LEINSTER SFC QUARTER-FINAL Kilmacud Crokes 1-13 Newtown Blues 1-9: WHAT'S WITH this psyche that insists on living dangerously? Yesterday, on a cold and dank day in Parnell Park that has become a home away from home for them, Kilmacud Crokes - playing their sixth championship game in 25 days - were placed on a rocky precipice by Louth champions Newtown Blues only for a familiar saviour to come to their aid.
The name's Vaughan. Mark Vaughan. And, late on in this Leinster club quarter-final which the visitors from up the M1 seemed to have stolen, Vaughan rescued his side from an unlikely defeat with the sort of goal that only someone with coolness and boldness can conjure up.
In one decisive 55th minute strike, the game turned - again - and, this time, Crokes ensured their was no way back for the game Blues. Vaughan had one of those days when little goes wrong and everything goes right as he contributed 1-8 of his team's total. The goal was by far the most important contribution, coming as it did as the floodlights brought some clarity to the picture and just seconds after Hugh McGinn, who was outstanding, had kicked his sixth point to give the Blues the lead for the first time in the match.
That revival from the Louth champions - who had trailed 0-9 to 0-3 at half-time and who found themselves seven points in arrears when Vaughan pointed a free in the 42nd minute - had come, well, out of the blue.
From nowhere, Blues had turned a match that seemed to have only one outcome into one capable of producing a huge upset as, in a 13-minute period, they not only held Crokes scoreless but ran up 1-5 of their own. The goal came in the middle of this period of supremacy, in the 50th minute, when midfielder Brian Kermode was the right man in the right place after McGinn's free rebounded off an upright to Stephen Moonan, who swiftly passed to Kermode. He made no mistake from six yards.
So it was that Crokes - from a position of being in complete control - found themselves fighting for their survival. Trailing by a point, and without a score in that 13 minutes where they played second-fiddle, Crokes were forced to conjure a response which came immediately. From the kick-out, Crokes earned a free and, barely pausing for thought, Jonny Magee played an intelligent cross field ball that was adroitly flicked on by Mark Davoren to Vaughan.
Most players would have opted for the point to level matters. Not Vaughan. Some 25 yards out and running at speed, he fired a low shot that flew past Michael Harte and struck the inside of the post before settling into the net. Typical Vaughan, really.
In control of the game again, Crokes finished the job, with Brian Kavanagh swinging over two excellent points in the closing minutes.
Yet, nobody could have envisaged such a helter-skelter ending. Crokes controlled the first half, with Vaughan's deadball accuracy punishing Newtown's defensive indiscretions. By the break, Crokes had cruised into a six-point lead.
But there was a much greater intensity and belief from Blues on the resumption, with Kermode playing well around the middle of the park and the twin nuisances of McGinn and Colm Judge in attack ensuring the Crokes defence - in which Kevin Nolan was superb - had their hands full.
Slowly but surely, Blues chipped away at the Crokes lead aided, it must be said, by some indiscipline in the Kilmacud ranks. Twice referee Curley reversed his decision to give Crokes a scoreable free due to Kilmacud players reacting and from the second of these, Blues won the ball in their own half and swept downfield for McGinn to kick his side into the lead.
KILMACUD CROKES: D Nestor; K Nolan, R O'Carroll, C Lambe; A Morrissey; P Griffin, B McGrath; D Magee, N Corkery; R Cosgrove (0-1), M Davoren, P Burke; M Vaughan (1-8, six frees), J Magee, B Kavanagh (0-4). Sub: B O'Rorke for Cosgrove (51 mins).
NEWTOWN BLUES: M Harte; T Costello, A O'Brien, N Costello; J Carr, R Hughes, E Judge; B Kermode (1-0), K Lynch; E Judge, C Reynolds, H McGinn (0-6, one free); C Judge (0-3, two frees), J Murray, B Sharkey. Subs: D Nugent for Hughes (18 mins), S Moonan for Sharkey (HT), B Phillips for N Costello (41 mins), J Kermode for Murray (47 mins), I McManus for T Costello (59 mins).
Referee: J Curley(Meath).
