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It was a week of mixed emotions for newly-appointed Dublin senior hurling manager Niall Ó Ceallacháin.
On Tuesday night of last week he was revealed as the man chosen to lead the fortunes of the capital’s hurlers while last Saturday his Na Fianna side were rocked by Lucan Sarsfields in their Go-Ahead Dublin SHC1 round-robin clash at Parnell Park.
Dublin senior John Bellew struck for goal in the fourth minute of added time to see Lucan snatch a dramatic 1-28 to 3-21 victory which had the knock-on effect of seeing Kilmacud Crokes secure top spot in this group and therefore the one automatic semi-final berth.
Lucan and Na Fianna head for the quarter-finals with respective duels against Whitehall and Ballyboden.In an encounter of good quality and entertainment both sides enjoyed periods of dominance with Lucan, inspired by the accuracy of Ben Coffey, leading by 0-10 to 0-4 after 18 minutes.
However, points from Colin Currie (free), AJ Murphy, Paul O’Dea and Donal Burke, following some clever play from Liam Rushe, saw Na Fianna reduce the gap to two points with half-time approaching.
Lucan marksman Coffey, who tallied 0-14 (9f) overall, converted three frees to re-establish a four-point advantage. But there was late, late drama in the opening half when Na FIanna’s Joe Kavanagh drilled to the net with the last puck of the half, four minutes into added time, to leave it 0-14 to 1-10 at the interval.
Na Fianna’s eye for goal was evident twice more early in the second half. Three minutes into the half Donal Burke illustrated great vision and creativity to flick the ball overhead to Colin Currie who blasted past Lucan ‘keeper Cillian Murray for the Mobhi Road men to edge 2-11 to 0-15 in front.
Two minutes later they stretched their lead to 3-11 to 0-16 when Joe Kavanagh struck for his second goal following a superb crossfield pass from Gavin King. When Donal Burke added a point Na Fianna had turned what was a six-point deficit at one stage of the opening half into a five-point lead by the seventh minute of the second period.
The see-saw nature of this battle continued throughout the second half with Ciarán Dowling hitting four second-half points for Lucan from play. Added to that Coffey’s precision had Lucan still in the hunt as the game moved deep into injury time.
Na Fianna’s Gavin King converted a sideline for 3-20 to 0-26 before Lucan’s winning surge with Coffey converting two long-range frees before late hero Bellew took matters very much into his own hands to drive hard at the Na Fianna defence before playing a give-and-go and crashing the sliotar past Jonathan Tracey.
Featured Image: 14 September 2024; John Bellew of Lucan Sarsfields in action against AJ Murphy of Na Fianna during the Dublin Senior 1 Hurling Championship Group 1 match between Lucan and Na Fianna at Parnell Park in Dublin.
Photo by Stephen Marken/Sportsfile
