Cuala 3-21
Slaughtneil 2-11
Derek Ryan at the Athletic Grounds, Armagh
Cuala made history at the Athletic Grounds in Armagh on Saturday afternoon, becoming the first Dublin club to reach the All-Ireland hurling final.
The Dalkey men will face Clare's Ballyea on St Patrick's Day, after a superb victory over Derry's Slaughtneil in their semi final.
Mattie Kenny's boys dominated the game from start to finish, with a particularly impressive first half setting them on their way to victory.
Twelve weeks on from their Leinster Final win over O'Loughlin Gaels, and without the injured Dublin star Paul Schutte, Cuala dismissed any fears of sluggishness by bursting out of the blocks, thanks to scores from David Treacy, Mark Schutte and Colm Cronin.
The pivotal point in the first half came in the 10th minute, when Con O'Callaghan burst through and smashed the ball into the Slaughtneil net, the dual star continuing his impressive recent goalscoring form for his club's hurlers.
That goal moved Cuala 1-5 to 0-2 ahead, while further points from Treacy, Jake Malone, Colum Sheanon and O'Callaghan saw the Dublin champs go in 1-13 to 0-05 clear at the break.
A post shared by Dublin's 98FM (@98fmdublin) on
Cuala started the second half in much the same vein as they ended the first, and dashed any hopes of a Slaughtneil fightback within seconds of the restart, when Sean Treacy netted his side's second goal, finishing well to the bottom left corner of the net.
To their credit, Slaughneil fought back and replied straight away with a goal- Ger Bradley getting the final touch.
However, it was Cuala who kicked on after that with five of the next six points, as they moved 2-18 to 1-6 ahead with less than 20 minutes left on the clock.
With the game won, Cuala took their foot off the gas and Slaughtneil racked up a few scores to put a good complexion on the scoreboard.
The @cuala_ultras in fine voice earlier as their club reached a first ever @AIB_GAA All-Ireland final https://t.co/AwElvFA7Z8 #TheToughest pic.twitter.com/2akXSiY7Tr
— 98FM Sport (@98FMsport) February 25, 2017
The Derry men were reduced to 14-men late on, when Cormac McKenna was sent off for a second yellow card, but they struck their second goal of the game shortly afterwards thanks to Se McGuigan.
However, it was too little too late from Slaughtneil, and sub Niall Carty put the icing on the cake for Cuala with their third goal of the game 2 minutes from time, as they secured a big win.
March 17th at Croke Park awaits for the Red & White Army!
