Dominant second half sees O’Toole’s topple Lucan

O'TOOLE'S 1-20 LUCAN SARSFIELDS 0-13

A storming second half from O'Toole's saw them progress to the last four after this victory in Friday night's Dublin SHC quarter-final at Parnell Park.

Lucan led 0-9 to 0-7 at the interval but the second half belonged to the Larriers as the set about their task immediately on the restart.

Points from Conor Carton (two frees), Ger O'Meara following inventive interplay with Graham Morris, Conor Carton again and Paul Bradshaw catapulted O'Toole's into a 0-12 to 0-9 lead within ten minutes of the second half.

It was a stranglehold on the game they never relinquished as they played with great drive and pace than their opponents to secure their berth in the semi-finals.

Lucan were deprived time on the ball and never developed a sustained period of pressure as O'Toole's drove on for victory.

A long-range effort from the influential Andrew Morris following a good pass from Owen Darcy made it 0-13 to 0-10 for the Ayrfield men as further scores from Conor Carton (free) and Christy Mulligan pushed their lead out to five points, 0-15 to 0-10, with 15 minutes to play.

Lucan's hopes as good as disappeared when Mulligan won a ball near the corner of the stand at the church end before carving through on goal and finishing past David Quinn.

The Larriers never looked back with Conor Carton embellishing his freetaking display with a fine point after dispossessing Peter Kelly in the 54th minute.

In the final minutes Lucan keeper Quinn had to be alert to stop a goalbound shot from Paul Bradshaw as O'Toole's ran out convincing winners.

In the opening half it was a save from Quinn in first half injury-time when he denied Graham Morris from close-range which granted Lucan their half-time lead in a half when neither team held sway.

SCORERS - O’Toole’s: C Carton 0-9 (0-6f), C Mulligan 1-4, A Morris 0-3, G O'Meara, M Carton, G Morris, P Bradshaw 0-1 each. Lucan Sarsfields: T Somers 0-3 (0-3f), E Ó Conghaile, A Roche, A Duff 0-2 each, M May, J McCaffrey, C Crummey, T Lee 0-1 each.
O’TOOLE'S: B McLoughlin; R Walker, K ryan, Paddy Carton; O Darcy, P Brennan, G O’Meara; G Morris, A Morris; M Carton, D Farrelly, Peadar Carton; Conor Carton, P Bradshaw, C Mulligan. Subs: L Ryan for Farrelly (ht), M Cunningham for O'Meara (59).
LUCAN SARSFIELDS: D Quinn; A Phelan, P Kelly, S McClelland; Johnny Byrne, B Aird, M McCaffrey; M May, J McCaffrey; T Somers, A Roche, J Bellew; E Ó Conghaile, C Crummey, A Duff. Subs: K O'Reilly for May (43), Joey Byrne for Duff (48), T Lee for Somers (52), K Roche for Bellew (54).
REF: G McGrath (Setanta).