Dublin SFC Semi-finals Na Fianna 1-10 St Jude's 0-10It seemed like very comfortable stuff last night but it still took a heroic piece of fielding from Kieran McGeeney in the second minute of injury-time to ensure Na Fianna reached their first county final since 2001.
The Armagh captain had been prowling around his usual patch of centre back for most of the hour but as his team struggled to kill off a plucky St Jude's, he was on hand to claim a late, late high ball into the square.
It shouldn't have come to that. Two minutes in and Na Fianna had a three-point cushion thanks to the quick thinking of Des Macken - the fifth Armagh man on a side also containing the McNulty and McGeeney brothers - after a Kevin O'Neill free broke short.
O'Neill, the former Mayo All-Star, was deadly accurate for the rest of the half with four points, three from dead balls. He needed to be as St Jude's held the pace with Enda Crennan pointing one particularly sublime free.
A four-point cushion at the break seemed enough but the older legs were slow to regain their rhythm after the break with St Jude's rattling off four successive points, two coming from Michael Lyons, to level up matters. In response, Na Fianna manager Mick Galvin introduced Brian Corcoran to add some impetus to the forward line. They duly moved into third gear with Senan Connell and O'Neill knocking over two points apiece to reassert their dominance.
NA FIANNA: S Grey; A Downes, E McNulty, E Ledwith; S Cloherty, K McGeeney (0-1, free), N Cooper; J McNulty, K Donnelly; S Connell (0-3), T Brady, K O'Neill (0-6, five frees); D Macken (1-0), P McGeeney, J Sherlock. Subs: B Courtney for P McGeeney (37 mins), M Colleran for Macken (47 mins), T Lynch for Brady (52 mins).
ST JUDE'S: P Copeland; N O'Shea, S Brehony, A Doyle; A Glover, C McGovern, C Voyles; M Lyons (0-2), S Early (0-1, free); E Crennan (0-2, frees), C Connelly (0-1), P Harlow; J Donnelly (0-4, three frees), S Cunningham, C Durkin. Subs: D Keogh for Durkin (35 mins), P Gilsennan for Harlow (40 mins), E Sheehy for Cunningham (55 mins).
Referee: T Clarke (Lucan Sarsfields).
