The kings might not have been dethroned in Dublin over the weekend but the old world order was certainly given a shake, as two of the last four clubs to win the capital’s senior football championship were eliminated at the quarter-final stages.
Indeed, for the first time since 2015 the semi-finals of the Dublin SFC will take place without having at least one of Kilmacud Crokes or Ballymun Kickhams involved.
And the semi-final draw has pitted the last two champions against each other, holders Ballyboden St Enda’s facing 2024 winners Cuala, which means Thomas Davis or Castleknock will be in this year’s showpiece event.
Castleknock have never won a senior championship while Thomas Davis claimed three titles in a whirlwind golden period between 1989-91.
Dublin manager Ger Brennan and selector Niall Moyna were both in Parnell Park for Sunday’s double-header as Thomas Davis beat Ballymun and Cuala overcame Skerries Harps.
But with one Dublin manager watching from the stand, another was out on the pitch in the second of the afternoon’s matches as Dean Rock – who deputised for Brennan during his suspension this season – led the line for Ballymun.
Rock started in the Ballymun full-forward line and was their top scorer with 0-8, including one sweetly struck two-pointer. A little further out the field was Thomas Davis centre back Cian Murphy – a player Rock had managed with Dublin earlier in the year.
But having patrolled the sideline then, he was back in his natural habitat in front of goal on Sunday.
Poacher turned gamekeeper turned poacher.
Ballymun Kickhams’ James McCarthy and Cian Murphy of Thomas Davis. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho
“It’s been enjoyable these last couple of weeks just getting back to the club,” said Rock afterwards.
“The body actually responded better because I wasn’t training as much all year or playing all the league games because I was involved with Dublin. So it actually probably stood to me really because as you get a bit older you can’t do as much as you used to.
“But obviously we’re very disappointed with how it ended, we had plans to go on longer in the year.”
Thomas Davis ran out 1-16 to 1-13 winners but for much of the encounter they held a much more substantial lead. They were 1-15 to 0-10 ahead with six minutes remaining before a late Ballymun surge set up a tense finale.
Deep in injury-time, Paddy Small dropped a ball in around the edge of the square with the last play of the game as Ballymun tried to draw level, but Thomas Davis cleared their lines and sealed a deserved victory.
“They were full value for the win, I just thought they were much better and after the opening five or 10 minutes they just pulled away and put too much of a gap,” said Ballymun manager Séamus O’Shea.
“We can have no complaints, we got close in the end but it would have been daylight robbery.”
Thomas Davis players celebrate at the end of the game. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho
The draw for the semi-finals took place before most of the players had even made it off the pitch after the second game at Parnell Park, and there wasn’t exactly any noticeable disappointment among the Thomas Davis supporters on hearing the news that the big guns of Ballyboden and Cuala would be meeting each other.
Cuala had repelled a strong challenge by Skerries Harps in the day’s opening fixture in Donnycarney, the Dalkey outfit running out 1-21 to 0-19 winners.
Ballyboden staged a second-half comeback to beat Clontarf 0-17 to 0-14 on Saturday, while earlier that afternoon Castleknock shocked Kilmacud Crokes, 0-17 to 0-14.
Afterwards, Castleknock manager Dara Brady told Dublin GAA: “The boys have worked incredibly hard, we felt really good coming in, we felt we had a real chance.
“Probably a lot of people maybe felt we wouldn’t get over the hurdle, we’ve lost eight out of the last nine quarter-finals, so we’re just delighted to get over this phase and have an opportunity now in two weeks and we’ll give that a good go too.”
Castleknock’s only ever final appearance was in 2016, when they lost to St Vincent’s, while Thomas Davis were last in the decider in 2019, which ended in defeat to Ballyboden.
Current manager Ciarán Farrelly played in that 2019 final and after a stint managing the Dublin Under-20s he has returned to take the reins of the Thomas Davis senior footballers.
“For large parts of the game we played some really good football, had some good scores, key kick-outs won at key times, so from that aspect we’re absolutely delighted,” said Farrelly.
“We’ll relax tonight and then we’ll start looking towards Castleknock, but the win that they had yesterday was just absolutely phenomenal, they’re an excellent team with excellent players.”
The Dublin SFC semi-finals will take place at Parnell Park in two weeks. For one of the upstarts, Thomas Davis or Castleknock, a chance to oust the capital’s football aristocracy awaits.