Result: 2 16 to 3 09

JUNIOR C HURLERS STEP UP TO THE PLATE

A minutes silence was observed by the large attendance at this morning’s Championship match at Ballycullen for the late Andrew White. Andy was Conal Keaneys midfield partner for the Under 16 title win of 1997. He was also a member of the Minor Title winner’s side of 1999. The side was managed by Donal Ryan and captained by David Pluck. Donal’s memories of those campaigns are vivid; he recalls the huge contribution from Andy, doing a lot of the hard work in the number 9 shirt. His skill at getting onto the ball on the floor was a major reason for the success of the teams. Andy alos played for the Service for many years and made a huge contribution to their success. He will be fondly remembered by his team-mates.

The game was a “stormer”, it had everything, great blocking and hooking, fine points, great goals, defensive mistakes and a dramatic finish. Boden only stamped their authority on proceedings in the last ten minutes when our inside line of Cian Hiney, Brian Cummins and Morgan Kelly bagged a goal and four points. Neil Farrell also left his mark on proceedings with a peach of a score.

Service opened with real intent and despite the best efforts of our defence, Mark McGovern to the fore, the visitors raised a white flag, a great point from Ronan Hayes. The evergreen Gavin Duff  responded with a score off his left side. Goalman David Kelly brought off a fine save from Hayes, but Service tails were up and it wasn’t long before they were back for more, a goal from Mark Feeney. 1.2 to 0.2. The pressure continued, and were it not for the workrate of Jason Long, Declan Keating and, in particular Alan McGrath, the home side might have leaked more scores. Defences were very much to the fore for the rest of the half, forcing the forwards into mistakes and wides. Hiney put in a huge shift, but his runs yielded less than he was worth. Cummins was unerring from the free and 65 line and added to the tally. Ryan benefitted from the workrate of David Keville and notched two beauties. Half Time – Boden 0.6, Service 1.5.

On four minutes of the second half Hiney profited from the efforts of Keville and bagged the first of his two goals. Game tied! The joust went “score for score” for the next ten minutes, with Ryan, Colm Sweeney and Cummins showing some neat touches. They scored five between them. But Service were not going away and they tied the game again on 15 minutes, a long ball from the country that went straight into the Boden net. Cummins raised another white flag, but the effort was outdone by Service, a “scuttely” ball ran between the legs of forwards and backs and into an empty net. Back came Boden’s MVP Cummins, and another classy point, the margin is now one. At the other end Hayes found space for a shot and upped the lead to a brace.

The end-game was triggered off by a few incidents, a missed free from Service, a visible slowing of the Service workrate and a perfect delivery from Ronan Dooley to the grasp of Hiney. One and one with the defender, he brushed him aside and placed the ball past the hapless Service goalman. Cummins put the finishing touches to the tie by adding the last two scores, a cracker off his favoured left side and a free from about 70 metres.

This result puts Boden into the Final and promotion.

Boden: David Kelly, Mark McGovern, Jason Long, Cian Hiney, Morgan Ryan, David Keville, Brian Cummins, Neil Farrell, Gavin Duff, Ciaran O’Brien, Fergal Murray, Alan McGrath, Declan Keating, Colm Sweeney, Mark Judge, Ronan Dooley, Aiden Horgan, Alan Carter.

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