Cuala successfully retained the Dublin Senior ‘A’ Hurling title for a second year in a row after seeing off the challenge of an extremely spirited Kilmacud Crokes team this past Saturday afternoon in Parnell Park.
The opening 20 minutes for Crokes was both disastrous and not what they would have wanted, trailing 1-05 to 0-00 following a comprehensive display by Cuala’s Colm Cronin (1-01), David Treacy (0-02), Mark Schutte and Nicky Kenny (0-01 each). And the remainder of the half was damage limitation as Oisin O’Rorke finally got the scoreboard ticking with 0-04 of his own again the additional 0-03 for Cuala, leaving Crokes 0-07 behind going down the tunnel.
The second half was very much a different chapter in this final, fortunes literally flipped, and Crokes ran the show single handedly for 18 minutes, scoring eight unanswered points to go a point ahead for the shortest time before David Treacy levelled it up for Cuala once again.
It was an inspiring passage from Kilmacud who looked a totally different side that arrived for the first half throw in and certainly gave the Parnell Park crowd something to get excited about.
From here it was catch as catch can between both opponents. Crokes nudged their nose in front again by two, but Cuala dug deep in their armoury to square the side and then close the game off. Sean and David Treacy, Colm Cronin and a sublime finishing score from Mark Schutte was enough to leave three score between them as the ref blew the final whistle.
So it was Cuala again climbing the steps of the Parnell Park stand to receive the Championship honours. The celebrations will have been very quick as they now have the week to prepare for the challenge of Laois Championship Borris-Kilcotton, in this year’s AIB Leinster Hurling Championship. But they’ll take comfort in having Parnell Park as home advantage on Sunday at 2:00pm.
Here are the highlights from a fantastic Dublin Hurling Championship Final.
(video credit: Dublin GAA via YouTube)