VINNY MOANS
Saints boss Mullins happy to be in a final but he warns his players they have to improve if they want to topple Ballymun
ST VINCENTS boss Brian Mullins says his side must improve to deny old rivals Ballymun Kickhams in the Dublin SFC final. Both sides won big in their respective semi-finals at the weekend to set up a Bank Holiday Monday decider date. But a nine-point Vincents win over St Judes flattered the Marino men who conjured three goals from the 56th minute onwards. Ballymun, the Dublin and Leinster club title favourites, were far more impressive in dominating a strong Kilmacud Crokes side and winning by eight. There’ s no love lost between Vincents and Ballymun who clashed at the semi-final stage last year, resulting in a one-point win for Vins. They also beat Ballymun in a feisty final replay in 2013 to strip the holders of their crown. Dublin legend Mullins (right) said: “Ballymun are a team of high quality. We won’t do well against them unless we do an awful lot better than we did against Judes. “We particularly need to get more scores out of the amount of possession that we have going forward. “We struggled in the first-half to get the scoreboard ticking over. It ’s something we’ll have to work on. Judes have a very crowded defence and we struggled to break it down. “I saw just a little bit of Ballymun’s game. “But I’ve seen Ballymun a few times during the year, I know plenty about them. “They ’re playing very well, they outscored and outplayed Crokes and they did the same in the quarter-finals so they’re a good quality team. You don’t even need to start talking about their four All-ireland medal winners with Dublin this year. “It’s just a solid team and we’d know a lot about them and have a lot of respect for them.” Vins have already made a little bit of history by reaching their fifth consecutive final. They last achieved that feat during Mullins’ playing era in the 1970s when they contested nine-in-a-row. Mullins said: “The Dublin Championship has been a strong place for Vincents all down through the years. We’re delighted to be back there again. Every final is different, every year is different. “We don’t take anything for granted and we haven’t this year so far. So we won’t be taking anything for granted going into the final. “They’re a dedicated group of players, very keen to represent the jersey and they prepare well, as well as they possibly can. They’ re just very dedicated.” Vins are on the trail of a dream double of county titles as their hurlers take on holders Cuala in the semi-finals next Sunday. Mullins acknowledged that his side was fortunate to beat Judes by as much as they did last weekend. Judes battled bravely and were level after two-thirds of the game but caved in late on after losing two players to red cards. Mullins said :“It had all the appearances of being a close game right up until the end if it wasn’t for the sending off. “I think in fairness the first one was the big one. That was what made the difference to the general play.”