Mannion leads Crokes to SFC1 victory over Vincent's

Mannion leads Crokes to SFC1 victory over Vincent’s

Sun, 26th September 2021

Kilmacud Crokes overcame a resurgent comeback from St Vincent's on their way to a 1-15 to 2-7 victory in Sunday's Go-Ahead Dublin SFC1 Group 2 Round 2 encounter at Parnell Park.

Despite leading by nine points near the close of the opening half they sides were level on three occasions in the second half before a 54th Hugh Kenny goal steered Crokes to victory.

Just before the half-time break a James McCusker goal for St Vincent's made it 0-10 to 1-1 and on the restart Tomás Quinn showed his finisher's instinct to hit the Marino side's second goal.

Points from Eoin Adamson, Gavin Burke and a Tomás Quinn '45' brought the sides level, 0-10 to 2-4, in the 39th minute.

Man of the match Paul Mannion, who tallied 0-8 (0-5f), ended Vincent's scoring streak with an excellent individual point before Tomás Quinn, from long range, had them level once again.

By the three-quarter point a Shane Horan point had edged Crokes in front, 0-12 to 2-5, but Tomás Quinn's converted free after a foul on Seán Lowry brought parity.

The next few scores were vital with Rory O'Carroll taking responsibility to fire over and then Crokes goal - Tom Fox cleverly picking out Hugh Kenny with a pass across the face of the square and the corner-forward tucked his finish accurately low into the corner of the net.

It gave Crokes breathing space as they rode out the Vincent's second-half storm to record their second win from two starts.

Kilmacud Crokes led 0-10 to 1-1 at the half-time interval with Vincent's goal coming with the last action of the opening half.

It was Vincent's only score from play in the first half, their other score a 15th minute Tomás Quinn free.

Quinn, who top scored for his side with 1-4 (0-3f), and Seán Lambe were involved centrally in their goal to set up James McCusker who fired clinically past Conor Ferris.

Earlier in the half Ferris had denied Seán Lowry and then eventually Tomás Quinn after the play was recycled from close range.

However, Crokes were the more impressive and clinical in the first half during which Paul Mannion kicked five points - three frees and two from play.

Some of his scores were top quality including a 46-metre from from the hand in the 25th minute which he quickly followed up with one from play from almost the same distance following good work by Andrew McGowan.

Kilmacud opened up a 0-5 to 0-0 lead inside 13 minutes with Tom Fox (free), Paul Mannion (two frees) and Andrew McGowan (two) on target.

Quinn's free made it 0-5 to 0-1 at the first water break but Crokes continued to hold the upperhand on the restart.

Paul Mannion curled over a fine effort and then Dan O'Brien linked the play cleverly before clipping over with his left to make it 0-7 to 0-1 after 20 minutes.

Dara Mullin was black-carded in the 21st minute but despite their numerical loss Crokes continued to dictate with Paul Mannion hitting those two long range points before Hugh Kenny fisted over following a great run by Michael Mullin.