Jamie McCarville from St Mary’s in action for Dublin Photo Paul Lundy
McCarville involved in Dubs squad
THE Dublin Footballers have found themselves eliminated from the O’Byrne Cup after being knocked out by Kildare in the semi-final in what is manager Ger Brennan’s second game in charge.
The line up in St Conleth’s Park saw major changes from the victory against Laois the previous weekend with ten switches in personnel compared to the team from the previous week.
Despite being an experimental selection, Dublin performed well for periods of the first half.
Kildare started strongly and it would take Dublin seven minutes to open their account for the game with goalkeeper Sam Moloney finally getting them off the mark with a ‘45’.
Niall O’Callaghan would put them ahead for the first time in the game just minutes later after Clyde Burke had drawn the sides level with an impressive two pointer in the tenth minute.
It was in this period where Dublin should have extended their lead as they enjoyed a healthy percentage of the possession. However they missed a couple of presentable chances as Clyde Burke was again the only man to get the ball over the bar extending their lead to three points.
Alex Beirne was pivotal to the Kildare attack and through his efforts as well as Brian McLoughlin the deficit between the two sides was reduced down to the bare minimum by the 24th minute.
The most important moment of the match would come shortly after as St Marys Saggart’s Jamie McCarville palmed the ball into the back of the net after getting on the end of a speculative shot from Conor Dolan.
This gave them a 1-8 to 0-08 advantage heading into halftime.
The second half would see a different story however as the competitiveness of the first half vanished and a Kildare dominance took hold of the game.
Harry O’Neill would get a goal for the Lilywhite’s in the 44th minute which turned the tide in their favour.
Further scores from Alex Beirne, James Harris, Eoin Cully, Darragh Swords and Aaron Browne in the closing stages of the game would confirm their lead and they would end up winning the game by an impressive nine point margin with the final score reading 1-13 to 1-22.
This has qualified Kildare for the final where they will take on Westmeath while Dublin will be forced to sit out on the opportunity to win silverware early on in 2026.
