Na Fianna (Dublin) 2-23; Sarsfields (Cork) 0-20
Both Dublin clubs had surreal first halves in Croke Park on Sunday and it was Na Fianna who held the upper hand right through, more so than Cuala, when they went on to record a remarkable nine-point win against Munster champions Sarsfields on Sunday.
The word “remarkable” probably doesn’t reflect accurately what this Dublin club has achieved, given that they hadn’t much in the way of silverware even in Dublin, never mind Leinster or beyond up to four years ago.
However the strides the side has taken in those 48 months has been staggering, culminating in a Tommy Moore victory which saw the club show amazing team strength to emerge victorious in such a dominant manner on the pitch hardly a mile the way as the crow flies from their home on Mobhi Road.
There was something extra-special about the style of play this team has developed and it augurs well for the Dublin county team as the Manager Niall Ó Ceallacháin will end his dual role of club and county boss now to concentrate on lifting the Dublin colors high in the ocean of hurling over the coming months and years.
Pace and power allied to an uncanny precision in passing and score-taking marks this team out from others and suggests that if the blueprint works for Dublin, they could go a long way towards breaking the Kilkenny dominance in Leinster — and who knows, maybe have a right crack at emulating John Kiely and Limerick in making the All Ireland breakthrough.
Scoring wise, it was Tom Brennan, who dictated the flow of this game, with 2-1 to his name, while AJ Murphy scored five great points from play on his way to collecting the man of the match award. With Colin Currie adding half a dozen points from placed balls, Sarsfields were pulverized by different players on top of their game up front while behind Brian Ryan ran the show at midfield with veteran Liam Rushe the talisman in defense with a series of interceptions and attack initiations.
The best compliment we can pay the men in saffron and blue is to say they played like a Kilkenny club team, full of attitude and looking to not only dominate but to suffocate the life out of their opposition.
At one stage they were out the gate as they led by 0-14 and it was only to be expected that they took their foot of the pedal on the run-in during which a game Rebel outfit kept plugging away and had cut the deficit by five points before the long whistle sounded to take them out of their misery.
There was something different in the air all Sunday from the time a huge swathe of supporters - maybe 2,000 of 3,000 gathered for the short walk from Glasnevin to Jones’ Road to cheer on their team. In instances such as this, a team can either embrace the support or be underwhelmed at the sight of it.
This squad put both arms around such a novel approach to marching on Croke Park and by half time had the game wrapped up as they led by 12 points against a bemused Cork outfit who must have wondered what hit them.
Although beaten in Cork by district side Imokilly, their win over Waterford side Ballygunner and subsequent victories meant Sarsfield were given only slightly less than a 50-50 chance entering the fray.
No doubt the occasion got to them for, as Na Fianna tacked on scores from left, right and centre, Sarsfields missed a number of easy chances and by the time the likes of their county man Jack O’Connor arrived in the game as a force, it was already over as a contest.
While the winners hit 1-11 of their 1-16 from play in that time, the losers had a mere two points from play to show for all their efforts over the first half hour.
The goal from Brennan came after 20 minutes and probably defined the rest of the game. Truth be told Na Fianna had other goal opportunities but they were not taken by the same Brennan, Murphy and Sean Currie.
Skipper Donal Burke led from the front with a willingness to show for the ball and work hard as he slotted over some very fine points to keep the scoreboard ticking over in his side’s favor.
Sarsfields free-taker and top scorer Aaron Myers finished with 10 points after getting into the swing of scoring in the second half; however the goal the Corkmen needed never arrived.
Indeed it was their opponents who raised the green flag for the second time after 12 mins of the second half when Brennan again was on hand to accept a pass from Ciarán Stacey to ram home and put his colors 14 to the good. Brian Ryan had a majestic game and his point with 10 minutes to go was the icing on the cake of an exhilarating Na Fianna performance on the day.
After the game a delighted Niall Ó Ceallacháin said on RTE: "It's superb for the club. Our first Leinster, first All-Ireland, first of a lot of things, first county last year. It’s super for Na Fianna, also super for Dublin. We know we can compete at any level and we will.”
Na Fianna: J Tracey; K Burke, C McHugh, S Burke; P O’Dea (0-1), L Rushe, P Feeney; J Meagher (0-1), B Ryan (0-3); S Currie (0-1), D Burke (0-3, 0-1f), C Stacey (0-2); AJ Murphy (0-5), T Brennan (2-1), C Currie (0-6, 0-5f, 0-1 65) Subs: D Clerkin for Ryan 53, G King for Brennan 56, D Ryan for O’Dea 58, S Barrett for AJ Murphy 61, S Ryan for Meagher 62.
Sarsfields: B Graham; C Roche, P Leopold, C O'Sullivan; B Murphy (0-1), E Murphy, L Elliott; C McCarthy, C McCarthy; D Kearney (0-3, 0-1 ‘65), D Hogan (0-1), C Darcy; A Myers (0-10, 0-8f), J O’Connor (0-5), J Sweeney Subs: S O’Regan for Darcy h/t, C Leahy for Elliott h/t, L Healy for C McCarthy 40, C Murphy for E Murphy 46, E O'Sullivan for Sweeney 51.
Ref: L Gordon (Galway).
He went on: “We'll enjoy this for a day or two. We're very much looking forward to (the Allianz League), there's a great bunch there that I'm looking forward to throwing all my lot in with them."
