Baile Buadáin Nh. Éanna 1-15
Ballymun Kickhams 0-13
A lively intermediate football championship semifinal entertained a large crowd in O’Toole Park on Saturday. For October, the weather was unseasonably warm with the temperature in the mid-20s, even at 4 pm.
Both teams had reached this stage of the competition with some good performances; Boden had suffered defeat at home to Crokes in a torrential downpour in the group stage and Ballymun conquered Crokes away in Silverpark in the quarter final, regarded as a surprise result by many. However, in midsummer in the league, Boden and Ballymun went toe to toe and the game finished in a draw. Neither team was going to take the other for granted in this encounter.
Playing with the aid of a breeze and the gentle slope in O’Toole Park, Kickhams raced into an early lead. A couple of points from Boden saw them level up the game only for the Northsiders to push on again. The game was ebbing and flowing with no clear advantage being claimed by either team. Boden went into the break with a nine points to eight lead. Both teams were playing well with patient attacking and resolute organised defending.
The second half was not long underway when Boden bagged a goal from a speculative long ball. The game opened up considerably after this as Ballymun worked hard to create goal-scoring chances. Fortunately, for Boden who are defending their county crown, those gilt-edged chances never materialised. Every time Ballymun pulled a point or two back Boden managed to squeeze a point or two of their own.
In the final quarter, Ballymun threw everything at Boden including former Dublin star Alan Hubbard. It didn’t work.
When the final whistle sounded Boden had five points to spare.
An panéil:
Josh Kane, Conor Hanrahan, Cian Murray, Cian Mellett, Fionn Maguire, David Leech, Oisin Byrne, Ciaran Duggan, Neil Hester, Robbie O’Reilly, Colly Dunne, Harry Colclough, Luke Byrne, Davy Keogh, Davy Keane, Ollie Brophy, Ciaran Kiely, Declan O’Mahony, Ronan Long, Mark Walsh, Bob Dwan, Ruairi Kirwan, Oisin Carolan, Eoghan Gannon, John Murphy, Jake Turley, Eoin Donne.
Thanks to Cliona Mellett for photographs.