Hi °C | Lo °C Castleknock and Raheny advanced to the Dublin Junior 'A' Football Championship Final following narrow last-four wins over Kilmacud Crokes and Round Towers Clondalkin respectively at O'Toole Park last Sunday.
The opening fixture saw Castleknock overcome the substitution through injury of Ciarán Kilkenny after 10 minutes to prevail against a brave Crokes outfit on a final scoreline of 2-11 to 1-8.
The winners led by four points at the interval with Rory Corcoran netting and they looked in control of affairs through the efforts of full-back Graham Hannigan, Colm Neville and wing-forward Jamie Tunney.
Despite conceding another goal immediately upon the restart to Tommy Corcoran, Kilmacud fought back with Nick Buckley, Niall Murphy, Daragh McGale and Ian O'Sullivan to the fore and Dave Kehoe's goal handed them a degree of hope.
However, points from Shane Boland, Tunney, Dermot Curran and Vinnie Turner ensured Castleknock sealed their final berth by a six-point winning margin.
The second semi-final was a far tighter affair with Raheny requiring a late free from Eoin Gillen to advance by 1-13 to 0-15 after extra-time against an excellent Round Towers Clondalkin side.
Colm Donegan amassed 1-6 for Raheny, including an early penalty, and they were boosted through impressive displays by John Sullivan, Mick Gaffney, Mick O'Keeffe and goalkeeper Niall Russell.
Towers remained in the hunt through nine points shared by Justin McGrane and substitute Niall Lanigan, but they fell just short despite the best efforts of Dean Alford, Dennis Macken, captain Ger Hickey, Tom Curran and David Chapman.
