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1:57
Highlights from Dublin’s Global Victory
Dublin has arranged a Leinster SHC semi-final showdown with Kilkenny, as they avenged last year’s shocking loss to Laois with a 2-31 to 0-23 win over County O’Moore.
The walk through Croke Park was strange. Without traffic. Without tails. No shouts of ‘hats, flags and headbands!’
But when referee Paud O’Dwyer threw the ball, the eerie atmosphere and strange backdrop of an empty stadium capable of holding 82,000 faded into oblivion. Dublin wanted to make things clear. Laois wanted to show that 2019 was no accident. The pitching championship was back.
Mattie Kenny had opted for youth on his side, with no room for stalwarts Liam Rushe and Conal Keaney in the starting XV. In fact, Danny Sutcliffe (28) was the oldest field starter on a new Dubs team.
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Dublin was clearly eager to get started, right from the start. Padraig Delaney, one of the first Sutcliffe with the shoulder, set the tone for the Dubs.
Donal Burke, who made his first championship game since 2017 after missing the last two seasons due to injuries and travel, was the point man for the Dubs up front. Na Fianna’s man was a handful; Accurate ball placement and nailing two game sweet spots to help your team take a 0-10 to 0-6 lead at the water break.
Chris Crummey was buoyant throughout, delivering a start from the center forward and proving to be a handful for the opposing defense.
Then Burke took the game from behind, making a violent run through the heart of Laois’s defense and driving the yellow sliotar past Enda Rowland.
Helped Dublin establish a 1-16-0-12 lead at halftime.
Ronan Hayes of Dublin in action against Ronan Broderick of Laois
Laois needed a quick start after the break, but it was Dublin who scored four unanswered points.
The flawless Burke missed just one free all night, as his precision kept umpires on their toes, running for white flags. Rowland’s long-range spikey free kicks were the highlight of a sterile second half for O’Moore County. Laois lacked sufficient goal threat and couldn’t get it closer to six.
Dublin’s substitutions brought them home as a late goal from Eamon Dillon sealed a 14-point win.
The Sky Blues now face Kilkenny in next week’s semi-final as they seek their first Bob O’Keeffe Cup win since 2013. There were several positives for the capital’s men, including 2-31, but there are more important tasks ahead and they will have to find another team if they want to upset last year’s finalists from Ireland.
The action was played behind closed doors.
Referee: Paud O’Dwyer (Carlow)
What they say …
“We’re happy to have the performance. It’s been a long time coming. We started last November. It’s a long enough preseason,” said man of the match Burke.
“We went out with it with [last year’s game] In the back of our minds We wanted a little revenge for last year. We did not do ourselves justice.
“Starting tomorrow, we will take care of next week.
“We had a bit of a calm in the second half and we let them come back. We were 11 up at halftime and we let them go back to six. We will have to look at that and try to get it back.”
1:40 Donal Burke says they wanted to avenge last year’s loss
“There are always areas where you have to improve,” said Mattie Kenny.
“It was a very open hurling game, and maybe that’s a sign of things to come this year.
“There were good bases, our backs played very well.
“Overall it was our first comeback game, the first round of the championship, we wanted to get a good performance. The guys did reasonably well, so we’re pretty happy with that.”
2:05 Kenny admitted that his side was a bit rusty, but he was pleased with the performance.
Scorers
Dublin: Donal Burke 1-16 (0-11 free, 0-2 65s), Eamon Dillon 1-1, Chris Crummey 0-3, Danny Sutcliffe 0-2, Riain McBride 0-2, Cian Boland 0-2, Conor Burke 0-2, Seán Moran 0-1, Mark Schutte 0-1, Davy Keogh 0-1.
Laois: Ross King 0-10 (0-9 free, 0-1 65), Aaron Dunphy 0-3, Stephen Maher 0-2, Paddy Purcell 0-2, Enda Rowland 0-2 (0-2 free), James Ryan 0-1, Jack Kelly 0-1, Padraig Delaney 0-1, Fiachra Fennell 0-1.
Teams
Dublin
1. Alan Nolan
2. Paddy Smyth
3. Eoghan O’Donnell
4. James Madden
5. Conor Burke
6. Gray Apartment
7. Cian O’Callaghan
8. Seán Moran
9. Ryan McBride
10. Cyan Boland
13. Donal Burke
12. Danny Sutcliffe
11. Chris Crummey
15. Ronan Hayes
14. David Keogh
Subs:
Eamon Dillon by Ronan Hayes (minute 50)
Liam Rushe by Chris Crummey (minute 56)
Jake Malone for Daire Gray (minute 61)
Mark Schutte by Cian Boland (minute 68)
Shane Barrett by Seán Moran (minute 72)
Laois
1. Enda Rowland
4. Duncan Hartnett
5. Ronan Broderick
2. Lee Cleere
3. Sean Downey
6. Padraig Delaney
7. Ryan Mullaney
8. Fiachra C Fennell
9. Paddy Purcell
13. James Keyes
10. Aaron Dunphy
11. Willie Dunphy
12. James Ryan
14. Ross King
15. Stephen Maher
Subs:
Jack Kelly for Lee Cleere (33rd minute)
Ciaran McEvoy for Ronan Broderick (minute 36)
Mark Kavanagh for James Keyes (half time)
Conor Phelan by Ryan Mullaney (minute 51)
Eoin Gaughan by Stephen Maher (minute 68)
Sky Sports’ live GAA coverage continues next Saturday, with Monaghan vs Cavan at the Ulster SFC and Cork vs Waterford at the Munster SHC.
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