AIB Leinster SHC semi-final

Cuala (Dublin) 3-17 St Martin’s (Wexford) 0-15

By John Harrington at Parnell Park

Reigning All-Ireland champions Cuala are through to the AIB Leinster Club SHC Final after this very convincing win over St. Martin’s.

They had too much strength and savvy for the Wexford champions, who became the latest team to find out the hard way that if Con O’Callaghan gets the ball in his hand you’re in serious trouble.

The Young Footballer of the Year is a brilliant hurler too, and St Martin’s just couldn’t handle his pace, power, and desire to go for goal.

O’Callaghan scored 1-3 from play but also set up Cuala’s two other goals in another man of the match performance.

It was a sobering experience for a young St. Martin’s outfit who had two players sent off in the second-half after the game was already over as a contest, but they’ll learn from it.

It just wasn’t their day, even before a ball was throw in, because their star forward Rory O’Connor was a late injury withdrawal.

In fairness, his replacement Joe Coleman was excellent, but O’Connor has been a match-winner St. Martin’s all year so his loss was huge.

Before things started unravelling badly for them, St. Martin’s did actually start the game quite well, scoring the first two points of the game through Coleman.

But as the half progressed Cuala centre-back Sean Moran began to hurl a lot of ball, their corner-backs Simon Timlin and Oisin Gough grew more and more dominant, and their midfield started getting on top too.

All of this ensured a good supply of ball into danger-man O’Callaghan, who from the very start had the St. Martin’s full-back line on toast.

He actually created a goal in the second minute for Jake Malone but it was ruled out for a square ball, but the duo combined again after 18 minutes for one that was allowed.

Whenever O’Callaghan got the ball his first instinct was to bore straight for goal, and such is his speed and strength he’s a very hard man to stop.

After powering through his shot was somehow stopped by St. Martin’s goalkeeper Luke White, but the ball rebounded straight to Malone who scuffed it home from close-range.

Less than a minute later, O’Callaghan scored a goal himself.

Once again he won possession and burned marker Conor Firman for pace and then showed great awareness to bat the ball past the approaching White to ensure he wasn’t hooked.

That goal put Cuala 2-4 to 0-5 ahead, and already things were starting to look a bit grim for St. Martin’s.

They reacted by detailing inter-county defender Willie Devereux to mark O’Callaghan, and that tightened things up for them at the back, though their decision to play two on two against the Cuala inside forwards still seemed a bit naïve.

Points from Joe and Jack O’Connor gave them a little bit of impetus before the half-time though, at which stage they trailed by 2-7 to 0-8.

The Wexford side started the second-half positively when substitute Darren Codd hit a sweet point, but as the half progressed Cuala’s dominance grew more and more pronounced.

They were grinding down a young St. Martin’s team heavily staffed by U-21 players with their physicality, and also playing the smarter brand of hurling.

Points from David Treacy (2), Nicky Kenny, and Colm Cronin pushed them 2-11 to 0-10 ahead, and from there things went from bad to worse as far as St. Martin’s were concerned.

Con O’Callaghan hadn’t gotten his hands on the ball since his first-half goal, but in the space of a couple of minutes he ended the game as a contest by scoring three points in quick succession before putting a goal on a plate for Colm Cronin.

The afternoon soured further for St. Martin’s when they then had both substitute Michael Codd and Jack O’Connor red-carded within a minute of another.

With the game in the bag, Cuala had the luxury of emptying their bench for the final ten minutes of the match.

They advance to the Leinster Final where they’ll face Kilcormac-Killoughey, and on the strength of this win the reigning champions will go into that match as warm favourites.

Scorers for Cuala: David Treacy 0-6 (4f, 1’65), Con O’Callaghan 1-3, Colm Cronin 1-1, Jake Malone 1-1, Nicky Kenny 0-3, Colum Sheanon 0-1, Niall Carty 0-1, Brian Fitzgerald 0-1.

**Scorers for St. Martin’s: **Joe Coleman 0-11 (8f, 1 sideline), Joe O’Connor 0-1, Jack O’Connor 0-1, Darren Codd 0-1, Daithi Waters 0-1.

CUALA: Seán Brennan; Simon Timlin, Cian O’Callaghan, Oisin Gough; John Sheanon, Sean Moran, Paul Schutte; Jake Malone, Darragh O’Connell; Seán Treacy, Colm Cronin, David Treacy; Colum Sheanon, Con O’Callaghan, Mark Schutte. Subs: Niall Carty for Con O’Callaghan (50), Cian Waldron for Colm Cronin (50), Ross Tierney for Cian O’Callaghan (53), Brian Fitzgerald for Colum Sheanon (57), Shane Stapleton for Nicky Kenny (57).

ST MARTIN’S: Luke White; Willie Devereux, Barry O’Connor, Conor Firman; Daithi Waters, Aaron Maddock, Paidi Kelly; Harry O’Connor, Mark Maloney; Jake Firman, Joe O’Connor, Jack O’Connor; Ciaran Lyng, Rory O’Connor, Mikey Coleman. Subs: Darren Codd for Mike Coleman (ht), Michael Codd for Jake Firman (40), Ben Maddock for Barry O’Connor (49), Philip Dempsey for Willie Devereux (61)

Red Cards: Michael Codd, Jack O’Connor (two yellows).

Referee: David Hughes (Carlow)