CUALA 1-17 LIAM MELLOWS (Galway) 0-11
Cuala's incredible journey keeps on rolling as the Dublin champions saw off the challenge of Galway's Liam Mellows in Saturday's AIB All-Ireland club SHC semi-final at Semple Stadium, Thurles.
The reigning All-Ireland champions will grace Croke Park once again on St Patrick's Day when they will face Limerick and Munster champions Na Piarsaigh.
The Dalkey side delivered a very mature performance with their defence the bedrock of their victory while up front Con O'Callaghan hit four points from play as well as several assists.
On several occasions in the opening period and bravery and persistence of Cuala players frustrated Liam Mellows and while the scores were not plentiful the accuracy of Con and David Treacy had Mattie Kenny's men 0-8 to 0-6 to the good at the interval.
Then came the critical spell for Dublin's representatives.
Cuala hit five points in-a-row on the restart and it might well have started with a goal as Darragh O'Connell sped through the middle of the Mellows' defence and with the goal at his mercy his clipped it too high and had to settle for a point.
It was a sign of things to come as Cuala enjoyed their best spell and it put them firmly in the driving seat.
By the 37th minute Kenny's men were 0-13 to 0-6 clear and Mellows had a hill to climb.
The final gloss was put on the scoreboard by sub Brian Fitzgerald when he scored the only goal of the game as the Dalkey side cruised to victory while Sixth year student in Coláiste Eoin, Diarmuid O'Flynn, had added a late point following a strong run from the influential Seán Moran.
SCORERS – Cuala: D Treacy 0-7 (0-4f, 0-1 ’65'), Con O’Callaghan 0-4, B Fitzgerald 1-0, M Schutte, D O’Connell, S Treacy, C Sheanon, N Kenny, D O'Flynn 0-1 each. Liam Mellows: A Morrissey 0-7 (0-7f), A Callanan 0-2, C Kavanagh, T Haran (f) 0-1 each.
CUALA: S Brennan; O Gough, Cian O’Callaghan, S Timlin; D O’Connell, J Sheanon, S Moran; C Sheanon, S Treacy; J Malone, M Schutte, D Treacy; C Cronin, Con O’Callaghan, N Kenny. Subs: C Waldron for Timlin (45), D O’Flynn for C Sheanon (45), N Carty for Kenny (52), B Fitzgerald for Schutte (57), R Tierney for Cian O’Callaghan (63).
LIAM MELLOWS: K Walsh; S Morrissey, M Conneely, C Reilly; M Hughes, D Collins, S Barrett; J Hastings, K Lee; C Hynes, T Haran, R Elwood; A Morrissey, A Callanan, C Kavanagh. Subs: J Forde for Hynes (41), D Fahy for Elwood (44), S Kileen for Kavanagh (58), B Leen for Conneely (61), S Kileen for Haran (63).
REF: P O’Dwyer (Carlow).