The celebrations are well underway in Dalkey.
Cuala are waking up as Go Ahead Ireland Dublin football champions for the first time after ending Kilmacud Crokes’ attempt to win four on the bounce at the last hurdle yesterday afternoon.
And the Dalkey men did it at the end without Con O’Callaghan on the field; the Dublin inter-county star had been sent off for an off the ball interaction with Devon Burns, who went down holding his head. Referee Sean McCarthy consulted his umpires before sending the ace attacker off.
But they weren’t to be denied as Eoin Kennedy applied the finishing touches at the end, fisting over the winner in the dying moments at Parnell Park.
Five down at the break after being frustrated by the challengers from just down the N11, Crokes battled to hold onto their crown with Luke Ward’s goal inside the last 10 minutes drawing the sides level.
But when the game was in the melting put, Kennedy and Cuala came up with the answers.
“We spoke about it at half time that there was going to be a bit of a lightning bolt from them,” manager Austin O’Malley told FM104 Sport after the game.
“It was about absorbing that, and not being rattled by it. It was about sticking to our process and sticking to what we had done all along and trusting our stuff.
“We’ve always talked about of playing with courage and playing with bravery, and working through those pressure points in games. Staying together, keep pressing on the things we have developed, and not going away from them. To a man they stood to that at the end.
“It’s a funny old game; you can talk about the technical and the tactical but sometimes it’s a sheer will and a desire to not bend, and get across the line.
“I think they showed that there – I’m delighted for them, and particularly for the club as well.”
Cuala had chartered a special DART for supporters to get from Dalkey out to Donncarney, and the train can keep on rolling into the Leinster championship. The Dublin champions have only failed to go on and add provincial honours twice since 2011 – in 2017 and 2018 – so Cuala will have to get back down to work after enjoying the next day or two.
Next up is a meeting with the Kildare champions in the Leinster quarter-final on the 9th of November.
On a big weekend for GAA action in the capital, St Vincent’s claimed a third Dublin senior title on the bounce.
The Marino women were too strong for Ballyboden St Enda’s on Friday night, emerging 1-12 to 0-08 winners at Parnell Park.
