Having secured the Go Ahead Dublin Adult Hurling League Division 1 title on Wednesday night, Kilmacud Crokes ensured they finished their campaign in a perfect manner as they overcame Ballyboden St Enda’s B by 2-19 to 0-13 in Silver Park on Saturday afternoon.
The victory was their eleventh straight success with goals from the lively Michael Roche and Alex Considine handing the hosts a sufficient lead in the incessant rain at Leopardstown.
Crokes were resolute at the back with Padhraic Linehan, Brian Sheehy and Tom Stakelum all impressing while Considine finished top scorer over the hour with a personal tally of 1-4.
Roche added 1-3 and with Dublin midfielder Brian Hayes chipping in with five points from play, Kilmacud pulled away thanks to further scoring contributions from Oisin O’Rorke, Fergal Whitely, Ronan Hayes, Breandán Ó Conaill and Dara Purcell.
Ballyboden St Enda’s A finished in second place as they pipped Lucan Sarsfields by 1-14 to 0-16 with Na Fianna in third place following their 1-13 to 0-12 away win at St Vincent’s.
At the opposite end of the table, Craobh Chiaráin were relegated despite them registering their first league win in eight games when beating already demoted Raheny by 2-18 to 0-16 at St Anne’s Park on Sunday morning.
Craobh’s fate was effectively sealed a day previously as St Brigid’s defeated Faughs by 0-25 to 1-15 at Russell Park.
In Go Ahead Dublin Adult Hurling League Division 2, Naomh Barróg were crowned champions as early as Thursday afternoon as they received a walkover from Castleknock, completing a hugely promising year for the Kilbarrack side.
They will be joined in the top-flight next year by a St Jude’s team that finished their season on the front foot when edging Erin’s Isle by 0-28 to 1-22 at Tymon Park on Sunday morning.
Having lost three of their first four matches, St Jude’s regrouped impressively to make a welcome return to Division 1 with Joe McManus proving their match-winner on Sunday with eleven points, five of which came from open play.
The hosts started brightly to race six points clear but long-range points by Conor Donohoe and Ollie Gaffney saw Isles remain in contention by half-time.
Graham King scored six points to keep his side in the hunt but the introduction from the bench of Diarmuid McLoughlin proved telling for the hosts as the dual player popped over four points from play inside twelve minutes.
A penalty in the 55th minute from Donohoe saw the visitors to within a point before St Jude’s steadied the ship through insurance points by Callum Graham and McLoughlin.
Graham scored four points in total and with Eoin Dolan and Sean Wynne adding two points apiece, they did just enough to prevail thanks to strong showings by Tom Bassett and Darragh Malone.
Heading in the opposite direction are both Scoil Uí Chonaill and Setanta, who suffered final day losses away to Fingallians and Whitehall Colmcille respectively.
Go Ahead AHL1: St Vincent’s 0-12 Na Fianna 1-13; Ballyboden St Enda’s A 1-14 Lucan Sarsfields 0-16; St Brigid’s 0-25 Faughs 1-15; Cuala 2-22 St Oliver Plunkett’s/ER 0-13; Kilmacud Crokes 2-19 Ballyboden St Enda’s B 0-13; Raheny 0-16 Craobh Chiaráin 2-18.
Go Ahead AHL2: St Sylvester’s 1-15 Thomas Davis 3-19; Whitehall Colmcille 3-17 Setanta 0-17; Fingallians 1-19 Scoil Uí Chonaill 0-15; Ballinteer St John’s 0-17 Kilmacud Crokes 1-16; Naomh Barróg w/o Castleknock scr; St Jude’s 0-28 Erin’s Isle 1-22.