Kilmacud Crokes 1-12 Éire Óg 0-4
Shane Walsh’s late goal off the left put the gloss on Kilmacud Crokes’ comfortable Leinster quarter final win over Éire Óg.
There was plenty of nostalgia during the week about the Carlow club’s legendary Leinster club final win over their Dublin opponents in 1999, but there was to be no repeat of those heroics on Saturday night in a chilly Netwatch Cullen Park.
Robbie Brennan’s side asserted their dominance on the contest immediately as they raced into a three point lead early on, with the lively Dara Mullin notching two from play while Shane Walsh kicked a free.
The impressive Éire Óg corner back Benny Kavanagh responded for Turlough O’Brien’s side with a brilliant point off the outside of the boot but further points from Andy McGowan, Mullin, Dan O’Brien and Mark O’Leary saw Crokes into a five point, 0-8 to 0-3 lead at the interval.
The game followed a similar pattern after half-time. Rather than killer blows, it was more of a case of death by a thousand cuts for the Carlow side, with Brian Sheehy, the brilliant Mullin and Andrew McGowan keeping the scoreboard ticking over for the Dublin champions.
Éire Óg’s just didn’t have the fire-power to threaten the All-Ireland champions, and Adam McCarron’s free would be their only score in the second half. Walsh then finished the contest with a flourish as, with Paul Mannion having intercepted from Shane Buggy in midfield, the Galway man raced through before striking to the net.
It didn’t go un-noticed that Walsh used his head to keep control of the ball on his way to the goals, as he demonstrated yet another of his wide array of skills.
Shane Walsh with another goal off the left as Kilmacud defeat Eire Óg to advance to the Leinster SFC semi-finals 👊pic.twitter.com/MS0IK6LtQr
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) November 4, 2023
For Crokes, it was business as usual and now they advance to the Leinster semi-finals.
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