Dubs progress to O'Byrne Cup semis

Kevin McManamon, Bryan Cullen, Diarmuid Connolly and Sean Murray all scored goals as Dublin secured a Bord na Mona O'Byrne Cup semi-final berth thanks to a 4-14 to 0-12 win over UCD at Parnell Park last night.

Dublin comfortably dominated possession in the opening 21 minutes of tonight's quarter-final tie, and while they made this tell on the scoreboard with an 0-8 to 0-2 lead the hosts were also wasteful in front of the posts.

Pat Gilroy's charges registered six wides in the opening quarter with UCD coming under huge defensive pressure early on.

Tomas Quinn, who hit five points as a second half subsitute in the opening round victory over Carlow, was in flying form again for the Metropolitans, landing the opening three points.

Dublin's Craig Dias registered UCD's first score in the sixth minute, but just one further point would go the students' way over the next 14 minutes, as Dublin outscored Tim Healy's side by 0-5 to 0-1 during this spell.

Eamon Fennell, Michael McCarthy, Quinn (0-2) and Paddy Andrews added points to make it 0-8 to 0-2 to the All-Ireland champions, 14 minutes before the break.

UCD hit a purple patch thanks to a trio of points, with Laois's Donal Kingston slotting over two frees and Westmeath's Lorcan Smith also on target to cut the deficit to three points.

McCarthy added his second point for Dublin, before McManamon knocked home the game's opening goal. He fired the ball over the head of UCD goalkeeper Michael McGinley as he cut in from the wing.

McCarthy and Ross McConnell tagged on two more points as Dublin led by 1-11 to 0-5 at the break.

The Dubs were more clinical on the restart, as UCD began the second half in a wayward fashion. The Belfield outfit struck four wides inside six minutes of the restart before they eventually came good thanks to a point from Niall Kilroy.

It was the first of three second half points from the Roscommon forward, but Dublin continued to have that killer instinct up front.

Goals from Cullen (43 minutes) and Connolly (53) pushed Dublin 3-11 to 0-8 ahead, with St. Brigid's clubman Murray nabbing the fourth goal six minutes from the end.