Result: 1 23 to 0 17
Boden Senior hurlers ease past Vinnies
An international audience turned up at Parnell Park on Saturday afternoon for a quarter final meeting of these two foes. Midway through the second half a Frenchman, one Albert Ginola ( too modest to mention the relationship with David) made the discretest of enquiries “is it normale to ave such sealance in the stadium?”. The bemusement among the Boden fraternity was obvious. The game was effectively over as a contest and the two sides were largely playing out the time. The gap was seven points in a game where goal opportunities were few. St. Vincents had moved their advanced guard into the Boden half of the field and were trying to get on the goal list. But the Boden defence was locked solidly and determined to keep the opportunities to a minimum. As a unit the seven Boden defenders made few mistakes, frustrating the Vincents attack. The space created in the other half of the field afforded the Boden forwards the late opportunity to close out the contest by bagging four points to just two for the Northsiders.
In truth Albert was right. The whole affair was tepid at best, not Boden’s fault, as David O’Connor collected a pass from Niall McMorrow in the third minute and put his side into the lead. Apart from a brief period of Vinnies dominance early in the second half the Southsiders were in control of the game and provided the goal threat through Conal Keaney. Bizarrely Keaney finished scoreless, but his workmanlike distribution led to seven or eight scores.
The opening half was a cagey performance from both sides, and freetaking was prominent on the clip-boards. Tommy McGrane, ageless and fit, matched anything Paul Ryan could do. But each side had their marksmen from open play, David Curtin collecting two Keaney passes and pointing both superbly. Stephen O’Connor fed McMorrow for a beauty on nine minutes and shortly afterwards Keaney had his shot blocked and Collie O’Neill profited. The Northsiders response came from the McBride’s, Rian and Cian, three skilful scores.
The gap was only two in Boden’s favour when on the 25th minute O’Neill had his shot blocked and O’Connor latched onto it to open a five point cushion. Ryan completed the first half scoring to leave it at 1.11 to 8 pts.
The opening five minutes of the second thirty was all Vincent’s and they reduced the gap to the goal through McGrane (frees) and Diarmuid Connolly. The Boden response was swift, Ryan from out wide, an Eoin O’Neill pass, and O’Connor off a Keaney offload. McGrane kept Vinnie’s in it, but the contribution was cancelled out by Ryan after McMorrow found him. The remainder of the half was Boden’s, with only a few responses from Vincents. David O’Connor and McMorrow continued their dominance and benefited from some determined defending from James Madden, Kenny Wigglesworth and recent inclusion, Mike Clifford. The latter had to deal with a number of arrivals to his zone, but he closed down the space and restricted their influence.
The game finished as it started, broken play and McGrane and Ryan trading scores from the free line. Boden will be well pleased with the performance and the return to action of Shane Durkin, he showed some of his old form with some efficient “mopping-up”.
Squad: Garry Maguire, Kenny Wigglesworth, Dean Curran, Mike Clifford, Stephen Hiney, James Madden, Stephen O’Connor, Niall McMorrow, David Curtin, Eoin O’Neill, Conal Keaney, David O’Connor, Paul Ryan, Finn McGarry, Shane Durkin, Simon Lambert, Collie O’Neill.