Ballyboden St Endas 1 17 Thomas Davis 0 14
Long Fella Reports for Kiltipper
Against the backdrop of the melting snow of the Dublin Mountains, Ballyboden’s senior B hurling home league clash against near neighbours Thomas Davis was played on the Tallaght club’s all-weather surface on Sunday morning in front of a substantial home support. Thanks to the Tallaght club for the use of their facility. A simmering sun threatened to turn the morning into a spring jewel, with the wind blowing off Killanarden Hill onto the Kiltipper Road goalmouth. The game hinged on how the sides could best use the advantage of playing into the scoring goals. As it turned out Davis could only manage seven first half points and they with the advantage. In the mix were four missed placed balls, with only three conversions. On turnaround Boden upped the pace and pressure and bagged the only goal of the game after patient build-up play.
Boden’s James Roche was the man of the opening half with five of his side’s seven scores, three from play and a brace of frees. The Tallaght men opened the brightest, responding to a Boden point from Cillian Kirwan. Brian Keogh bagged a quick point followed by a placed ball to put his side in front. Sean Reilly then popped up from half back to put Davis two up. Enter Roche into the fray with a few quality plays and a fine point from forty metres. He followed this with a pointed free into the tricky wind. Keogh cancelled his effort, but within a few minutes Roche struck again to bring the Boden tally to four. Davis kept on scoring with a Conor Cronin point, but Roche matched him after David O’Connor put him into space. Five to six in favour of the Tallaght men. Some of the tackles were in the dangerous category, forcing the man-in-the-middle to dish out the weight of his tongue to players on both sides. Roche hit again and his team-mate Shane Kennedy put Boden into the lead for the first time with a monster strike from surely seventy metres. The half ended with the equalising point from Davis, a free from fifty metres. Seven each.
Like the first half, Keogh struck first to put the Tallaght men in front. Kennedy struck his second on the morning, but Davis hit back with a brace of their own to open the lead to two. Roche bagged his sixth of the morning with the wind now in his favour. Boden’s strike for home came from some patient play in the forward line, with Davy Keogh laying on the pass to Kennedy to net from twenty metres. The lead became a goal when John O’Driscoll rifled his shot over the Kiltipper Road crossbar, Keith McCarron the provider. Centre forward Luke Dempsey and Roche traded points, Timmy Hammersley the provider for the in-form Boden sharp-shooter. The lead became five when substitute Conor Kennedy hit one, with Timmy following up with his contribution. Darragh Kerr stopped the rot for Davis with a quality point, but the game was as good as decided when another substitute Mark Lambert found the sweet spot with a monster point. Kennedy hit another from distance, and Kennedy and O’Driscoll closed out the morning with fluent play.
Boden can be well pleased with their closing out of the game, particularly the way that they found each other in space. The opening half was of dubious quality, with the sides cancelling each other out with some needly tackling. The goal was very much the turning point and allowed Boden their first breathing space in what was a relatively low scoring match. Roche has clearly regained his touch and eye for the target, and he kept Boden in the game without having to dig in. McCarron remained steadfast on the forty, making life difficult for Davis in getting passes through. David O’Connor had a fine outing with some visionary balls into free men. Goalman Matthew Nolan combined well with mentor/player Naoise Maguire to restrict Davis to just a sniff of a goal. Shane and O’Driscoll both had good returns in the second half, and Hammersley was always in the mix during the close-out.
Squad; Matthew Nolan, James Ryan, Naoise Maguire, Barry McGuire, Cian Mellett, Keith McCarron, David O’Connor, Davy Keogh, Leon Kennedy, James Roche, John O’Driscoll, Mattie Weldon, Finnian McDonagh, Cillian Kirwan, Shane Kennedy, Timmy Hammersley, Mark Lambert, Conor Kennedy, Kenny Wigglesworth.
Thanks to John Kirwan for the photos. Click here for more