Round Up: Go-Ahead Senior 2 Hurling Championship Quarter Finals

Craobh Chiaráin and St Jude’s progressed to the last four of the Go-Ahead Dublin Senior 2 Hurling Championship following their quarter-final victories over Thomas Davis and Castleknock respectively at Parnell Park on Saturday afternoon.

First up in Donnycarney was the meeting between Craobh and Thomas Davis with Chiaráin’s registering a deserved 2-17 to 1-16 success.

Despite Adam Waddick, Sean Reilly and Eoin Lambert pointing for Thomas Davis, a Billy Ryan goal in the 10^th minute gave Craobh the early advantage and a superb team goal that featured Gary Kelly, Conor Ryan, Paul Kelly and Darren Kelly culminated in Jimmy Finn netting to leave Chiaráin’s 2-6 to 0-9 ahead at half-time.

The Kiltipper Road outfit stayed in the hunt thanks to ten points over the hour from Kevin Ward and they reduced their deficit to the bare minimum as Conor Cronin netted from a Waddick pass.

However, Craobh regrouped well thanks to points by Paul Kelly, who scored 0-4 in total, Conor Ryan and Robbie Mahon before two late Billy Ryan frees ensured their merited win and a semi-final clash against Ballyboden St Enda’s.

The remaining quarter-final saw St Jude’s stutter somewhat in the second-half before eventually seeing off a battling Castleknock by 3-17 to 1-18.

The bulk of the damage was done in the first-half with a cracking Danny Sutcliffe goal and points from Joe McManus and John Carty helping build a healthy 1-12 to 0-7 interval advantage.

The influential Conor Nolan, who amassed 1-4 in total, netted a second goal from a clever David Andrews pass in the opening minutes of the second-half as Jude’s looked primed to stroll into the last four.

However, some poor shot selection undermined their dominance as Castleknock hit back through scores by Cian Boyle, who scored 0-11 over the hour, Neil Hogan, Niall O’Callaghan and Brian Hughes.

A Conor Murray goal added further impetus to the ‘Knock challenge but a second Sutcliffe goal in added time saw Jude’s through to a last four outing against Naomh Barróg.

In the relegation play-offs, Ballinteer St John’s produced their most compelling performance of the year when brushing Naomh Fionnbarra aside on a scoreline of 4-25 to 0-6 at O’Toole Park.

Daire Casserly netted twice for St John’s, with their other goals coming through Tom Aherne and Cody Graham.

Aherne top scored with 1-8 and with Seamus Fenton adding 0-5, Ballinteer eased home with Dylan Bannan (0-3), Rob Aherne (0-2) and Ben Hyland (0-2) also making impacts on the scoreboard.

The second encounter in Kimmage was far tighter as Kilmacud Crokes scored goals at critical times as they edged Clontarf by 3-9 to 1-13.

With Andrew Keegan to the fore, Clontarf led by six points at half-time but the experience of Dillon Mulligan and Niall Corcoran helped Crokes gain a foothold upon the restart.

Aaron O’Toole scored 1-4 for the winners, with Barry Wolohan and Tom Stakelum scoring two points apiece while Ciaran Donovan added fresh life to the Kilmacud challenge with a cracking solo goal in the second-half.

The contest was decided in unfortunate circumstances as a Padhraic Linehan free from distance fell untouched into the Clontarf net.

SHC2 quarter-finals: Craobh Chiaráin 2-17 Thomas Davis 1-16; St Jude’s 3-17 to 1-18.

SHC2 relegation play-offs: Ballinteer St John’s 4-25 Naomh Fionnbarra 0-6; Kilmacud Crokes 3-9 Clontarf 1-13.