Dublin SHC final: Na Fianna leave no room for doubt as they finally reach promised land

Dublin SHC final: Na Fianna 2-19 Ballyboden St Enda’s 0-9

On a day when the 2023 Dublin Marathon took over the streets of the capital, Na Fianna’s hurlers finally reached a finish line which had until now remained out of reach for the northside club.

Having lost finals in 2021 and 2022, Na Fianna were never in danger of an ignominious three-in-a-row as they annihilated Ballyboden by 16 points to win a first ever Dublin senior hurling championship.

Their maiden title was guaranteed long before full-time at Parnell Park. Na Fianna led by 10 points at the break and Ballyboden – whose most recent of seven crowns was garnered in 2018 – never managed to even reduce the deficit to single figures again during the second period.

The Mobhi Road outfit are the first club north of the Liffey to win a Dublin SHC since Craobh Chiaráin in 2006.

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The outcome of the hurling decider completes a disappointing week for Ballyboden, who just seven days earlier suffered defeat in the football showpiece. And it was a grim second half for the Firhouse hurlers here – they registered six wides and just three points after the resumption.

They also finished the game with 14 men when sub Timmy Hammersley was shown a straight red card in the 51st minute.

If it was a day to forget for Ballyboden, it was an unforgettable one for the Currie brothers, Seán (2-5) and Colin (0-10), who finished the final with a combined tally of 2-15.

Seán’s two first-half goals sapped the energy from Ballyboden’s challenge and things could even have been worse for the southsiders at the break only for a brilliant Conor O’Donoghue save from a Colin Currie penalty in the 18th minute.

The celebrations at the final whistle were a mixture of joy at the breakthrough and relief to have finally got the job done. There was also some bittersweet emotion hanging over Donnycarney, as this milestone triumph was achieved just seven months after the passing of Jimmy Gray, one of the club’s founding members.

“It means everything, to be honest,” said Na Fianna manager Niall Ó Ceallacháin afterwards. “As hurling people, in the club it has been on our minds for a long time that we hadn’t won a senior county, we had done almost everything else.

“So for us to get that done and get a senior championship won is massive.

“The players are great here with the kids, but these lads who are here now, they will only be here for another five or six years or whatever it is and then it will be handed on, that’s how it has worked for all of us. It means everything, to be honest.

“The club is going since 1955, the amount of people who have been slaving away – hurling, football, ladies football, camogie, everything – since then. We have had our peaks and troughs, our ups and downs, we had never won a senior hurling title so to do that today is huge for us.”

And to have done so without one of the best hurlers in the capital, Donal Burke, demonstrates the talent within the group. Burke missed the championship because of injury, but in his absence others stood up.

And from the off here Na Fianna were more aggressive and cohesive, never trailing and leading from the 11th minute until the final whistle.

They were 0-5 to 0-1 ahead when Colin Currie’s penalty was saved but in a clear sign that nothing would derail them this season, just two minutes afterwards Seán Currie made a superb fetch above Stephen O’Connor before smacking home the opening goal.

“Every game takes its own course, a couple of things went against us in the last year or two,” added Ó Ceallacháin. “I never doubted the character of our lads for a second in the last year or two. We knew well and had full faith that if the game was tight in the last 15 minutes our lads would stand up.”

But the last 15 minutes proved a procession. Na Fianna led 2-10 to 0-6 at the break and with just quarter of an hour remaining the gap was 11 points. And it only grew.

Ballyboden emptied the bench – including the introduction of Conal Keaney – to try and find a spark. But they never caught fire. And when Hammersley, only on the field four minutes, received a red for a clash with Conor McHugh it summed up Ballyboden’s evening.

“Really disappointing performance, I thought Na Fianna were magnificent from start to finish, they blew us off the field and we had no answer to them at all,” admitted Ballyboden manager David Curtin.

Na Fianna will play Westmeath’s Raharney now in the Leinster club championship. But that can wait. There is the indescribable afterglow of a first ever Dublin SHC to be savoured first. And Na Fianna know more than most that these things are a marathon, not a sprint.

NA FIANNA: Jonathan Treacy; Kevin Burke, Conor McHugh, Seán Burke; Diarmuid Clerkin, Liam Rushe, Paul O’Dea; Brian Ryan, Peter Feeney; John Tierney, Seán Currie (2-5), Colin Currie (0-10, 7f, 1 65); Ciaran Stacey (0-1), AJ Murphy (0-1), Shane Barrett. Subs: Mícheal Murphy for Barrett (33 mins); Seán Baxter (0-1) for Murphy (45 mins); Gavin King (0-1) for Tierney (52 mins); Donal Ryan for McHugh (58 mins); Martin Quilty for B Ryan (60 mins).

BALLYBODEN ST ENDA’S: Conor O’Donoghue; Seán McDonnell, James Madden, Luke Corcoran; Jack Lambert (0-1), Simon Lambert, Stephen O’Connor; Niall Ryan (0-1), Aidan Mellett (0-1); Luke McDwyer (0-1), Conor Dooley, Shane Durkin; Kevin Desmond (0-1), Paul Ryan (0-4, 4f), Niall McMorrow. Subs: Conal Keaney for Dooley (40 mins); Eoin Behan for Durkin (47 mins); Timmy Hammersley for Ryan (47 mins); Eoin Behan for Durkin (47 mins); Darragh Kenny for N Ryan (58 mins).

Referee: Chris Mooney (St Patrick’s, Palmerstown).