Cuala hang on for historic Leinster title after surviving scare from ...

Cuala are the first club to win Leinster senior club hurling and football titles and for the longest time they looked like their journey into the record books would be plain sailing.

But much of the drama here was squeezed into the final 15 minutes. The Dublin side were five clear and generally in control when Eoin Kennedy picked up a black card. They actually extended that gap to six before Ardee launched a Ryan Rooney-inspired rescue act.

Sub Rooney hit 1-2 as Ardee made their numerical superiority count and rattle off two goals inside 90 seconds. Rooney capitalised on Ryan Scollard’s error to grab the first before Seán Callaghan smashed home not much more than a minute later to level the game.

​From there both sides missed chances to take charge. Rooney missed from a kickable mark and even Con O’Callaghan pulled a free wide.

Crucially, however, Ardee couldn’t get their noses in front — they never led at any point in the game — and Luke Keating held his nerve to convert an injury-time free to send Cuala into the history books. Incidentally that decisive free was earned by the brilliant, ageless Mick Fitzsimons, who had also kicked the game’s first score.

Cuala looked to have laid the groundwork for a routine day’s work in the opening 20 minutes of the game where they hit 1-6 without reply. Fitzsimons opened the scoring with a well-timed raid forward but this period belonged to his Dublin teammate O’Callaghan.

By the 12th minute, O’Callaghan already had six shots on goal, landing two points, three wides and cracking the bar with an effort on Tiernan Markey’s goal. He also sent Conor O’Brien away when he raised the green flag on 15 minutes. By the time he set Keating away for the final point of their unanswered 1-6, O’Callaghan had either scored or directly assisted all but the opening two points.

At this stage, the game was beginning to resemble Ardee’s clash with Kilmacud Crokes last year when the Louth men went in at half-time trailing by ten points.

And if O’Callaghan was purring at one end for Cuala, Ardee attacks perished on the rocks time after time as they couldn’t cope with Cuala’s defensive organisation and physicality.

No Louth side has ever won this competition and Ardee struggled desperately for traction. They had manufactured just two shots on goal in the opening quarter and didn’t score until the 22nd when Ciarán Keenan steered over a free. That started a run of three points in a row with Jonathan Commins and Markey converting placed balls on a difficult night for kicking to give Cathal Murray’s side a foothold.

However, Cuala ran in the last point of the half, a fisted effort from Eoin Kennedy, to see them take a 1-7 to 0-3 lead in at the break.

Cuala might well have been aware that in that clash with Crokes last year, Ardee made a stirring resurgence, cutting the gap from ten points to just two at one stage. And they set about quelling any notion of an Ardee revival with an O’Brien point directly from the throw-in.

The second half was much more open with the sides trading points early on. Ardee’s Tadhg McDonnell landed the pick of them.

Then came the black card and the drama and St Mary’s gutsy rescue act. Ardee had one late chance to force extra-time but Ronan Carroll’s long-range effort fell the wrong side of the Canal End posts. The night belonged to Cuala who move on to play the Connacht champions, either Roscommon’s Pádraig Pearses or Sligo’s Coolera-Strandhill, in the All-Ireland semi-final on January 4/5.

Scorers — Cuala: C O’Callaghan 0-4 (2f); C O’Brien 1-1; L Keating 0-3 (2f); N O’Callaghan 0-2; M Fitzsimons, E Kennedy, C Doran, C McMorrow 0-1 each. Ardee: R Rooney 1-2; C Keenan 0-3 (3f); J Commins 0-2 (1f); S Callaghan 1-0; T Markey (1f), T McDonnell, D McConnon 0-1.

Cuala: R Scollard; D Conroy, M Fitzsimons, E O’Callaghan; E Kennedy, C McMorrow, D O’Dowd; P Ó Cofaigh Byrne, P Duffy; C Dunne, C O’Brien, C Doran; L Keating, N O’Callaghan, C O’Callaghan. Subs: C Ó Ciolláin for Dunne (38), M Conroy for D Conroy (43), C Groarke for O’Brien (44), S Mangan for O’Dowd (58).

Ardee: T Markey; T McDonnell, K Faulkner, E Keenan; J Commins, D McKenny, P McKenny; RJ Callaghan, S Callaghan; C Keenan, L Jackson, K Moran; S Matthews, D McConnon, T Jackson. Subs: R Rooney for Moran, R Carroll for Matthews (both 43), C Gillespie for Commins (53), R Leavy for RJ Callaghan (58).

Referee: S Mulhare (Laois).