O’Rorke and Hayes fire Crokes to SHC victory over Jude’s

KILMACUD CROKES 0-19 ST JUDE'S 0-14

An Oisin O'Rorke-inspired Crokes saw off southside rivals St Jude's in Sunday's opening Dublin SHC 'A' quarter-final at Parnell Park.

O'Rorke hit six points from play in an impressive display while his corner-forward colleague Ronan Hayes also cause problems for the Jude's defence, particularly in the opening half, and amassed 0-3 from play overall.

Crokes finished with 14 men after corner-back Jamie Clinton was red-carded in first-half added time for an off the ball incident as Anthony Daly's men led 0-9 to 0-6 at the break despite playing into a gusting wind.

Crokes held the upperhand for most of the game and had opened up a 0-17 to 0-9 lead with ten minutes remaining.

However, Jude's rallied briefly with Danny Sutcliffe to the fore to close the gap to 0-17 to 0-12 with eight minutes left.

A fine Caolan Conway point broke Jude's momentum momentarily before Fionn O Riain Broin, with an excellent score, and a brilliant Paul Maguire sideline mad eit 0-18 to 0-13 inside the last five minutes.

But there was no late heroics as Crokes held strong to book their semi-final spot in two weeks' time when they will face two in-a-row All-Ireland champions Cuala.

In the opening half Crokes settled quickly and their tactic of long angled deliveries into Ronan Hayes corner was paying dividends.

Points from Fergal Whitely and a Mark Howard free gave them a good start into the wind.

Howard slotted three first-half frees with Hayes and O'Rorke both hitting a brace from play each to lead by three at the break, 0-9 to 0-6.

SCORERS – Kilmacud Crokes: O O’Rorke 0-6, M Howard 0-4 (0-2f, 0-1 ‘65’), R Hayes 0-3, S McGrath, F Whitely 0-2, D Kelly, C Conway 0-1 each. St Jude’s: F Ó Riain Broin 0-6 (0-4f), D Sutcliffe 0-2, E McLoughlin, T Devlin, R Joyce, D Fox, P Maguire (sideline), J McManus 0-1 each.

KILMACUD CROKES: M Collins; B O’Carroll, C Mac Gabhann, J Clinton; R O’Carroll, R O’Dwyer, N Corcoran; L McMullen, F Whitely; S McGrath, D Kelly, C Conway; R Hayes, O O’Rorke, M Howard. Subs: A Considine for McGrath (47), C Hayes for R Hayes (57).

ST JUDE'S: D Walsh; C Smith, G McManus, K Treacy; A O’Beirne, E McLoughlin, C Ó Riain Broin; N Mangan, R Joyce; T Devlin, D Fox, D McLoughlin; C Mangan, D Sutcliffe, F Ó Riain Broin. Subs: L Sexton for C Ó Riain Broin (28), P Maguire for D McLoughlin (ht), M Malone for D McLoughlin (ht), J McManus for Treacy (45), L Kelly for Devlin (58).

REF: PJ Murray (St Finian’s Swords).