Christmas comes early as Crokes get title gift

THERE may still be only 12 days of Christmas, but it still seems to start earlier with each passing year. Unfortunately for Rhode, they took that all too literally yesterday by gift-wrapping a Leinster Club SFC title for Kilmacud that was theirs for the taking.

Rhode were six points to the good at the end of the first quarter. They had a man extra too after Cian O’Sullivan received a harsh red card from referee Pat Fox after what was an admittedly high tackle on Páraic Sullivan.

The rest of the afternoon looked like being easy peasy. Not so. Instead, they scored just one point in the last 40 minutes of play, kicked a succession of wides and conceded two soft goals.