Scintillating Sallins see off battling Larries
Brothers James and Colm Dalton celebrate with Mick Corley
Red-hot favourites Sallins lived up to their billing in clinching the National Electrical Wholesale Intermediate Football Championship with a convincing win over a battling St Laurence’s at Cedral St Conleth’s Park on Saturday evening.
Having been among the favourites for this competition for the last few years but suffering some heartbreaking defeats, particularly to Caragh in the last eight last year, Sallins wore the burden lightly on this occasion, as they have all through the campaign, in regaining the senior status they lost in 2006.
Sallins hadn’t won a match by less than ten points in this year’s championship and that’s as close as Larries got too in their attempt to become the first relegated team to bounce immediately back to the senior grade since Maynooth in 2009. A relatively young team will benefit hugely from the experience and should be a force to be reckoned with at the grade in 2026.
The game featured a fascinating midfield battle with Sallins’ captain Daragh Mangan starting and finishing in inspirational form but in between Mark Glynn, back from a major injury this year, showed all his skills as a fielder as he threatened to drag Laurence’s back into contention in the second quarter.
Ultimately though, with county breakthrough star Colm Dalton also putting in a powerful performance and challenging Mangan for the man-of-the-match award, which the latter won, Sallins had too much all-round ability for their opponents and an opportunistic goal from Eoin McConnon thirteen minutes from the end put paid to any late drama.
Playing with a strong breeze, Sallins roared into an eight-point lead before St Laurence’s opening point from TJ Nolan on seventeen minutes.
Towering midfielder Mangan was instrumental in their start, and he won possession from the throw-in to kick-start a move that saw Cian Grimes land his first of two two-pointers inside twenty seconds.
Sallins seemed to be forcing things a little early on and had three wides on the board before Mangan burst through two tackles to set up Dalton for a close-range point after nine minutes.
Two pointers from wing-back Luke Kelly and from a Grimes free from just outside the ’45 were followed by a Stephen Kelly single from close range and at with 14 minutes gone Larries were gasping for air a little at 0-8 to 0-0.
But Glynn put in a majestic performance at midfield for the remainder of the half, negating the impact of Mangan, and his young partner Nolan came to prominence as well, landing his side’s opening two points in the 17th and 21st minutes, though in between those Dalton landed the fourth two-pointer of the half for Sallins to maintain their eight-point advantage.
Larries held their own heading into half-time with points from Joe Hanamy and Felix Lawler balancing two from the lively Stephen Kelly for Sallins, leaving the crowd wondering if an eight-point advantage would prove to be enough for the men in white and green given the strength of the wind.
Sallins had the lion’s share of possession early in the second half but couldn’t add to the scoreboard, with centre-back McConnon forcing a point-blank save from St Laurence’s ‘keeper Paul Clynch after a great run by James Dalton.
Joe Hanamy opened the second half scoring after 37 minutes to narrow the gap to seven points, but Sallins effectively put the game to bed in the next ten minutes, scoring 1-3 without reply.
A driving run from Grimes set up substitute Alan Marshall for a point, quickly followed by a hard-won single from Luke Killian, coming in from the right wing before Colm Dalton shrugged off his marker Ciaran O'Sullivan to add another.
That stretched the gap to ten and it was ‘game over’ when Stephen Kelly point attempt into the teeth of the wind dropped short, Clynch parried it and McConnon reacted fastest to nip in to touch it to the net.
To St Laurence’s credit they battled away. Ruaidhrí Lawlor added three points, including a two-pointer, with Felix Lawlor also raising an orange flag and Nolan and Senan Murphy added singles as they went down with their boots on.
Sallins, for whom Mangan embellished their run-in with three big catches at midfield, added points from Paul Farrelly, Grimes and two from the unstoppable Dalton, bringing his tally to six as they clinched their return to the promised land of senior football.
Matthew Farrelly; Ruairí Ó Domhnaill, Mark Moynihan, Seán Ó Domhnaill; Luke Kelly 0-2 (tp), Eoin McConnon 1-0, Glen McEvoy; Daragh Mangan, Paul Farrelly 0-1; Cian Grimes 0-5 (1tp,1tpf), Colm Dalton 0-6 (1tp,1f), Luke Killian 0-1; Stephen Kelly 0-3 (1f), Emmet Ralph, James Dalton. Subs: Alan Marshall 0-1 for Ralph 15, Ralph for P Farrelly 53, Sean Conway for Grimes 59, Aaron Carney for McEvoy 60+1, Conor Dalton for Moynihan 60+3.
Paul Clynch; Luke Gorman, David O’Driscoll, Ian Fleming; Niall Clynch, Ciaran O’Sullivan, Niall O’Connor; Mark Glynn, TJ Nolan 0-3 (1f); Kevin Eustace, Ruaidhrí Lawlor 0-3 (1tp), Tom Dooley; Felix Lawler 0-3 (1tp), Joe Hanamy 0-2, Adam Steed. Subs: Oisín Grufferty for Fleming 20, Dylan O’Dwyer for Steed 49, Senan Murphy 0-1 for O’Driscoll 49, Cian Miley for Eustace 52, Eoghan Glancy for Hanamy 58.
Frank Delaney.
