AIB Leinster club SFC: Cuala through to the last four

​AIB Leinster club SFC quarter-final

Cuala 1-18 Sarsfields 0-11

By Paul Keane at Parnell Park

That's five AIB Leinster club SFC games now in Cuala's history and they are yet to lose.

The Dubliners didn't quite flirt with disaster this time but they did find themselves in a sticky situation at half time, trailing the Kildare champions by a point and struggling for traction.

Fresh off an arm wrestle encounter with Tullamore, which they edged narrowly, the 2024 provincial winners knew that they would need to shift things up a couple of gears. Which they duly did.

The 2025 All-Ireland champions outscored Sarsfields by 1-12 to 0-2 in what ended up being a surprisingly one-sided period between half time and the 60th minute.

The O'Callaghan brothers were excellent again for the favourites, Con helping himself to six points while Niall tallied 0-4.

Dublin defender Eoin Kennedy registered an important three points too while county legend Michael Fitzsimons locked down a defence that coughed up just 11 points.

Cuala's reward is a semi-final clash with Carlow's Rathvilly or Portarlington of Laois, back at Parnell Park in a fortnight.

Cuala required a piece of Con O'Callaghan wizardry in the form of a 60th minute two-pointer to squeeze beyond Tullamore previously.

And while they were considerable favourites again in their fifth consecutive game at Parnell Park, where they collected the county title on October 18 with a landslide win over Castleknock, they found the going difficult initially.

Kennedy nailed a two-pointer in the second minute but it was 20 minutes before the Dalkey side scored again.

In between, they fired three wides and winced as Sarsfields filled their boots with five singles in a row.

Ben McCormack was a late addition to the visitors' team and clipped over two of Sars' first three points.

But when county man McCormack was withdrawn late in the first half with an apparent injury, it was a significant blow.

Cuala had briefly taken the lead when a back-to-back of Con O'Callaghan points was followed by a terrific two-pointer from his brother, Niall.

That score summed up all that Cuala are about; skyscraping Dublin midfielder Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne plucking an opposition kick-out from a crowd of bodies at midfield and feeding his number 15 who split the posts beautifully off his left foot.

Sarsfields jumped back onto the front foot with points from Shea Ryan and Daragh Ryan, the latter a great score from a tight angle on the right, to take a deserved 0-7 to 0-6 half-time lead.

But it turned out that Cuala were only just getting going and they dominated the third quarter to take firm control of proceedings.

All-Star nominee Charlie McMorrow struck the first of four Cuala points in a row shortly after the restart.

Sarsfields broke the chain of scores with points from Luke Mahon and Ryan Kearney, the latter one of three late additions to their lineup.

Cuala's response to the Sarsfields insurgence was swift and brutal - 1-8 without response to kill the contest and secure another home tie in the semi-final.

Dan O'Sullivan fired 1-1 of that mini-blitz, capitalising for his 41st minute goal after great work down the right by McMorrow and David O'Dowd.

Sars didn't help themselves with a couple of 4/3 breaches allowing Con O'Callaghan to swell his scoring tally with two simple tap overs.

It told a tale of Cuala's absolute domination that they were able to run in their entire bench to give key men like Danny Conroy and Kennedy a break ahead of the last four.

Cuala scorers: Con O'Callaghan 0-6 (0-2f), Dan O'Sullivan 1-1, Niall O'Callaghan 0-4 (1 tp), Eoin Kennedy 0-3 (1 tp), Charlie McMorrow 0-1, Peter Duffy 0-1, Conor Mullally 0-1, Jamie Conroy 0-1.

Sarsfields scorers: Ben McCormack 0-2, Ryan Kearney 0-2, Karl Hartley 0-1, Cathal White 0-1 (m), Shea Ryan 0-1, Daragh Ryan 0-1, Luke Mahon 0-1, Con Kavanagh 0-1, Conor O'Donovan 0-1.

Cuala: Darragh O'Dowd; Danny Conroy, Michael Fitzsimons, Eoghan O'Callaghan; Eoin Kennedy, Charlie McMorrow, David O'Dowd; Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne, Peter Duffy; Conor Groarke, Cal Doran, Dan O'Sullivan; Conor O'Brien, Con O'Callaghan, Niall O'Callaghan.

Subs: Jamie Conroy for O'Brien 41, Conor Mullally for O'Sullivan 49, Daniel Drummond for Danny Conroy 53, Killian O'Shea for Kennedy 57, Jamie Keenan for Groarke 57.

Sarsfields: Cathal Moore; Colm Harnett, Con Kavanagh, Jimmy O'Neill; Daragh Conlon, David Shalvey, Cathal White; Shea Ryan, Callum Bolton; Conor O'Donovan, Ryan Kearney, Daragh Ryan; Ben McCormack, Luke Mahon, Karl Hartley.

Subs: Barry Coffey for Mahon 42, Matty Byrne for Conlon 46, TJ Donohue for Daragh Ryan 53, Kieran Dwyer for White 55.

Referee: Alan Coyne (Westmeath).