Castleknock grab Dublin SHC ‘B’ title
Castleknock’s Ciarán Kilkenny.
Rónán Mac Lochlainn
November 15 2021 10:00 PM
Castleknock delivered their most impressive performance of the year when comfortably getting the better of Kilmacud Crokes by 3-25 to 1-13 in their Go Ahead Dublin Senior ‘B’ Hurling Championship final at O’Toole Park on Sunday afternoon.
A tight encounter was anticipated between two well-matched sides but Castleknock seized control in the second-half to pull away from their struggling opponents with a brace of goals from Eoin Sawyer capping a wonderful team display.
It was nip and tuck initially with both teams trading scores at regular intervals but Castleknock landed the first significant blow as the highly impressive Cian Boyle fired home a superb goal in the 23rd minute before Crokes replied in kind at the opposite end through their powerful full-forward Brendan Scanlon.
However, the momentum was with the Dublin 15 side at this stage against a wasteful Crokes team and after leading by 1-11 to 1-7 at half-time, they piled on the pressure early in the second-half through a brace of Luke Whelan points.
With Conor Murray excelling at wing-back and Ciarán Kilkenny (inset) his industrious self despite suffering with a hand injury, Castleknock continued to thrive through the scoring prowess of Boyle while the likes of Cian Ó Dúlaing and Niall O’Callaghan and substitutes Brian Hughes and Jack King all made a strong impression as the contest evolved.
Leading by 1-19 to 1-11 at the second water break, the leaders heaped further misery on Kilmacud as Sawyer netted in the 52nd minute, turning neatly before firing home, and he added his second goal four minutes later with a glorious fetch and strike to complete what was a stunning display from a Castleknock side superbly managed by Emmet Carroll.