Dublin 17; Rest of Leinster 3. That’s the extent of the capital’s dominance in the last 20 senior inter-county and club football championships, with only Meath (2010), Garrycastle (2011) and Portlaoise (2009) interrupting Dublin’s supremacy.

St Vincent’s have played a significant role in Dublin’s club success, clinching their fourth Leinster title in 10 seasons – and their seventh overall – with a victory which was fashioned early on in Portlaoise yesterday.

Diarmuid Connolly’s exquisitely taken goal in the sixth minute gave them an advantage which they enjoyed all the way to the finish. Indeed, they extended it on the run-in while also looking as if they were playing well within themselves.

It was all deeply frustrating for Rhode, whose pursuit of Leinster glory remains unfulfilled despite reaching five of the last 11 finals.

Breakthrough

Their prospects of making the breakthrough this year were severely wounded by the unavailability of Anton Sullivan and Jake Kavanagh, both of whom are overseas on Army duty. Resources are indeed limited in what club Public Relations Officer Robert Kellaghan described in yesterday’s Sunday Independent as “a small village, a crossroads, working off a two-mile radius”.

It’s a totally different circuit to where St Vincent’s operate; a point perfectly illustrated by how they were able to respond to Ger Brennan’s dismissal on a black card just before half-time.

His replacement was former Galway player Fiachra Breathnach, so Brennan’s loss was, in fact, negligible.

Another ‘outsider’, Mayo’s Enda Varley, also made a generous contribution, scoring 0-2 in an attack where team captain Connolly, Tomás ‘Mossy’ Quinn and Gavin Burke were also highly effective.

Rhode, in contrast, were over-reliant on Niall McNamee to unpick the St Vincent’s locks. He tried lots of combinations, but lacked the necessary support from his fellow forwards, whose admirable workrate wasn’t matched by the subtlety required on such a big occasion.

Rhode’s disappointing experience against St Vincent’s in the 2014 final, which they lost by 10 points, clearly informed their approach to yesterday’s game as they set themselves up quite defensively.

However, their security was breached when Connolly pounced for a goal and when St Vincent’s led by 1-6 to 0-4 after 22 minutes, it looked as if Rhode might be heading for oblivion.

In fairness, their response was as brave as it was effective and when Brennan tripped Niall McNamee in the square just before half-time, Rhode had a chance to cut the deficit to a single point.

It didn’t happen, as Ruairí McNamee’s poorly struck penalty was easily saved by Michael Savage. Rhode’s pain increased when St Vincent’s broke downfield and added a point, leaving them 1-8 to 0-6 ahead at the interval.

While the penalty miss was important, Rhode manager Pascal Kellaghan admitted that other factors had contributed to his side’s problems.

“They (St Vincent’s) got 1-4 in the first-half from us giving them the ball. You just can’t do that at this level,” he said.

Rhode started the second-half well, cutting the margin back to four points while playing with an energy and intensity that troubled St Vincent’s.

However, the process involved in turning possession into scores wasn’t nearly smooth enough.

The Dublin champions found it much easier to exploit their chances, which they did quite comfortably over the closing 20 minutes.

“We have an experienced team and that was important today. Some of them were there in 2007/2008, the likes of Tomás (Quinn) and Diarmuid (Connolly), but the younger lads have been there for around five years. That helps with belief and gives lads a sense they can work their way through any situation they find themselves in,” said St Vincent’s manager Tommy Conroy.

That looked very much the case yesterday, so it’s quite likely that even if Rhode had hit the net from the penalty spot, the Dublin champions would have won anyway.

Kellaghan described St Vincent’s as “an exceptional team”, a tag that will be put to the test in February when they take their case into the All-Ireland championship, where they play Slaughtneil (Derry) in the semi-final.

“It’s great to win another Leinster title, but you have to up your performance all the time and come February we’ll have to be better than we were today,” said Conroy.

Meanwhile, Rhode will have to make do with winning the Offaly title after once again discovering just how difficult it is to dislodge Dublin’s big clubs.

“We had our homework done, but we just didn’t get the start we needed. We couldn’t get to grips with the game the way we wanted,” said Niall McNamee.

Scorers – St. Vincent’s: D Connolly 1-2, T Quinn 0-4 (2f), G Burke 0-3, E Varley, S Carthy 0-2 each, Cormac Diamond, J Feeney, R Trainor 0-1 each.

Rhode: N McNamee 0-6 (5f), D Garry 0-2, P McPadden, C McNamee, N Darby, C Heavey 0-1 each.

St.Vincent’s: M Savage; M Concarr, J Curley, C Wilson; N Mullins, G Brennan, Cameron Diamond; D Murphy, S Carthy; G Burke, D Connolly, Cormac Diamond; R Trainor, E Varley, T Quinn. Subs: F Breathnach for Brennan (b/c 36), A Martin for Murphy (40), J Feeney for Martin (45), J McCusker for Cormac Diamond (58), K Bonnie for Varley (62).

Rhode: K Garry; B Darby, S Sullivan, C Heavey; D Garry, E Rigney,N Darby; A McNamee, C McNamee; J McPadden, N McNamee, P Sullivan; P McPadden, R McNamee, S Hannon.

Subs: G O’Connell for P Sullivan (40), D Kavanagh for Heavey (53), G McNamee for S Sullivan (56), E Byrne for C McNamee (b/c 63) S Lowry for J McPadden (63).

Ref: B Cawley (Kildare)