Dublin SFC: St Jude’s progress to final despite conceding three penalties

St Judes’ Colm Murphy takes a shot. Picture: INPHO/Lorraine O’Sullivan

St Jude’s 1-18 Lucan Sarsfields 3-5

St Jude’s overcame the concession of three second-half penalties to deservedly account for a disappointing Lucan Sarsfields in their Go Ahead Dublin SFC semi-final at Parnell Park on Saturday evening.

In doing so, the Templeogue outfit secured their second final appearance in four campaigns, having lost the final to Kilmacud Crokes in 2018, and there was much to admire in the manner they seized the initiative from the opening whistle.

Despite playing into the teeth of a strong breeze, St Jude’s controlled the opening-half with their comfort and patience in possession in marked contrast to that of their inexperienced opponents.

They deservedly opened the scoring in the fourth minute through David Mannix and their patience was rewarded once again three minutes later as Alan Connolly fired over after a slow and methodical build-up.

Their dominance was briefly halted thanks to Brendan Gallagher’s fine score in the eighth minute and they were indebted to goalkeeper Paul Copeland, who denied CJ Smith with a superb save approaching the water break.

St Jude’s made the most of that reprieve through a 16th-minute point from Niall Coakley and they pushed on in the second quarter with points from Mannix, Colm Murphy and Coakley prompting a healthy 0-7 to 0-2 interval lead.

Lucan were handed a lifeline within a minute of the restart with Harry Ladd gaining the softest of penalties and Gallagher stepped up to fire unerringly to the left of Copeland to trim their arrears to just two points.

The response from St Jude’s was as impressive as it was instant with a brace of superb Pat Spillane points followed in the 36th minute by a goal from Coakley, who raced onto David Sheehy’s pass to fire into the top corner via the fingertips of Mark Gibbons in the Sarsfields goal.

St Jude’s piled on the pain through Mannix, Kevin McManamon, Connolly and Daragh Kavanagh but the final stages received a frisson of excitement as Lucan were awarded two penalties in quick succession between the 55th and 58th minutes, both converted by Gallagher, albeit the first of those coming from a rebound.

With their lead reduced to four points, St Jude’s regrouped and highlighted their depth in injury time with points from substitutes Seamus Ryan, Brian Coakley and Diarmuid McLoughlin sealing a well-merited seven-point success.

Scorers for St Jude’s: N Coakley (1-2, 1f); D Mannix (0-4, 2f); P Spillane (0-3); K McManamon, (1 ‘45’), A Connolly (0-2 each); C Murphy, D Kavanagh, S Ryan, B Coakley, D McLoughlin (0-1 each).

Scorers for Lucan Sarsfields: B Gallagher (3-3, 2-0 pen, 2f); H Ladd (0-2).

ST JUDE'S: P Copeland; O Manning, J McGuire, A Hassett; T Lahiff, M Sweeney, C Guckian; C Murphy, P Spillane; D Sheehy, K McManamon, D Kavanagh; D Mannix, N Coakley, A Connolly.

Subs: D McLoughlin for Sheehy (42), S Ryan for Murphy (55), B Coakley for Mannix (55), R Joyce for McManamon (55), R Martina for Manning (60).

LUCAN SARSFIELDS: M Gibbons; D Cahill, D Newcombe, A Kirwan; CJ Smith, S Cleary, A Murphy; D Gavin, C Walsh; S Newcombe, M Lavin, L Walsh; J McCormack, H Ladd, B Gallagher.

Subs: B O’Toole for McCormack (43), C Gallagher for L Walsh (48), L Curran for Cahill (51), D O’Shaughnessy for Lavin (64).

Ref: Dan Stynes (St Peregrine’s).