Kilmacud Crokes star Paul Mannion. Photo by Daire Brennan/Sportsfile
Dublin SFC Group 4 Round 2
Kilmacud Crokes 0-17 St Vincents 0-8
By Paul Keane at Parnell Park
With all the efficiency of a team of accountants and the touch of a surgical crew, Kilmacud Crokes eased to yet another win in the Dublin SFC.
Dublin star Paul Mannion's seven-point haul helped secure back-to-back wins for the county and provincial title holders, leaving them within touching distance of a quarter-final place with just one group game to go, against Thomas Davis.
This was Crokes' 20th win in a row in a group stage game since the Dublin championship was restructured in 2018 to allow for groups.
It's a source of pride within the Crokes dressing-room that they have never been beaten in a group game and, truth be told, that record never looked in danger this evening.
From new recruit Devon Burns in goals to Mannion at the other end of the field, Crokes were comfortable in virtually all sectors and were deserved nine-point winners.
Burns is the former Kerry minor and U-20 goalkeeper and the Dublin based Garda has transferred to the Stillorgan club. He impressed with his range of kicking, kept a clean sheet and even converted a late free for a point.
Sligo attacker Paddy O'Connor is another newcomer to the club and showed his quality too with three points overall.
Perhaps the most impressive thing about this typically efficient Crokes win was that they retained just six of the starting team from last January's All-Ireland club semi-final tie against Glen.
Galway star Shane Walsh was present at the game but didn't feature having also sat out the Round 1 win over Skerries Harps, apparently due to an injury which affected the All-Ireland final star during the summer.
Dublin full-back Theo Clancy was missing with an injury too while former county players Craig Dias and Andrew McGowan didn't feature either.
St Vincents were unable to take advantage of Crokes' situation and fell into the favourites' slipstream after an evenly contested first 20 minutes.
It was 0-2 apiece at that stage but three Crokes scores in a row from O'Connor, Mark O'Leary and Mannion put them in a commanding position and they surged 0-8 to 0-3 clear at half-time.
Powerful Cian Dunne was the most potent attacker for St Vincents, firing four well taken points in the second-half, but they lacked any sort of cut and thrust and couldn't penetrate Crokes' well drilled defence.
Dara Mullin took over on the frees from Mannion when the 2023 All-Ireland final Man of the Match was taken off at the three quarter mark and struck three points.
O'Connor finished with the same tally and whenever himself, Mannion and Walsh are all available to start together, Crokes will have some attacking unit.
There were two points also from experienced Shane Cunningham as Crokes controlled the final quarter.
With Thomas Davis beating Skerries Harps by 5-13 to 3-17 in the later throw-in, the Group 4 picture is clear with a game to go. Crokes have four points, Thomas Davis and St Vincents have two points each and Skerries are bottom with no points.
Scorers for Kilmacud Crokes: Paul Mannion 0-7 (3fs), Paddy O'Connor 0-3, Dara Mullin 0-3 (2fs), Shane Cunningham 0-2, Mark O'Leary 0-1, Devon Burns 0-1 (f).
Scorers for St Vincents: Cian Dunne 0-4 (2fs, 1 45), Albert Martin 0-2, Paul Reynolds Hand 0-1 (f), Darragh Cummins 0-1.
Kilmacud Crokes: Devon Burns; James Murphy, Micheal Mullin, Dan O'Brien; Mark O'Leary, Rory O'Carroll, Cian O'Connor; Ben Shovlin, Luke O'Kelly; Tom Fox, Paddy O'Connor, Dara Mullin; Paul Mannion, Hugh Kenny, Shane Cunningham.
Subs: James Murphy for O'Brien 41, Paraic Purcell for Fox 43, Luke Ward for Mannion 47, Shane Horan for Cunningham 53, Joe Quigley for Kenny 60.
St Vincents: Andy Smyth; Adrian Cummins, Sean Keogh, James McCusker; James Brady, Darragh Cummins, Craig Wilson; Jarlath Curley, Gavin Burke; Paul Reynolds Hand, Mark L'Strange, Shane O'Leary; Kalem O'Brien, Cian Dunne, Albert Martin.
Subs: Josh Kelly for Curley 26, Bill Costello for O'Brien 26, Paddy Gilroy for L'Strange 39, Nathan Mullins for Martin 45, Michael O'Rowe for O'Leary 55.
Referee: Shay Farrelly (Ballinteer St Johns).
