Curries red hot as Na Fianna coast to first Dublin title
Micheál Murphy of Na Fianna is tackled by James Madden of Ballyboden St Endas during the Dublin County Senior Club Hurling Championship final match between Ballyboden St Endas and Na Fianna at Parnell Park in Dublin. Photo by Stephen Marken/Sportsfile
Given all the hardship they've encountered, and missing injured captain Donal Burke, Na Fianna couldn't have expected their first ever Dublin SHC title success would come quite as easily as this.
Beaten in the last two county finals by Kilmacud Crokes, the Mobhi Road men made it third time lucky with a surprisingly comfortable 16-point demolition of Ballyboden St Enda's.
The Currie brothers, Sean and Colin, combined for 2-15 between them and helped put a strong Ballyboden team to the sword long before full-time.
Timmy Hammersley, the former All-Ireland medallist with Tipperary, was sent off on a straight red card just four minutes after coming on for 'Boden in the final quarter of the game, following an incident that left ex-Dublin footballer Conor McHugh grounded.
Na Fianna already led by a dozen points at that stage so it was hardly a turning point, more of a summary of just how badly things got away from 'Boden on a day the seven-time champions will be happy to forget.
Sean Currie scored Na Fianna's two goals in the first-half as they hit the David Curtin managed 'Boden hard and early. He finished with 2-5 while his brother Colin, also on the Dublin panel this year, collected 0-10 for himself.
Curiously, it's the first time a team from north Dublin has won the county title since Craobh Chiarain in 2006.
Na Fianna will enter the Leinster club SHC for the first time on November 12 when they meet Westmeath champions Raharney in Mullingar in a quarter-final tie.
A rampant Na Fianna hit the interval with a massive 2-10 to 0-6 advantage and while that looked a near unassailable lead, their supporters didn't dare count their chickens.
They were eight points clear midway through the first half of their semi-final win over Lucan Sarsfields and saw that lead reduced to just two at one stage in the second half.
They also enjoyed big leads in both the 2021 and 2022 finals against Kilmacud Crokes only to walk away empty-handed and heartbroken on both of those occasions.
It was particularly galling for the north Dublin side two years ago as they were nine points up on Crokes in that 2021 decider with just eight minutes of normal time remaining.
Crokes ended up taking that game to extra-time and eventually winning while Na Fianna blew a four-point second-half lead in last year's decider.
Na Fianna avenged those losses somewhat with a two-point quarter-final win over Crokes this season before hanging tough to take down Lucan.
As for Ballyboden, they knocked out Cuala in the quarter-finals before overcoming St Vincent's after extra-time in the last four.
This was the teams' fourth meeting of the season with 'Boden beating Na Fianna in July's Division 1 league final only to come up short when they met again in the group stage of the championship.
Na Fianna hit the ground running this time with the Curries blasting 2-9 of that 2-10 first-half tally.
Sean netted in the 21st and 26th minutes and finished the half with a terrific 2-3, all from open play.
He did brilliant for his first goal, beating 'Boden defender Stephen O'Connor to a 50-50 ball in the air before cracking the sliotar beyond goalkeeper Conor O'Donoghue.
Five minutes later, AJ Murphy lobbed in a clever pass which was intended for Shane Barrett and when the ball broke kindly to the right Currie pulled first time with a vicious shot that rattled the net.
Sibling Colin, the free-taker, registered six first-half points and also had an 18th minute penalty, following James Madden's foul on Murphy, saved by O'Donoghue.
Poor 'Boden only managed two first-half points from play, scored by Luke McDwyer and Kevin Desmond.
Ballyboden needed a strong second-half showing to turn things around but things actually got worse as they only added three more points. As for Na Fianna, the Curries continued to snipe the one-pointers, extending their lead to a massive 16 points by full-time.
Substitutes Sean Baxter and Gavin King also got on the scoresheet and Ciaran Stacey closed out the scoring for the side.
S Currie (2-5); C Currie (0-10, 7 frees, 1 65); AJ Murphy, S Baxter, G King, C Stacey (0-1).
P Ryan (0-4, 4 frees); K Desmond, L McDwyer, A Mellett, N Ryan, J Lambert (0-1).
J Treacy; K Burke, C McHugh, S Burke; D Clerkin, L Rushe, P O'Dea; B Ryan, P Feeney; J Tierney, S Currie, C Currie; C Stacey, AJ Murphy, S Barrett.
M Murphy for Barrett (33); S Baxter for Murphy (44); G King for Tierney (51); D Ryan for McHugh (58); M Quilty for B Ryan (60).
C O'Donoghue; S McDonnell, J Madden, L Corcoran; J Lambert, S Lambert, S O'Connor; N Ryan, A Mellett; L McDwyer, C Dooley, S Durkin; K Desmond, P Ryan, N McMorrow.
P Christie for Desmond (27); C Keaney for P Ryan (40); T Hammersley for P Ryan (47); E Behan for Durkin (47); D Kenny for N Ryan (58).
C Mooney (St Pat's)
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