SHC - Dublin 0-18 Kilkenny 2-18

Dublin 0-18 Kilkenny 2-18

A proud day for Dublin’s hurling fraternity as the Blues gave the Cats the fright of their lives. In the end two goals from Martin Comerford made the difference and the young Blues were left to pick themselves up & prepare for a SHC Quarter Final.

From the start the Dubs set out their stall with John McCaffrey sweeping back as an extra defender. This left the Dubs light up front but the tremendous hard graft of Treacy, Flynn, Rushe kept the KK defenders honest & even chasing their tails at times. The early rallies were level and the blue crowd roared on our heroes with gusto. Then a body blow – a KK move was pushed back by the Dublin defence but Martin Comerford slipped his man and charging through on goal & before he could be challenged he booted the ball to the net past the diving Gary Maguire. Many other teams would buckle under such a body blow but not so Daly’s Boys in Blue. The Dubs fought back & with Alan McCrabbe shooting his frees like Wild Bill Hickok there were only 6 points between the teams on the half time whistle 1-10 to 0-07.

The Dubs roared out n the 2^nd period a7 McCrabbe & the fantastic Treacy reduce the gap to only 3 points but on 55 minutes Comerford goaled again & the gap now seemed unreachable. But again the Dubs plugged on and even when the Cats were awarded a penalty Gary Maguire was more than a match for King Henry’s penalty shot. The Metropolitans fought gallantly to the final whistle but must have looked to heaven when the Cats can pull off Eddie Brennan & introduce Cha in his place!

Around the field there were some magnificent performances. Oisin Gough & Tomas Brady were outstanding, Captain Hiney gave a towering performance while Wild Bil Hickock McCrabbe was excellent throughout. Up front Rushe, Flynn & Ryan put their bodies on the line in making so many blocks while David Treacy looked as good as any other forward on the field.

The greatest team in modern time had been pushed by a young hungry Dubs team. No time for the moral victory comments, the Dubs had lost & it hurt. But we are still in the mix & looking forward to the QF draw.

DUBLIN – Gary Maguire (Ballyboden St. Enda’s), Niall Corcoran (Kilmacud Crokes), Tomas Brady (Na Fianna), Oisin Gough (Cuala), Stephen Hiney (Ballyboden St. Enda’s), Joey Boland (Na Fianna) (0-01), Michael Carton (O’Tooles), John McCaffrey (Lucan Sarsfield’s), Alan McCrabbe (Craobh Chiairain) (0-12) (Ross O’Carroll (Kilmacud Crokes (65)), Shane Durkin (Ballyboden St. Enda’s) (David Curtin (Ballyboden St. Endas (50)), Liam Ryan (O’Toole’s) (David Sweeney (Ballyboden St Endas (55)), Kevin Flynn (O’Toole’s) (0-01) (Simon Lambert (Ballyboden St Endas (50)), David O'Callaghan (St. Mark’s) (0-01), Liam Rushe (St. Pat’s, Palmerstown) (Peadar Carton (O’Toole’s (65)), David Treacy (Cuala) (0-03).

KILKENNY - PJ Ryan, Michael Kavanagh, JJ Delaney, Jackie Tyrrell, Tommy Walsh (0-01), John Tennyson, John Dalton, Derek Lyng (0-02), Michael Rice (0-01), Henry Shefflin (0-06), Martin Comerford (2-04), Eoin Larkin (0-02), Eddie Brennan (0-01) (Cha Fitzpatrick (60)), Richie Power (TJ Reid (50)), Aidan Fogarty (0-01).