A late, late equalizing point by Kalem O'Brien saw St Vincent's squeeze into the quarter-finals at the expense of Thomas Davis, despite the latter securing an impressive draw with Leinster champions Kilmacud Crokes with a numerical disadvantage.
The traditional aristocrats of Dublin football shipped a goal early, Paddy Kelly finding the net, but led 0-06 to 1-01 at the break. However, they surrendered the initiative after the break, and fell one point behind with only six minutes remaining. But O'Brien, only introduced as the game entered injury-time, rescued them at the death.
When it emerged from O'Toole Park that 14-man Thomas Davis had fallen agonizingly short against the champions, drawing 1-8 to 0-11, it meant that Vincent's pipped them to the quarter-final spot by the absolute thinnest of margins, the pair finishing level on points but Vinnie's have a better score difference (-3 to -4). They face Ballymun Kickhams in the quarters, who eased through the group phase with maximum points.
DUBLIN QUARTER-FINAL DRAW
Cuala v Castleknock
Na Fianna v Clontarf
Ballymun Kickhams v St Vincents
Kilmacud Crokes v Ballyboden St Endas
Glenn come back from dead
Glenn 1-11; Clonduff 1-9
This Down SF encounter provided a real edge of the seat spectacle for the supporters of both sides as Glenn staged a Lazarus-like resurrection to come back from seven points in arrears at half-time to beat fancied Clonduff by two points at Mayobridge on Saturday.
Behind those bald statistics there were two other factors at play - Glenn had a big wind at their backs in the second half and the dismissal of key player Ross Carr from the opponent's ranks early in that half, gave them superior numbers which they translated into possession for the rest of the game.
Still there was nothing easy given out by the losers who fought tooth and nail to advance and ultimately were beaten by two Mattie Bagnall points late in the game, a triumph for the sub who changed the course of the game. He kept the Bagnall name flying high as both Liam and Dylan were missing from the Glenn ranks, as was top player Jack McCartan.
Clonduff had played without key personnel, but for this game they welcomed back Eamon Brown to full-forward with Darren O'Hagan also able to line-out. With the wind behind them, they dictated play in the first moiety with Brown the star turn on show at that stage after nabbing an early goal to settle the more fancied side.
Glenn were poor and their three points return was reflective of how ineffective they were at penetrating the Clonduff rearguard. As the second half started, they needed an invisible hand to help them get back up off the floor and they got it almost immediately when Carr saw red. This changed the game plan with the losers failing thereafter to press the Glenn restarts.
It was as if they went with a “what we have we hold” mentality from there to the finish.
Aided by the strong elements, sensibly Glenn went route one into the heart of their opponents’ defense and this paid dividends early on in the half when Tiernan O'Brien read Declan Carville's clever knock down to plant the ball in the back of the net.
Clonduff responded with one of two points they could muster in this half from Patrick Cowan but a second Oran Byrne point and a free from John O'Hare the county netminder, had the game precariously balanced with 20 minutes still left to play.
Just when it seemed an uphill task for Clonduff, Glenn lost their numerical supremacy when Denis Murtagh picked up a black card. The losers should have understood the importance of having the same number of players on the pitch as the opposition yet incredibly within three minutes Ben McConviille was also black carded, leaving his side to fight with 13 men for the following crucial ten minutes.
With the sides level, Glenn produced a master stroke by introducing Bagnall who immediately put them ahead with a free with the hour expired on the clock. He had still more work to do as after Clondiff levelled again through McConville from a tight-angled free, Mattie popped up again to give Glenn the lead, which was added to by another sub Ronan McLoughlin for a shock win.
Scorers
Glenn T O’Brien 1-1; O Byrne 0-3; M Bagnall 0-2 (0-1f); J Sands, D Carville, R McLoughlin, S Millar (f), J O’Hare (f) 0-1 each
Clonduff E Brown 1-0; S McConville 0-3f; P Cowan & A McConville (0-1f, 0-1m) 0-2 each; C Carr & D Rafferty 0-1 each.
