Dublin 1-15 DCU 0-11
Parnell Park, Dublin.
The All Ireland winning Dublin side might be basking in the Jamaican sun, but confidence from Dublin’s younger stars was warming the huge Parnell Park crowd this afternoon as they comfortably saw off the challenge of DCU in their opening O’Byrne Cup game.
With Paul Clarke at the helm, the boys in blue, some wearing the jersey for the first time, beat the Dublin College outfit with seven points separating them when Meath referee Cormac Reilly blew time on this tie.
It was Dublin’s attack that ruled the roost today, with Thomas Davis forward Paul Hudson continuing his run of form from last weekend’s Dub Stars encounter, scoring 1-03 this afternoon. Niall Walsh again made life difficult for the DCU backs as he orchestrated quite a lot of play up front.
Dublin fans were also entertained by some spectacular goalkeeping by Ballymun’s Evan Comerford who showed very cool and confident hands on a number of occasions, particularly by stopping a penalty from DCU’s Kevin Feely in the first half.
Michael Deegan (2), Jason Whelan, Conor McHugh and Paul Hudson had Dublin leading 0-05 to 0-01 after the first quarter before Mark Plunkett and David Mannix (2) brought the college men back to the minimum between the sides with three unanswered scores. McHugh and Hudson widened the gap again and Comerford pulled off the aforementioned penalty save against Feely.
Following a beautiful Deegan point from play, Paul Hudson bore down on goal, rocketing the ball past Shane Mannion into the DCU net, making it an seven point game. Conor McHugh and Eanna O’Connor slotted over one more each for their sides with Dublin leading 1-09 to 0-05 at the break.
DCU’s Half time substitution Cian Mulligan opened the second half with a point from play, but another Paul Hudson free cancelled the effort out. DCU were fighting now and drawing frees in good scoring positions. Ryan Burns opened his account for the afternoon scoring the first two of his four within a minute of each other.
Dublin’s substitutions also made a great impact on this afternoon’s proceedings. Gavin Ivory replaced Paul Hudson and scored within minutes. The same can be said for Shane Cunningham, who replaced Conor McHugh and also sent one over the bar.
Niall Walsh got the score he truly deserved with an immense run, silver lining a fantastic performance from the Oliver Plunkett Eoghan Ruadh forward.
Jason Whelan was kept busy in midfield, with Caolan McGonagle a constant thorn in his side for most of today. Referee Cormac Reilly eventually carded both of them for their off the ball antics in what was a relatively calmer than usual fixture between these two sides.
Both sides will rue some missed opportunities and wide balls leaving the score much less than it should have been. Shane Cunningham and Thomas Reilly scored one each for their respective sides, leaving the game in the hands of Dublin who were comfortable winners on a score off 1-15 to 0-11 at the final whistle.
Dublin will now face UCD this Wednesday in Parnell Park as part of a double header with the inter county hurlers, who will also face UCD in the Walsh Cup.
Scorers for Dublin:
Paul Hudson 1-03 (1f)
Michael Deegan 0-04 (1f)
Conor McHugh 0-03
Shane Cunningham 0-02
Jason Whelan 0-01
Niall Walsh 0-01
Gavin Ivory 0-1
Scorers for DCU:
Ryan Burns 0-04 (4f)
David Mannix 0-02
Dessie Ward 0-01
Mark Plunkett 0-01
Eanna O’Connor 0-01
Cian Mulligan 0-01
Thomas O’Reilly 0-01
Dublin:
1. Evan Comerford
2. Jack Smith
3. Eoin O’Brien
4. Ross McGowan
7. Brian Howard
6. Ciaran Reddin
5. Niall Scully
8. Jason Whelan
9. Ryan Deegan
10. Gary Sweeney
11. Shane Boland
12. Niall Walsh
13. Paul Hudson
14. Michael Deegan
15. Conor McHugh
Substitutes:
20. Gavin Ivory for 13. Paul Hudson (46)
18. Tom Shiels for 3. Eoin O’Brien (48)
17. Robbie Gaughan for 12. Niall Walsh (52)
21. Shane Cunningham for 15. Conor McHugh (58)
19. Ross O’Brien for 11. Shane Boland (63)
23. Ross Hazley for 8. Jason Whelan (63)
22. Sean Newcombe for 9. Ryan Deegan (70)
DCU
1. Shane Mannion
2. Eoin Smith
3. Daniel O’Neill
4. Barry Kerr
7. Seamus Lavin
6. Kevin Feely
21. Dessie Ward
8. Caolan McGonagle
9. Hugh McFadden
10. Eanna O’Connor
26. Mark Plunkett
5. Tom Lahiffe
27. David Mannix
12. Niall Murphy
15. Ryan Burns
Substitutes:
24. Shane Carthy for 12. Niall Murphy (30)
17. David Neary for 21. Dessie Ward (H/T)
28. Eoghan Smyth for 27. Davind Mannix (H/T)
25. Cian Mulligan for 5. Tom Lahiffe (H/T)
29. Thomas O’Reilly for 10. Eanna O’Connor (60)
23. Matthew Corcoran for 26. Mark Plunkett (60)
20. Brian Cawley for 2. Eoin Smith (62)
18. Conor Doran for 4. Barry Kerr (69)
22. Thomas Galligan for McGonagle (69)