Brian Hayes of Dublin in action against Sean McKay of Antrim during the Leinster GAA Hurling Senior Championship Round 3 match between Antrim and Dublin at Corrigan Park in Belfast. Photo by Tyler Miller/Sportsfile.
Leinster Senior Hurling Championship
Dublin 3-25 Antrim 0-19
By David Mohan
Dublin cantered to a third-straight win in the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship as they took care of business against Antrim at a sunny Corrigan Park on Saturday.
Niall Ó Ceallacháin's men took a grip early and didn't let go as they were virtually out of sight by the break, as wind-assisted, they opened a 12-point gap and extended that by three at the final whistle.
Antrim were without the services of Keelan Molloy and Conor Johnston to add to their injury woes in attack and that told as there was a blunt edge to what they did as they just couldn't get anything going for a sustained period and there was a sense of inevitability about this game from early on.
Centre-backs Chris Crummey and Conor Boyd swapped early scores before points from Sean Currie and John Hetherton gave the Dubs a lead they would hold until the end.
James McNaughton pointed a free in reply, but the Dubs rattled off the next three through Currie and Cian O'Sullivan.
A McNaughton free would prove to be Antrim's last score for 14 minutes, by which time the Dubs had rattled off 2-3 and the first of those goals came as goalkeeper Eddie Gibbons picked out O'Sullivan to fetch and bury.
The second goal was not disimmilar as another long ball was grabbed by Ronan Hayes, who gave Ryan Elliott no chance.
Antrim rallied briefly with two McNaughton frees after Ryan McCambridge ended their dry spell, but they couldn't sustain it with Currie extending his first-half tally to eight and O'Sullivan knocking over another score with a sole Joseph McLaughlin score in response as the Dubs headed into the break with a 2-14 to 0-7 advantage which could have been greater by for a fine save by Elliott from Paddy Doyle.
A hat-trick of McNaughton points straight after the restart gave the hosts some hope, but Dublin replied through Brian Hayes and O'Sullivan.
After McNaughton and Currie swapped frees, Crummey landed a beauty from deep and then former Dublin footballer Conor McHugh thumped over after another McNaughton free.
It was clear the Dubs were managing their lead as Antrim just didn't have enough support for McNaughton in attack, as the goal they required to get back into it wasn't looking likely.
The gap was at 11 going into the final quarter but that was pushed out thanks to Currie and Crummey before the Dubs grabbed a third goal in the 64th minute as substitute Fergal Whitely showed fantastic control to get away and blast home.
It would go from bad to worse for Antrim with McNaughton shown a straight red late on for lashing out on McHugh as Dublin coasted home to maintain their perfect start to the campaign.
Dublin scorers: S Currie 0-12 (8f, 2x65s); C O'Sullivan 1-3; F Whitely 1-1; R Hayes 1-0; C Crummey 0-3; B Hayes, J Hetherton, C Burke, P Doyle, C McHugh, C Currie 0-1 each.
Antrim scorers: J McNaughton 0-10 (8f, 1x65); R McCambridge, J McLaughlin 0-2 (1f) each; C Boyd, C McKeown, E Campbell, N Elliott, G Walsh (1f) 0-1 each
DUBLIN: Eddie Gibbons; John Bellew, Paddy Smyth, Conor McHugh; Paddy Doyle, Chris Crummey, Andy Dunphy; Conor Burke, Conor Donohue; Brian Hayes, Cian O’Sullivan, Darragh Power; Sean Currie, John Hetherton, Ronan Hayes. Subs: Paddy Dunleavy for A Dunphy (26), Donal Burke for J Hetherton (49), Colin Currie for C Burke (53), Fergal Whitely for R Hayes (59), James Madden for C Crummey (66).
ANTRIM: Ryan Elliott; Stephen Rooney, Niall O’Connor, Paddy Burke; Joe Maskey, Conor Boyd, Conall Bohill; Eoghan Campbell, Gerard Walsh; Joseph Mclaughlin, Ryan McCambridge, Scott Walsh; Eoin O'Neill, James McNaughton, Nigel Elliott. Subs: Sean McKay for S Walsh (HT), Cormac Mckeown for E O'Neill (51).
REF: Liam Gordon (Galway)
