Dublin SFC final
Kilmacud Crokes 2-12
St. Jude’s 0-13
The Dublin championship on October nights really shows off the best players in the country.
Anyone lucky enough to have ever witnessed Diarmuid Connolly under the Parnell lights with a St. Vincent’s jersey on will have seen some magic conjured and they’d have seen first-hand the very real distance between him and the rest – the laypeople.
The same goes for a lot of those Dublin superstars. The Dublin championship is absolute quality but we’re talking about one of the greatest teams of all time and their main men are going to stand out.
It took Paul Mannion just 30 minutes to show that he is fast becoming one of the very best players in the country. Four points he hit Jude’s for in the first half of the county final and, by the time the 40-minute mark was reached, he had kicked six and he had kicked all of them from play.
And he hit the first two from wide on the wing, he hit the third on the loop and the fourth having won it between bodies, and selling a dummy despite being blind to the defender as he swung over his shoulder before the most nimble back could readjust his feet.
At half time, Mannion was having a word with Cillian O’Shea and it seemed to come just after the wing back had played a high enough – albeit accurate – ball into Pat Burke. It hit the target alright but Burke was swamped as he came back to his feet and that was not what Cokes were getting so much success with.
What they were doing is being patient, keeping the ball moving, working it to a platform and bouncing measured diagonal passes in front of the unmarkable Mannion, torturing the St. Jude’s full back line.
He scored 1-6 from play in the final of one of the most competitive championships in the land and he made it all look so damn easy.
In fact, the only thing more effortlessly class than the left boot of Mannion was the Cian O’Sullivan pass that set up his fourth score.
He came bursting off the shoulder and kicked the most perfect ball in between the navy jerseys and propping up for Mannion in an area where he had no margin for error. But it was always worth the risk when it was to find Paul Mannion.
Check out that pass at 00:28 below.
It's half-time in Parnell Park in the Dublin SFC final!
Kilmacud Crokes 0-7 St. Jude's 0-3#GAANOW pic.twitter.com/4GkKkMIRfS— The GAA (@officialgaa) October 29, 2018
But, despite Jude’s trying to plug those holes, Mannion just kept appearing.
They went more defensive, threw more bodies behind the ball and tried to counterattack Crokes and brought the game back to a one-pointer in the second period but, sooner or later, Paul Mannion would get free again and, sooner or later, he’d nutmeg the ‘keeper with all the audacity and composure you’d expect from one of the best.
Paul Mannion with Kilmacud's second goal! @KCrokesGAAClub pic.twitter.com/EfMTsEiUIc
— The GAA (@officialgaa) October 29, 2018
1-6 from play, 1-6 from seven efforts. Kilmacud champions for the first time since 2010. Mannion wasn’t going to wait about any longer.
“I’ve grown up watching this team winning championships every other year but that’s my first,” he told TG4 afterwards.
“It’s unbelievable.
“Everyone knows club is a special feeling, playing with the lads you grow up with.”
