindlon.
That gave Castleknock hope and a couple of frees from Carlos left them trailing by 0-11 to 0-9 with 15 minutes left. James Sherry had a goal chance saved off the line and with that went Castleknock’s chance.
Varley, Trailor and Joe Feeney were on target at the far end as Vincent’s saw the game home.
Scorers for St Vincent’s: Tomas Quinn 0-5 (0-3f), Enda Varley 0-4 (0-1f), Gavin Burke 0-2, Cameron Diamond 0-1, Shane Carthy 0-1, Ruairi Trainor 0-1, Joe Feeney 0-1
Scorers for Castleknock: Des Carlos 0-5 (0-4f), Ciaran Kilkenny 0-2, Mikey Galvin 0-1, Kevin Kindlon 0-1, Eoin O’Brien 0-1.
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St Vincent’s
1. Michael Savage
2. Michael Concarr
3. Jarlath Curley
31. Craig Wilson
5. Brendan Egan
6. Ger Brennan
20. Cameron Diamond
8. Daithi Murphy
9. Shane Carthy
10. Gavin Burke
11. Diarmuid Connolly
12. Cormac Diamond
13. Ruairi Trainor
29. Enda Varley
15. Tomas Quinn
Subs:
Albert Martin for Murphy, 32 mins
Joe Feeney for Cormac Diamond, 40 mins
Adam Baxter for Varley, 60 mins
Castleknock
1. Morven Connolly
2. Paul Bourke
3. Peter Sherry
4. Eoin O’Brien
5. Graham Hannigan
6. Tom Shiels
7. Tom Quinn
8. Ciaran Kilkenny
9. Shane Boland
10. Des Carlos
11. Ben Galvin
12. Kevin Kindlon
13. Mikey Galvin
14. James Sherry
15. Colin Lynch
Subs:
Craig Brennan for M Galvin, 42 mins
John Kindlon for Lynch, 52 mins
Martin Brady for B Galvin
Referee: Darragh Sheppard
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