Dublin 1-19
Dub Stars 1-14
Dublin Senior Hurling manager Ger Cunningham will be hoping that the win for his young experimental Dublin today, on the first day of the new year, in the annual Dub Stars challenge game, is a good omen for the rest of 2017.
Dublin got off to a flying start and opened up a 0-05 to 0-01 lead inside the opening twelve minutes. The Dublin points came from Conor Burke with two and one apiece from Sean O’Riain, Caolan Conway and Tom Connolly with the solitary reply for the Dub Stars scored by Joe McManus.
But despite the great start Dublin would only add two more points for the remainder of the first half. The Dub Stars hit four unanswered points to bring the sides level. The first of those was a free from Oisin O’Rourke and then Donle Fox, Alex Quinn and Joe McManus hit some fine points from play.
A point for Dublin from midfielder AJ Murphy temporarily stopped the one way scoring, but the Dub Stars at this stage were having the better of the exchanges and hit another three points on the bounce from Cillian Costello, Alex Quinn and Oisin O’Rorke.
With two minutes to the break an excellent point from Caolan Conwoy left the bare minimum between the sides. But just before the short whistle Alex Quinn disposed Dublin keeper Jonathan Treacy and scooped the ball to the back of the net to give the Dub Stars a four point lead at half-time with the score 1-08 to 0-07.
The Dub Stars pushed their lead out to six when Alex Quinn and Robbie Mahon knocked over points inside the opening couple of minutes of the second half.
Dublin battling qualities then came to the fore, Fergal Whitely started the comeback with a long range point and seconds later Sean O’Riain finished brilliantly to the back of the net. Further points from A.J Murphy and Conor Burke to bring the sides level.
The sides swapped two points apiece over the next eight minutes, Oisin O’Rorke with a brace for the Dub Stars and Sean O’Riain and Fergal Whitely for Dublin.
At this stage of the game the sides just couldn’t be separated, the Dub Stars went back in front with thirteen minutes to go thanks to an excellent point by Alex Quinn.
But it was Ger Cunnigham’s side that finished the game the stronger and they out scored the Dub Stars by 0-07 to 0-01. The Dublin points came from Tom Connolly and Sean O’Riain with two apiece and one each from Fergal Whitely, Fionntan McGib and Donal Burke and the one reply from the Dub Stars came from the hurl of Donle Fox.
Scorers for Dublin:
11. Sean O’Riain 1-04 (0-1f)
10. Conor Burke 0-03
14. Tom Connolly 0-03
19. Fergal Whitely 0-03
8. Caolan Conway 0-02
9. AJ Murphy 0-02
21. Fionntan MacGib 0-01
22. Donal Burke 0-01
Scorers for Dubs Stars:
15. Alex Quinn 1-04
14. Oisin O’Rorke 0-04 (0-2f)
11. Joe McManus 0-02
9. Donie Fox 0-02
8. Cillian Costello 0-01
7. Robbie Mahon 0-01
Dublin Team:
1. Jonathan Treacy
2. Mark Kavanagh
3. Patrick Smith
4. Mark McCallion
5. Fionn O Riain Broinn
6. Matthew McCaffrey
7. Cian MacGabhann
8. Caolan Conway
9. AJ Murphy
10. Conor Burke
11. Sean O’Riain
12. James Holland
13. Canice Maher
14. Tom Connolly
15. Alan Moore
Substitutes:
19. Fergal Whitely for 8. Caolan Conway (H/T)
21. Fionntan MacGib for 10. Conor Burke (40)
22. Donal Burke for 12. James Holland (48)
23. Ben Quinn for 9. AJ Murphy (51)
18. Ciaran Dowling for 7. Cian MacGabhann (52)
20. Johnny McGuirk for 14. Tom Connolly (56)
Dub Stars Team:
1. Brendan McLoughlin
2. Niall Corcoran
3. Ronan Walsh
4. John Bellew
5. Conor Murphy
6. Chris Crummey
7. Robbie Mahon
8. Cillian Costello
9. Donie Fox
10. Ross O’Carroll
11. Joe McManus
12. Fergal Heavey
13. Kevin O’Reilly
14. Oisin O’Rorke
15. Alex Quinn
Substitutes:
17. Eoin Sheehy for 3. Ronan Walsh (H/T)
18. Ronan Hayes for 8. Cillian Costello (H/T)
19. Gavin King for 12. Fergal Heavey (H/T)
16. Eoin Skelly for 1. Brendan McLoughlin (H/T)
20. Stephen O’Dwyer for 13. Kevin O’Reilly (46)
21. Paul Crummey for 11. Joe McManus (49)
Referee: Sean Stack (Parnells)
