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Ballymun win Dublin senior football championship

November 8, 2018

BALLYMUN KICKHAMS 1-12 KILMACUD CROKES 0-14

Ballymun Kickhams captured the Dublin SFC for the first time since 1985 when they edged out Kilmacud Crokes in Monday night’s pulsating decider at Parnell Park.

The 1980s was a golden era for Ballymun in Dublin football a time when Barney Rock struck fear into opposition defences.

On Monday night it was the turn of his son Dean who played a pivotal role as the Mun wrote a new chapter in their history.

Rock finished with a peronsal tally of seven points (five from play) as Paul Curran’s side maintained their incredible unbeaten run which has seen them win all their Division 1 league games as well as winning the championship by winning all their games.

The only goal of the night came in the tenth minute as Ballymun threw down the challenge to their opponents in determined fashion over the opening stages.

A high delivery into the danger area was batted to the net by Shane Forde as the Mun raced into a 1-2 to 0-1 lead inside ten minutes.

Kickhams were making all the early running as the movement of their forward line and ability to find space had the much vaunted Crokes defence in trouble.

Crokes on the other hand were very dependent on Paul Mannion during the opening 30 minutes against a determined Mun defence that defended in numbers and couter-attacked at pace and by the interval Ballymun led 1-8 to 0-5 after Rock had slotted two points (one free) towards the conclusion of the opening half.
Crokes felt their half-time tally should have read 0-6 as they contested that a first half effort from Adrian Morrissey was a point but was incorrectly waved wide. The linesman on the stand side looked as though he wanted to advise ref Sean Gahan but that never happened.


However, much as they had been against St Brigid’s in their semi-final Crokes lifted the tempo and standard of their game on the restart.

Pat Burke ‘caught fire’ and kicked four excellent points in-a-row to cut the marging to 1-8 to 0-9 by the 44th minute.

Crucially it was Ballymun to score next when Rock broke their chain of scores.

With the game still very much in the melting pot Jason Whelan slotted great left-footed free for Ballymun and matched it with another from play from the far flank as well as Rock showing his clinical edge to loft over his seventh score of the night.

The tempo and intensity did not drop til the final whistle with two Mark Vaughan points (one free) and Declan Kelleher score leaving just one point between the sides by the finish.

Ballymun will face Westmeath champions, Mullingar Shamrocks, in Cusack Park, Mullingar on Sunday November 11.

It was a night of double celebration for the Ballymun faithful after their U15 footballers defeated Na Fianna 1-8 to 0-6 in the ‘A’ final with Dillion Keating’s goal in the 53rd minute effectively settling the issue.

SCORERS – Ballymun Kickhams: D Rock 0-7 (1f, 1 ‘45), J Whelan 0-3 (1f), S Forde 1-0, K Leahy, T Furman 0-1 each. Kilmacud Crokes: P Mannion (1f), P Burke 0-4 each, M Vaughan 0-3 (1f), K Nolan, C Dias, D Kelleher 0-1 each.
BALLYMUN KICKHAMS: S Currie; Enda Dolan, P McMahon, Eoin Dolan; A Hubbard, K Connolly, J Burke; Davy Byrne, J McCarthy; E Reilly, K Leahy, J Whelan; T Furman, D Rock, S Roche. Subs: Derek Byrne for Forde (33), J Small for Enda Dolan (45), A O’Brien for Leahy (55).
KILMACUD CROKES: D Nestor; C O’Sullivan, Rory O’Carroll, Ross O’Carroll; M Coughlan, B McGrath, K Nolan; D Magee, P Duggan; C Dias, L Óg Ó hEineachain, A Morrissey; S Williams, P Mannion, P Burke. Subs: R Ryan for Coughlan (ht), D Kelleher for Morrissey (ht), M Vaughan for Williams (48), B O’Rorke for Ó hEineachain (48).
REF: S Gahan (Erin’s Isle)