Cuala cruise to SHC quarter-final win against Lucan

CUALA 2-26 LUCAN SARSFIELDS 2-13

Reigning champions Cuala gave a signal of their serious intent when running out convincing winners over Lucan in Sunday's second Dublin SHC 'A' quarter-final at Parnell Park.

The Dalkey men now face familiar rivals Kilmacud Crokes in the semi-final with St Vincent's and Ballyboden St Enda's clashing in the other semi-final in two weeks' time.

Cuala had the majority of their work done by half-time and after playing with the wind they held a 0-16 to 0-4 advantage at the break.

David Treacy hit six first-half frees while Con O'Callaghan fired over two fine points form play but it was their greater work-rate and use of possession that set them apart from their opponents.

Cuala dominated in terms of the possession stakes with John Sheanon, Darragh O'Connell and David Treacy mopping up a lot of breaking ball in the middle third while Sean Moran, as ever, seemed to be in the right place at the right time at the heart of their resolute defence.

Up front O'Callaghan provided a consistent ball winner while Nicky Kenny picked off two points form play to aid their momentum.

They enjoyed a good spread of scorers with Sean Moran converted two long-range points while O'Connell, Jake Malone, Sean Treacy and Colm Cronin all got on the scoresheet in the first-half.

Only two of Lucan's points came from play with Matt McCaffrey and Paul Crummey, an excellent point after a great fetch, on target. Ciaran Dowling with a '65' and Emmet Allen accounted for their other scores.

Dowling emerged from the game as Lucan's top-scorer and one of their better performers. He tallied 0-6 (0-3f, 0-1 '65) and carried the fight to Cuala in the second-half during the few periods when Lucan enjoyed decent spells.

After trailing by 12 points at the interval Dowling and a Johnny McCaffrey free from 75 metres raised Lucan hopes on the restart but it was not long before Cuala again began to exert control.

Their intelligent long and short-range interplay had Lucan on the back foot and by the 47th minute Mattie Kenny's men were 1-23 to 0-9 ahead with a Con O'Callaghan thunderbolt in the 45th minute the first goal of the clash following a good diagonal ball from Mark Schutte.

Five minutes from the end of normal time Lucan sub CJ Smith followed up on a rebound from a Dowling free to find the net and when Dowling converted another free and Emmett O Conghaile struck one form play it was 1-24 to 1-12 with three minutes to go.

Two minutes into added time Chris Crummey pulled on a ball overhead to the net to close the gap to 1-25 to 2-13 but Sean Moran's successful penalty closed out the scoring with Johnny McCaffrey being shown a second yellow in the fifth minute of injury-time.

SCORERS - Cuala: D Treacy 0-9 (0-8f), N Kenny 0-5 (0-1f), Con O'Callaghan, S Moran (1-0 pen, 0-2f) 1-2 each, M Schutte 0-2, D O'Connell, J Malone, S Treacy, C Cronin, C Sheanon, D Flynn 0-1 each. Lucan Sarsfields: C Dowling 0-6 (0-3f, 0-1 '65'), CJ Smith, C Crummey 1-0 each, J McCaffrey 0-2 (0-2f), M McCaffrey, P Crummey, E Allen (0-1f), Emmett O Conghaile, S McClelland (0-1f) 0-1 each.

CUALA: S Brennan; O Gough, Cian O’Callaghan, S Timlin; D O’Connell, S Moran, J Sheanon; J Malone, S Treacy; C Sheanon, D Treacy, M Schutte; C Cronin, Con O’Callaghan, N Kenny. Subs: D Flynn for Malone (ht), T Ryan for D Treacy (48), N Carty for Con O’Callaghan (55), D O'Kelly for J Sheanon (59), B Fitzgerald for Schutte (60).

LUCAN SARSFIELDS: K Roche; P Rigney, J Bellew, P Smith; J McCaffrey, C Crummey, S McClelland; L Walsh, R Smith; M McCaffrey, C Dowling, P Crummey; P Kelly, E Allen, B Coffey. Subs: Emmett Ó Conghaile for Coffey (ht), CJ Smith for Allen (ht), K Fitzgerald for Kelly (50), R Stapleton for P Smith (53), M May for M McCaffrey (58).

REF: S Stack (Parnell's).