St Vincent’s defeated Ballymun Kickhams in a tightly contested affair last Monday to retain their Dublin Senior Football title.

The Marino men edged out their rivals by a goal winning on a scoreline of 1-08 to 0-8 in front of a sold out Parnell Park.

The highly anticipated game boasted some of the finest individual talent in the country, however the standard on show was surprisingly lower than expected.

St Vincent’s were by far the better of the two sides in the opening half enjoying far more possession. Tomás Quinn had two chances to find the net but was denied by a goal line deflection and the butt of the post respectively.

Vincent’s did hit the back of the net through talisman Diarmuid Connolly midway through the first half, following an uncharacteristic mistake from Philly McMahon. Lorcan Galvin capitalised and supplied an unmarked Connolly with a pass and the Dublin star slotted a low shot to put his side in the lead.

Ballymun were far from their best in the first period, dropping several shots short or wide and could be considered fortunate to only trail by a goal with the half time scoreline reading 1-04 to 0-04.

The second half was more of the same. St Vincent’s controlled the game very well and were more than happy to hold possession for long periods, keeping Ballymun at arms length at all times.

Ballymun never looked like breaking down Vinnies until a slick hand-passing move saw wing back Carl Keeley go one on one with goalkeeper Michael Savage only to see his shot pushed over the bar. This was crucial as Vincent’s managed to avoid Ballymun gaining momentum as they began to run down the clock.

Ballymun became increasingly desperate with McMahon and Dean Rock both moving to the edge of the square as the game reached its climax, but in truth Vincent’s were never really troubled in what was a very controlled solid defensive effort.

By Eoghan McGrane