Na Fianna 1-12

Whitehall Colmcille 1-11

14-MAN NA FIANNA dug deep at Parnell Park to finish with a single point spare over Whitehall Colmcille in a tense Dublin Senior One Football Championship quarter-final.

Eoghan O’Donnell — who featured for Dublin in both codes this year — had kicked Whitehall ahead in a stop-start opening, before five-time champions Na Fianna came to life with unanswered points from David Lacey (two), Michael Day and Conor McHugh. Although Keith Campbell split the posts for Whitehall in fine style, the impressive McHugh palmed to the net on 24 minutes after opposition netminder Darragh Cummins had saved James Doran’s initial strike.

Superb scores from Sean and Lee Gannon edged Colmcilles back into contention, but an Ali Fitzgerald point ultimately helped Na Fianna to establish a 1-5 to 0-4 interval cushion.

Following traded frees from Dublin senior star Cormac Costello and Na Fianna goalkeeper David O’Hanlon on the resumption, Whitehall wing-back Darragh Scanlon kicked an excellent point on the run to bring his side’s deficit down to three.

The same distance remained between the teams until Whitehall received a double boost on the stroke of 50 minutes. Inter-county stalwart Jonny Cooper was dismissed on a second yellow card for dragging down O’Donnell into the square and Costello restored parity by slotting home the resulting penalty.

Jonny Cooper is sent off for a second bookable offence and Cormac Costello slots home the resulting penalty. All to play for at Parnell Park
👉 Watch live coverage of @clgNaFianna v @WColmcille in the Dublin SFC quarter-finals on @RTE2 and @RTEPlayer pic.twitter.com/kd5g0FPpZE

— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) September 17, 2022

Despite the momentum seemingly being with their opponents, Na Fianna kicked three points in succession through McHugh (two) and Aaron Byrne to take control of the game once again. Costello (free) and O’Donnell raised white flags deep into stoppage-time to keep the Whitehall challenge alive, but they fell just short in their bid for a last-four place.

Scorers for Na Fianna: Conor McHugh 1-3 (0-1f), David Lacey 0-3 (2f), Brian O’Leary 0-2, David O’Hanlon (f), Ali Fitzgerald, Michael Day, Aaron Byrne 0-1 each.

Scorers for Whitehall Colmcille: Cormac Costello 1-3 (1-0 pen, 0-3f), Eoghan O’Donnell 0-3, Keith Campbell 0-2 (1 ’45’), Lee Gannon, Darragh Scanlon, Sean Gannon 0-1 each.

Na Fianna

1. David O’Hanlon

2. Gus Farrell, 3. Eoin O’Dea, 4. Eoin Murchan

5. Ali Fitzgerald, 6. Jonny Cooper, 7. Adam Rafter

8. Michael Day, 9. Paddy Quinn

12. Vinny Flynn, 11. Aaron Byrne, 10. James Doran

15. Brian O’Leary, 14. Conor McHugh, 18. David Lacey

Subs

13. Glenn O’Reilly for Flynn (28)

21. Sean Caffrey for Doran (47)

22. Darragh Kennedy for Farrell (54)

Whitehall Colmcille

16. Darragh Cummins

2. Tadhg Kellett, 3. Matt Moran, 4. Sean Giles

7. Darragh Scanlon, 6. Lee Gannon, 5. Rory Kerins

8. Sean Foran, 14. Oisin Murray

10. Eddie Moran, 11. Sean Gannon, 12. Tony O’Sullivan

15. Keith Campbell, 9. Eoghan O’Donnell, 13. Cormac Costello

Subs

23. Enda O’Donnell for S Gannon (30+1 – 30+4, blood)

23. Enda O’Donnell for E Moran (41)

20. Luke McCarthy for Murray (45)

24. John Bridgeman for S Gannon (57)

22. Fergal Swaine for Foran (59)

Referee: Ian Howley.