Dublin Minor Hurling Finals Roundup

Mon, 18th November 2024

Clontarf were crowned Dublin Minor ‘A’ Hurling Championship winners as they defeated St Jude’s by 5-19 to 2-13 in their decider at O’Toole Park on Sunday afternoon.

There were only four points separating the teams by the 49^th minute but Clontarf plundered three goals in the closing stages to claim an emphatic victory by the final whistle.

After a tight opening, a brilliant Oscar Finnegan goal at the end of the first quarter handed Clontarf the early initiative and three Conor Newton points pushed them three points clear towards the end of the half.

However, St Jude’s finished the half on the front foot thanks to points by Paul Nolan and Callum Graham to trail by the bare minimum (1-8 to 1-7) at half-time.

Image courtesy Pat Walsh

An Oisín Costello goal in the 35^th minute edged the Templeogue outfit in front but Clontarf regained control on the scoreboard as talented dual player Luke O’Boyle added their second goal.

A trio of Tom Higgins frees early in the fourth quarter put further daylight between the teams and the contest was effectively settled as Higgins found the net in the 58^th minute.

The lively Newton put the icing on the Clontarf cake with a brace of goals in added time as St Jude’s fell just short in their ambitious quest of adding the Minor ‘A’ hurling title to the football equivalent secured the previous Sunday.

Newton (2-5) and Higgins (1-6) claimed the scoring honours for the winners while the likes of Joe Sheppard (0-3), Senan Ryan (0-2) and Odhran McGuckin (0-2) also chipped in with valuable contributions over the hour.

However, it was in defence that the battle was won with goalkeeper Padraic Murphy, Sam Keeley, Conor Murphy, Justin Kelly, Luke Hayes, Oisin Creighton and Tom Briody all excelling in their duties.

Across in Lawless Park, Fingallians withstood some late pressure to eventually see off a determined Kevins side by 4-14 to 3-15 to claim the ‘B’ decider.

In doing so, they retained the ‘B’ Championship but they were pushed all the way by a Kevins team that opened up brightly through scores by Joseph Purcell, Oscar McHugh and Christopher Tuite.

The hosts eventually settled thanks to a trio of Aron Gargan points and a Harry Brogan brace to level matters after twenty minutes and Gargan’s penalty just before the break edged Fins into a 1-8 to 0-7 interval lead.

They maintained that momentum after the break through another Brogan brace and a Gargan score to push seven points clear but the visitors remained in the hunt through a Mark Doyle goal and another Tuite point.

Fins looked to have settled the issue as Gargan completed his hat-trick before Aidan Swan added a fourth goal to regain their seven-point advantage.

However, goals from Doyle and Sean McCarron ensured a grandstand finish but despite two late frees from Tuite, Kevins fell just short in their comeback ambitions as they succumbed by two points.

Tuite finished the game with nine points and he received valuable support throughout from James Cox, Tadhg O’Toole, Matthew Brown and Declan Power.

Gargan proved the Fingallians matchwinner with a personal tally of 3-9 with the likes of Conor Reilly, Eoin McCarthy, Finnan Brady, Gavin Hickey and Lachlann Hayward also proving hugely influential for the winners.

Earlier in the morning, Scoil Ui Chonaill claimed their first ever Minor Hurling Championship title as they pipped St Jude’s by 1-12 to 2-8 in the ‘C’ final O’Toole Park.

A goal from captain Jack Kennedy saw Scoil take control of the first-half as they entered the break with a healthy 1-8 to 1-2 advantage.

St Jude’s battled superbly in the second-half to restrict the Scoil attack but Kennedy’s 1-4 and further scores by Tiarnan Brown, Alex Courtney, Liam Carr, Fionn Daly and Oran Rowley proved sufficient by the final whistle.

Further down the field, the winners held firm through goalkeeper Rory O’Donnell while Rafa Almeida, Conall Mac Cárthaigh, Sean Morgan, Flann Taylor, Cillian Farrell and Daniel Flynn all played key roles in their success.