Our Intermediate footballers took a step closer to ending a 51 year wait for a second Intermediate Championship by powering past Lucan Sarsfields in emphatic style on Saturday in O’Toole Park. The Boden faithful were treated to a dominant display of football to set up a final against Na Fianna. We could go on and on but when Gizmo is on the case we defer to his literary superiority…

No Lucan back for belligerent Boden – Gizmo reports from the Intermediate Championship semi final

“It was a magnificent, well rounded, workmanlike performance. From 1 to 28 they have all contributed to getting the job done and reaching the Championship Final in two weeks’ time”, said manager Donal Monahan immediately after a functional semi-final win in O’Toole park. Donal is one of the greatest managers the club has ever seen. If you don’t believe me, just ask him and he’ll tell you himself.

As the teams took to the pitch, a gentle breeze whispered across a serene O’Toole park that was glowing in the orange hue of late autumnal sunshine. A nice image but complete tripe, the light was lousy and there was a freezing gale blowing down the pitch that would exfoliate an elephant. Good old October football. Club chairman, Donagh O’Farrell, could be heard amongst the large group of travelling supporters rattling off the usual clichés, “It’s a 10-point wind out there!”, “We’ll need a fast start.”, “It will be through-the-hands football playing into that wind!”. You get the picture, your bog-standard old muck to give off the impression that he knows what he’s on about. He’d talk in clichés until the cows come home.

Playing with the hurricane at their backs into the ‘Wall end’, Boden settled quickly with points from the Dunne brothers, sandwiching an absolute corker from ‘rising star’ O’Reilly. An audacious effort from 35 yards out on the terrace side of the pitch, was dispatched with the maturity of a player twice his age and set the tone for the day. Sweeney, McGarry and ‘keeper Kane got in on the act dispatching points at will, following elongated passages of patient build up play. While the forwards were doing what they do best, the defensive unit was well martialled by Maguire and Carolan. Any foray from the Lucan attack was met with the resilience and ferocity of rabid dogs fighting over a stale sandwich. Exampled by the Lucan centre back, who naively thought he’d take on Carolan in a 1-to-1 situation. Meeting the Lucan man with a shoulder that measured 6.3 on the Richter Scale, the ball popped forward while the poor unfortunate lad popped back to the middle of last week.

At half time we caught up with the Chairman O’Farrell, or ‘Nord Stream 2’ as he’s known to the club executive because he blows up for no apparent reason. “The lads should be happy with a 12 points to nil lead at half time. I was only saying to anyone who would listen, that it’s ‘a 10-point wind out there’. And a ‘bird in the hand is worth two in the bush’. I hope they ‘Think outside the box’, avoid the ‘Perfect storm’ while they don’t ‘Open a can of worms’ because ‘What goes around comes around’ and the games ‘As dead as a doornail’. It’s his long-suffering wife that I feel sorry for.

The second half started as expected with Lucan throwing everything at Boden and they were rewarded with two points in the opening two minutes. Boden settled into their defensive structure and “The Jukebox”, as Carolan is now known, kept delivering the hits and spoiling the Lucan attack. Points from McGuire and a brace of frees from Sweeney saw Boden lead the second period 3 points to 2 while playing into the hurricane, which was now downgraded to a tropical storm. It broke Lucan’s spirit, and on 40 minutes, the game was all but over as a contest. Contender for the Man of the Match award, Dunne (Colm) was everywhere. Sweeping in the defence, pivoting the attack, motivating, and marshalling the troops, that lad’s as handy as an A4 envelope. The highlight of the second period came when goalkeeper Kane received a yellow card for kicking the spare ball (that is positioned behind the goal) away to the Pitch and Putt course. “Why are you booking me ref?”, he pleaded with his puppy dog eyes and air of innocence in his voice. “For being an arsehole,” replied the ref. True Story. Mick Maher has spent the last three days combing the GAA rule book to see if it’s actually listed as an offence. Because if it is, I can think of a few people that will be getting yellows from me……………

As the game drew to a close on a score line of 18 points to 5, we once again caught up with Chairman O’Farrell, to get his reflection on the day’s events. “Once we got on top, Lucan showed all the balance and poise of an inner ear infection. At times, they were led a merry dance and were running around like a squirrel caught in a pedal bin.” Interesting take on the game, maybe he does know what he’s talking about after all. Only time will tell.

Next up:  Na Fianna over the Bank Holiday weekend. All shore leave has been cancelled by Monahan and his henchmen.

Full Time: BBSE 0-18 Lucan Sarsfield 0-5

Team: Josh Kane (0-1 (’45)), Conor Hanrahan, Jack Lambert, Fionn Maguire, Oisin Carolan, Eoghan Gannon, John Murphy, Rob Cullen, Conor Lowe, Robbie O’Reilly (0-1), Colm Dunne (0-1), John McGuire (0-1), Daire Sweeney ((0-10 (5xF)), Ciaran Duggan, Michael Dunne (0-2), Barra McGarry (0-2), Ruairi Kirwan, Stephen McGrath, Evan Flanagan, Neil Hester, Keith Sweeney, David Keane, Malachy Codd, Callum Grey, Scott Cullen, Luke Byrne, Tom Hanafin, Harry Colclough.

Thanks to John Kirwan for the great photos, see more here on FB