Result: 0 22 to 1 10
Senior A Hurlers open championship with a win
A fair sized support took to the terrace for this opener in the Senior Championship at a chilly O’Toole Park on Friday evening. The sides seem to meet regularly at this stage of the campaign, so there were few surprises awaiting the players.
That said, there is always a ‘first time to make your debut’, as the American baseball player Yogi Berra used to say and Rob Leddy, fresh from last years minor side, fitted this billing nicely, proceeding to give a steady account of himself on a fair surface for hurling. There was also a Senior a Championship debut for Niall Ryan, Paul Doherty and Rónan Cleary.
The opening half was a truncated affair, with a number of frustrating stoppages for injuries on both sides. Paul Ryan was an early departure. But not before contributing three points, the last of them a beauty. Plunketts kept in touch with good scores of their own, Liam Corbett and Aiden Baird with the best of them. Paul Doherty added further to the Boden tally and centre back David Curtin pointed some frees.
Boden’s midfield pairing of Finn McGarry and James Madden grabbed a measure of control over the second quarter and both chalked up scores. Another to shine at this early stage was Niall Ryan; his running was causing some concern to the Plunketts rearguard. Dublin forward Niall McMorrow always looked a threat and he announced his presence with some good distribution.
Half Time: Boden 10 pts. Plunketts 6 pts.
The second half was a step up on the opening thirty and within a minute McMorrow flashed a quick point over the black spot. However by the fifth minute Plunketts had created the only two goal chances over the hour, but the experience of the evergreen Malachi Travers and the assured Dean Curran held a firm line and thwarted the threat. Boden added a series of decent scores through Madden twice ( the first of these was the score of the game from all of 70 metres), Ryan again, Shane Durkin and Doherty. 16 to 6.
Game over! Well not quite! Plunketts came back with a Murray point and a fine goal from Michael Walsh. Murray added again to the Plunketts total, and brought their tally to 1.08. The flow came to a halt with a fine score from David O’Connor, and another from McMorrow off his left, a fine response. The game petered out with further broken play and some solid defending from in particular Stephen Hiney and Travers. Both even had the time to charge upfield and point from around the forty.
Best for Boden were Travers, Curtin, Madden and Ryan, though a case can be made for several others. The downside was the increasing injury list, the high wide tally and the failure to create goal opportunities.
BODEN lined out with Gary Maguire, Rob Leddy, Dean Curran, Malachi Travers, Stephen Hiney, David Curtin, Shane Durkin. James Madden, Finn McGarry Ronan Cleary, Paul Doherty, Niall McMorrow, Conor McCormack, Niall Ryan, Brendan Treacy, David O’Connor, Paul Ryan, Kenny Wigglesw