Senior hurlers defeat Antrim to progress to Leinster semi-final

Sat, 26th June 2021

LEINSTER SHC QUARTER-FINAL

DUBLIN 3-31

ANTRIM 0-22

Dublin powered to an 18-point victory in Saturday's Leinster SHC quarter-final against Antrim in Páirc Tailteann, Navan.

Victory for Mattie Kenny's men sees them progress to face Galway next Saturday in their provincial semi-final (Croke Park, 2.0) with Kilkenny facing Wexford, victors over Laois, in the other semi-final on of the double-header (4.30) at GAA headquarters.

After an even opening quarter by which Dublin led 0-8 to 0-6, with Donal Burke hitting the last two points including one superb point from the sideline, the other a free; the Dubs were the better side and by the interval Cian O'Sullivan's 31st minute goal had propelled them into a 1-17 to 0-12 lead.

Cian O'Sullivan opened the scoring to the second quarter before Donal Burke (free) extended Dublin's lead.

Following a Kealan Molloy point from the Glensmen Dublin hit three points in quick succession - the impressive Ronan Hayes getting two, doing very well to engineer the second one with a point sandwiched between from full-back Eoghan O'Donnell powering forwards.

O'Sullivan's goal was a clinical strike to the roof of the Antrim net to make it 1-14 to 0-9 as the Dubs began to punish any errors by their opposition.

Dublin's work-rate was good with the half-forward line in particular getting though a lot of work while at the back the full-back line stood strong.

Donal Burke maintained his high-scoring deadball accuracy from the recent league and finished with a personal tally of 0-11, including five points from play.

Just before the water break in the second half Ronan Hayes capped a fine individual display when hitting Dublin's second goal following good work by Conor Burke.

That scored moved Dublin 2-24 to 0-17 clear and within a minute of the restart Dublin had raised their third green flag.

This time Cian Boland was on target when a long free from goalkeeper Alan Nolan dropped invitingly for the St Oliver Plunkett/Eoghan Ruadh man.

Dublin could afford to make changes with sub Oisín O'Rorke scoring with his first contribution, fellow replacements Fergal Whitely and Paul Crummey, brother of Chris, also scored before the finish.

Antrim finished with 14 men when Ryan McGarry was red-carded late on.

SCORERS - Dublin: D Burke 0-11 (0-6f), R Hayes 1-3, C O’Sullivan 1-2, C Boland 1-1, D Sutcliffe, C Crummey, R Hayes 0-3 each, R McBride 0-2, F Whitely, C Burke, O O’Rorke 0-1 each. Antrim: C Clarke 0-9 (0-6f, 0-1 65), N McManus 0-6, K Molloy 0-3, M Bradley, C Cunning, J McNaughton (0-1f), C McCann 0-1 each.

DUBLIN: A Nolan; P Smyth, E O’Donnell, C O’Callaghan; D Gray, L Rushe, J Madden; R McBride, C Burke; D Sutcliffe, D Burke, C Crummey; C Boland, R Hayes, C O’Sullivan. Subs: J Malone for McBride (57), F Whitely for Sutcliffe (57), O O’Rorke for O’Sullivan (57), S Moran for C Burke (59), P Crummey for C Crummey (63).

ANTRIM: R Elliott; D McMullan, G Walsh, S Rooney; E Campbell, P Burke, J Maskey; K Molloy, M Bradley; J McNaughton, N McManus, N McKenna; C Clarke, S Elliott, C Cunning. Subs: C McCann for S Elliott (26), D Nugent for McKenna (48), S Shannon for Bradley (48), C Johnson for Campbell (57), R McGarry for Maskey (57).

REF: L Gordon (Galway).