Result: 3 14 to 1 16
BODEN EDGE NEIGHBOURS ST. JUDES IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP
A mild August evening in Parnell and a top of the table clash between two sides with designs on the title! All the ingredients for quality entertainment!
Friday night promised much between last years runners-up and a Boden side intent on getting back to the big stage. However the display for the decent sized crowd was some way short of what was expected. What made the trip worthwhile was the performance from Dublin stars, Danny Sutcliffe, Conal Keaney and Simon Lambert. Their contributions were the main talking point in the “surgery” later in the evening.
Judes opened in a flourish and inside a few minutes they had two points, the best of them from Sutcliffe. The Boden response was slow to get going and Judes, now employing the “choke” tactic of crowding the opposition, got their due reward with a string of points from Sutcliffe, Joey McManus, Tom Devlin and Fionn O Briain Riain. The latter was a huge contributor over the hour from placed balls, although he, strangely, miss-hit his easiest free from 25 metres, although “helped” by official Tony Lambe by moving the ball forward 13 metres, a punishment imposed on Boden several times. By the midway point of the half Judes led by 8 to 2 and the Boden support were wondering where the “lift” would come from.
Enter the big guns, in particular Lambert showing his side some fine leadership. At one stage he was on the terrace sideline scoring a beauty and minutes later on the stand line looping the ball over a Judes defender to continue his run. The scores came quickly from across the numbers, David O’Connor, a ball from James Madden, Paul Ryan, from placed balls, and Keaney, two fine scores. He followed with the Boden score of the game. Stephen O’Connor sent one in to him, and his catch, diagonal run and net- finish was topdrawer. At the other end Sutcliffe was the “goto” man and his fetch on the forty, speed of foot o’er the Donnycarney sod, and finish to the net was quality. The game was opening up now and the space was suiting the Boden attack. Judes got themselves in trouble in defence and allowed the ball to cross to the square, where Conor McCormack was lurking with intent, a gift of a goal. Half time had it at 2.7 to 1.9.
The second half was a truncated affair that again centred around some of the bigger names. Stephen Hiney stayed on the Sutcliffe case and restricted him to a single point over the thirty, a neat lob from his left side. With a high level of attrition the free taking from O’Briain Riain and Ryan was crucial and they matched each other for quality. A number of yellow cards were issued for some strong challenges and tempers were getting somewhat frayed. A fracas in front of the stand delayed proceedings and resulted in further sanctions for both sides. What ultimately decided the game was the ratio of opportunities taken, Boden being the more efficient. The Judes tactic now was to take short puck-outs and deliver long balls to the point of the attack. Dean Curran stood tall for many of these attacks and restricted Judes to a few scores. Ronan Joyce had a golden opportunity for a goal, but he fluffed his lines. At the other end Jude’s got themselves into defensive troubles and coffed up the ball to Boden, Ryan giving the final pass to McCormack for his second goal. The game petered out with some Judes support heading for the gate and Ryan again at the free line.
Boden lined out as Gary Maguire, Kenny Wigglesworth, Dean Curran, Stephen O’Connor, Stephen Hiney, James Madden, Simon Lambert, David Curtin, Niall McMorrow, Finn McGarry, Conor McCormack, Collie O’Neill, David O’Connor, Conal Keaney, Paul Ryan.
Sub: James Roche for David Curtin