St. Judes stun Ballymun Kickhams to advance to Football Championship Semi Finals

St. Judes 2-9
Ballymun Kickhams 1-11

A fantastic Chris Guckian goal with three minutes left on the clock sent St Jude’s into this year’s Dublin Senior Football Championship semi finals, beating Ballymun Kickhams at Parnell Park on Saturday.

Kickhams led 1-10 to 1-6 with only seven minutes on the clock as the scoring excellence of Dean Rock look set to send them into the last four but the Judes men came with a hard fought finish to steel the win.

A Tom Lahiff point reduced the deficit before Guckian sent an angled strike into the top corner and made the sides level in the 57th.

Rock managed to edge Ballymun back in front after a foul on Paddy Small, making it 1-11 to 2-7 before Jude’s got the last two scores in injury-time.

Niall Coakley pointed the first of these crucial scores, converting a free before former Dublin senior Niall O’Shea threaded a pass to Kieran Doherty who fired over the winner on the turn.

If Jude’s finished the game better they also started the stronger with Coakley palming to the net in the third minute after Kevin McManamon did the ground work for him.

Two excellent Paddy Small points though had Ballymun back in the game with Rock’s 20th minute penalty putting Kickhams 1-3 to 1-1 ahead.

But Jude’s battled back and by the break were level 1-4 each.

A string of Ballymun points from Rock (two), Ted Furman and Carl Keeley looked to have given their side the edge but Jude’s showed amazing nerve and fight to storm back into the game and wrestle control late on.

Ballymun Kickhams Scorers:

Dean Rock 1-07 (4f, 1-00 pen)
Paddy Small 0-02
Ted Furman 0-01
Carl Keeley 0-01

St. Judes Scorers:

Niall Coakley 1-04 (3f)
Chris Guckian 1-00
Padraic Clarke 0-02
Tom Lahiff 0-02
Kieran Doherty 0-01

Ballymun Kickhams:

1. Evan Comerford
2. Alan George
3. Philly McMahon
4. Eoin Dolan
5. Carl Deely
6. John Small
7. Alan Hubbard
8. James McCarthy
9. Davey Byrne
10. Conor Kavanagh
11. Jason Whelan
12. Aaron Elliot
13. Ted Furnam
14. Paddy Small
15. Dean Rock

Ballymun Kickhams Substitutions:

21. Daragh Conlon for Conor Kavanagh (45th Min)
17. Fiach Andrews for Philly McMahon (49th Min)
25. Dillon Keating for Jason Whelan (57th Min)

St Judes:

1. Liam Mailey
2. Oisin Manning
3. Ciaran Fitzgerald
4. Cillian O’Reilly
5. Tom Lahiff
6. Niall O’Shea
7. Chris Guckian
8. Mark Sweeney
9. Seamus Ryan
10. Tom Devlin
11. Barry Fitzgerald
12. Kieran Doherty
13. Niall Coakley
14. Kevin McManamon
15. Padraic Clarke

St. Judes Substitutions:

17. Simon King for Barry Fitzgerald (H/T)
19. Ronan Joyce for Tom Devlin (H/T)
18. Andy Sweeney for Oisin Manning (56th Min)

video credit: DUBSTV via YouTube