Ballyboden St Enda’s Ross McGarry in action for Dublin
Photo by Niall O'Connell
Dubs not convincing in bottom clash
DUBLIN picked up their first win of the National League campaign after a victory against Monaghan in Croke Park last Saturday evening by four points 1-18 to 0-17.
Players from local clubs who were involved on the day include Ballyboden St Enda’s trio Ross McGarry, Hugh O’Sullivan and Alex Gavin as well as Templeogue Synge Street duo Niall Scully and Lorcan O’Dell.
Ballyboden St Enda’s keeper Hugh O’Sullivan impressed in goal as he was drafted in for Evan Comerford at the last minute.
O’Sullivan made several crucial stops throughout the game to keep the opposition from having a green flag raised. Monaghan admittedly were poor in front of goal however and continuously wasted big goal scoring chances.
Dublin did not impress with their own shooting with wides and underpowered shots being commonplace for the homeside throughout the first half.
The likes of Con O’Callaghan, Luke Breathnach and Ciaran Kilkenny all secured points for Dublin while another St Enda’s man Ross McGarry was denied a goal of his own after his effort cannoned into the cross bar.
With neither team impressing with their first half performance the two sides went level in at the break with 0-07 apiece.
It would be Monaghan who kicked into gear first in the second half and by the 47th minute they found themselves four points clear.
Dublin worked their way back into the game however and via Con O’Callaghan’s two pointer as well as a score from Ross McGarry found themselves back level.
The two sides would battle it out for another 10 minutes or so before Dublin finally reached the ascendancy with O’Callaghan scoring another two pointer and Joe Quigley netting an excellent goal on his league debut in front of the Hill.
This put the Dubs in the driver seat for the rest of the match and allowed them to see out their win.
Ger Brennan spoke on the win after the game.
“Very happy with a lot of aspects of the performance, the lads worked really hard the last couple of weeks since the Mayo game and we saw the effort on the field tonight. Albeit aspects of the final product didn’t always come off.”
“Credit to Hugh, some great saves in goal. Some fabulous saves. Monaghan created some wonderful chances so we will have to look at that.”
“I thought the experienced guys and some of the new guys showed great leadership during that period [being down by 0-04], Con was far more accurate in the second half with some lovely two pointers which helped turn the tide. Overall very happy to get two points on the board ahead of playing Kerry next week here.”
They play Kerry next Saturday in Croke Park at 7pm as part of a double header with the hurlers taking on Wexford at 5pm.
