Dowling fires Lucan into SHC 'A' quarters as Vins exit

Dowling fires Lucan into SHC ‘A’ quarters as Vins exit

Sun, 3rd October 2021

A Ciarán Dowling goal five minutes from time proved to be crucial for Lucan Sarsfields in their 1-19 to 0-18 Go-Ahead Dublin SHC 'A' Group 2 Round 3 victory over St Vincent's at Parnell Park on Sunday evening.

Dowling finished with a personal haul of 1-9 (0-8f) with his brilliantly taken goal pushed his side 1-17 to 0-18 ahead.

Lucan sub Charlie Keher made a very positive impact following his introduction and clipped the last two points of this well-contested duel to go along with a point hit scored early in the second half.

For Lucan it means the book their berth in the SHC 'A' quarter-finals as table-toppers and will face Craobh Chiaráin in their last-eight contest.

St Jude's, who defeated Setanta 1-25 to 1-14 in the same group, finished the round-robin stage in second place and advance to play Na Fianna in their quarter-final.

The other two quarter-finals, which were settled on Saturday, are Kilmacud Crokes v St Oliver Plunkett/Eoghan Ruadh and Ballyboden St Enda's v Cuala.

There was nothing between Lucan and Vinnies throughout with arguably the fear of defeat impacting at times on the game.

Lucan led 0-9 to 0-8 at half-time but Vincent's had scored the last two points of the half - both from Tom Connolly (one play, one long-range free).

The quality improved in the second period with both sides contributing some classy scores.

A sharp turn and angled score from James Mulcahy, who tallied 0-6 (0-3f) overall, brought Vincent's level in the first minute of the second half.

Lucan then hit three fine points in succession - John Bellew fired over from halfway, Chris Crummey travelled 60 metres linking with John McCaffrey before striking an excellent score and sub Charlie Keher used his pace to good effect to extend his side's lead to 0-12 to 0-9 in the 36th minute.

But back came the Marino men with scores from Brian Bolger and Conor Burke from halfway.

Ciarán Dowling converted a 39th minute free but it was only temporarily breaking up Vincent's best spell as James Mulcahy added two points (one a free) and Will Maloney pushed Vins in front, 0-14 to 0-13, in the 41st minute.

A great team move by Lucan resulted in defender Paul Rigney bringing the sides level before Ronan Smith nosed Lucan in front.

Two James Mulcahy points, including one free, and a long-range effort from Brian Bolger gave Vincent's a two-point lead, 0-18 to 0-16, by the 52nd minute.

However, they failed to score again with a Dowling free following by his goal pushing Lucan on to victory.

In the opening half Eoghan O Conghaile opening the scoring for Lucan in the first minute before Vincent's replied with points from Mark Sweeney (two) and John Hetherton.

Lucan finished the opening quarter on top with points from Ciarán Dowling (two frees, the first from halfway) and a monster point from Chris Crummey inside his own '65' to lead 0-6 to 0-5.

Sarsfields moved three points clear on the restart when Ciarán Dowling (free) and Chris Crummey, from 90 metres, were on target again.

But points from John Hetherton and two from Tom Connolly (one free) either side of Dowling's sixth successful free had Lucan 0-9 to 0-8 in front at half-time.