Wednesday 04/09/19.
It seemed like a long time since our last Championship game, a victory over Peregrines in June but the time came to face up to Ballyboughal in the Junior B Championship Semi Final on a windy Pairc UiMhurchu on Wednesday evening 19/06/19.
We knew the wind would play a big part in the game, we were planning to take advantage of the wind in the 1st half but unfortunately, we lost the toss and the opposition captain elected to play with the strong breeze.
The mentors were anxious as the ball was thrown in, but we need not have worried as the Boden girls simply tore into the game and dominated possession playing wonderful flowing football which must have been a joy to watch for the home supporters.
Ballyboden got on the scoreboard early with a nice point from Aine Duffy, minutes later we were somewhat fortunate to win a penalty and Louise Kelly dispatched it with her usual coolness giving the goalkeeper no chance. Louise tagged on a further 3 points from play and frees. This was followed by a point from Orla Scollard and then we had a great point from Laura Basquel who was having a wonderful game at midfield alongside Eimear Duffy providing the linkup between the backs and forwards.
We finished the scoring in the first half with a fine goal from our other midfielder Grace Walsh after some excellent fielding
Our defence Claire, Joanne, Aisling, Rachel, Una and Roisin played outstanding football in that first half and while Ballyboughal scored 5 points our defence stood firm and they were unable to score the goals they needed to narrow the Boden lead.
Half time score: Boden 2 06 to Ballyboughal 0 05
The football was not quite the same champagne football that we had seen in the first half, it was a case of working hard for each other and defending strongly with midfield and forwards dropping back to support the defence when necessary Danielle`s kick outs were excellent against the wind and we consistently won possession around the middle and defended well against the pacey Ballyboughal forwards .We scored 5 points in the second half as Elizabeth Manning and Shauna Maher added themselves to the score sheet on the night restricting the opposition to 4 points. The scoring was then finished off by a superb solo goal from substitute Shona Conway who was allowed to solo leisurely from midfield before sticking the ball in the corner of the net.
Final score: Boden 2 11 to Ballyboughal 0 09
It was a wonderful team performance from all 15 players plus the 5 subs who also made significant contributions. Having been involved with Ballyboden teams now for 20 years I can honestly say that our first half performance was the best I have seen from a Boden team.
Scorers: Louise Kelly 1-04, Aine Duffy 0-3, Shona Conway 1-0, Laura Basquel 1-0, Orla Scollard 0-2, Shauna Maher 0-1, Elizabeth Manning 0-1
Team: Danielle Aylmer, Rachel Basquel, Roisin Ryan, Claire King, Una McGinn, Joanne O Sullivan, Aisling McElvanney, Grace Walsh, Laura Basquel, Eimear Duffy Louise Kelly, Aine Duffy, Shauna Maher,
Elizabeth Manning, Orla Scollard.
Subs: Sarah Burns, Shona Conway, Aisling Keane,Claire McCourt, Karen Cooney
Unused subs: Sarah Denver, Kristine McGinn
Photos by Cliona Mellett. For more, see here
The final is set for Sunday 22nd September at 4pm in Fingallians, Swords where we face our old rivals Peregrines who defeated the strong favourites Kilmacud in the other semi-final.
All support welcome!