Ballymun Kickhams crash out of Dublin senior football championship

The 2020 champion were defeated by Lucan Sarsfields while St Jude’s accounted for Thomas Davis by 3-14 to 0-15 in their last eight encounter.

Dean Rock of Ballymun Kickhams                         

Holders Ballymun Kickhams were dumped out of the Go Ahead Dublin Senior Football Championship when narrowly falling to Lucan Sarsfields by 1-16 to 0-18 in their entertaining quarter-final clash at Parnell Park on Saturday.

Fittingly, it was Brendan Gallagher that scored the decisive point deep into injury time, coolly converting a 30-metre free to send unfancied Sarsfields into the semi-finals.

The former Leitrim attacker sparkled through as Lucan recovered from a slow start that saw them fall behind to points from Carl Keeley, Dean Rock and Davy Byrne before Harry Ladd opened the Sarsfields account in the 11th minute.

With Ballymun’s Brian Ashton black carded in the 23rd minute, Lucan took full advantage with CJ Smith’s cracking goal five minutes later edging Lucan 1-7 to 0-9 ahead at the break.

That momentum was maintained upon the resumption as Gallagher’s five points and further scores from Luke Walsh and Ladd saw Lucan increase their lead to 1-14 to 0-11 by the second water break.

Given their perilous position, Kickhams regrouped impressively thanks to Fiach Andrews, Byrne and Rock and it appeared the latter had ensured extra-time when converting a close-in free in the 63rd minute.

However, Gallagher was to enjoy the final word with his ninth point of the afternoon proving the most precious by the final whistle.

Earlier in the day, late goals from Tom Lahiff and Seamus Ryan proved pivotal as St Jude’s accounted for Thomas Davis by 3-14 to 0-15 in their last eight encounter.

With just a point separating between the sides entering the closing five minutes, the influential Lahiff raced through unopposed onto Jack Maguire’s pass and executed a calm low finish past Robert Crilly to effectively settle the issue.

Three minutes later, Lahiff turned provider in releasing Seamus Ryan through on goal and the substitute made no mistake, putting a harsh complexion on the scoreboard by the final whistle.

It was Jude’s that dominated initially, opening up a healthy lead thanks to points from Dara Kavanagh, David Mannix and Alan Connolly and they pushed further clear when Niall Coakley converted a penalty following a foul on Pat Spillane in the 14th minute.

However, Thomas Davis controlled large passages of the second-quarter with Davy Keogh kicking two superb points to augment further scores from the excellent Fionn Murray, Cian Murphy and Sean Reilly as they trimmed their arrears to two points (1-8 to 0-9) by half-time.

Early second-half scores from Seán Farrelly and Murray helped restore parity and while St Jude’s finally arose from their collective slumber thanks to successive scores from Connolly, Mannix and Spillane, they continued to look vulnerable as they conceded points to Murray and Ryan Deegan as the half evolved.

However, the goal required to complete the Thomas Davis comeback never looked likely to materialise and a more composed Jude’s outfit finished the contest strongly to complete a deserved win.