All-Ireland SHC Preliminary Quarter-Final

Dublin 2-25 Carlow 0-21

By Kieran Murphy at Netwatch Cullen Park

Dublin enjoyed their expected victory at Netwatch Cullen Park on Saturday with this All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final win.

The pre-match favourites did what they had to do to progress to the All-Ireland quarter-final proper, but they were tested by Carlow.

The pressure was on the visitors to win but also to produce a performance, but they just about did enough.

They started well with Chris O’Leary breaking through, but his attempt flew high and over the crossbar. While a Marty Kavanagh free drew Carlow back on terms and a Chris Nolan point nudged them in front, two Donal Burke frees was the perfect Dublin response.

After that, they allowed Carlow to dominate and by the end of the first quarter, the home side led 0-6 to 0-5. On balance, Dublin looked to be in control, but Carlow were gritty and were hurling well. Both Burke and Kavanagh were the respective side’s key men in the half with the latter landing a free in injury time to leave the home leading 0-13 to 0-12 at the interval.

A Conor Burke point early in the second half drew Dublin level once more. Donal Burke converted a free while Mark Grogan gave a sign of things to come when he raised another white flag.

While Kavanagh replied with a free, Dublin looked to have taken control when Grogan took a pass from Cian O’Sullivan and wrong-footed Brian Tracey, the Carlow goalkeeper, with a well-placed shot. That should have been the platform for Dublin to drive on. They didn’t do so and while Carlow would never lead in the second half, they stayed in touch with the visitors.

Nolan scored two wonderful points for the Barrowsiders while Jack McCullagh was on target from distance. With eight minutes to go, Carlow trailed by two. It was then Dublin made their move for victory scoring 1-6 to Carlow’s solitary point.

Cian O’Sullivan was the second Dublin goalscorer when he took control on the edge of the big square at the dressing room end of the ground. His shot was low and hard to the bottom left-hand corner. It was the final act of a game that lacked intensity. Dublin will know a lot more is needed while Carlow will surely learn from this and build for next season.

Scorers for Dublin: Donal Burke 0-8(8fs), Cian O’Sullivan 1-3 (1f), Mark Grogan 1-2, Danny Sutcliffe, Chris O’Leary 0-3 each, Conor Burke, Fergal Whitely 0-2 each, Darragh Power , Paul Crummy 0-1each

Scorers for Carlow: Marty Kavanagh 0-12 (fs), Chris Nolan 0-3, James Doyle 0-2, John Michael Nolan, Richie Coady, Jack McCullagh, Kevin McDonald 0-1 each.

Dublin: Sean Brennan; John Bellew, Eoghan O’Donnell, Paddy Smith; Paddy Doyle, Conor Burke, Daire Gray; Mark Grogan, Chris O’Leary; Danny Sutcliffe, Donal Burke, Cian Boland; Sean Currie, Cian O’Sullivan, Darragh Power.

Subs: Subs: C Donohoe for Gray (blood 7), Donohoe for Bellew h/t, P Crummey for Boland (49), F Whitely for Currie (56), D Purcell for O’Leary (66), A Considine for D Burke (68).

Carlow: Brian Tracey; Paul Doyle, Conor Lawler, Jack McCullagh; Kevin McDonald, Diarmuid Byrne, Jack Kavanagh; Fiachra Fitzpatrick, Richie Coady: Jon Nolan, James Doyle, Marty Kavanagh; John Michael Nolan, Chris Nolan, Paddy Boland.

Subs: Jack Treacy for JM Nolan (50), Fiach O’Toole for J Nolan (68), John Doyle for Coady (70+2).

Referee: James Owens (Wexford).