Junior A footballers progress to QF

Junior 1 All County Football Championship. 16/08/2020.

Vs. Na Fianna. Venue: Sancta Maria.

 Result: Ballyboden St. Endas 2.14 Na Fianna 2.11

 Sunday morning saw the final round of matches in the group stage of the championship for the Junior A Football team with Na Fianna making the journey across the Liffey to an overcast Sancta Maria. The intensity shown in the warm up made it clear that the team realised that only a victory would be good enough to progress to the quarter final stage. Na Fianna arrived with maximum points from their first two games so a draw would be enough for them to go through. An early point from Enda Cashman was soon countered by a Na Fianna goal and three points to give them an early lead. A super run and finish from John McGuire resulted in a green flag for the home team followed by well taken points by Dylan Walsh and Luke Basquel to bring the sides level. Robert Cullen started to win good ball at midfield and the half back line of Dean Ralph, David Gilheaney and Conor Cullen were linking well with the forward line.

The Boden forwards were starting to create a lot of space with Luke Grady winning good possession. Ciaran Cashman finished a very good move to the net and followed up with two points with Luke Basquel showing great opportunism to add a further point.Two points from Na Fianna left the score at 2.6 to 1.5 when referee, Laurence Kelly, sounded the half time whistle.

The message at half time was very simple: ‘Keep up the intensity level lads for the next 30 minutes’. A fast start to the second half saw well taken points from Enda, Aidan Garvey, Conor Cullen and John to stretch the lead to eight points. Na Fianna then countered with three points to narrow the gap with the Boden full back line of Joey Donohoe, Michael Dunne and Barry O’Donnell working hard to minimise the space available to the opposing forwards. An excellent point from Luke Basquel steadied the ship as Graham Heavey and Sam Lally were introduced from the bench. Dylan and John added further points to leave Boden eight points up at the water break.

The water in the Na Fianna bottles seemed to have an energising effect as they scored the next three points. Larry Murphy, Damien Kenny and Colm Humphreys contributed well when brought on at this stage as the visitors piled on the pressure. A converted free from Enda restored the gap to 6 points before a late goal from Na Fianna left Boden ahead on a scoreline of 2.14 to 2.11 at the final whistle. The calculators were then utilised to work out the score difference with the team going through to the quarter finals and Na Fianna eliminated by the narrowest of margins.

A very good performance by the entire squad to get the job done today.

The next match will be the quarter final on Sunday 30^th with opposition and venue to be confirmed.

Thanks to Sean Fitzmaurice and Jack Nolan for umpire duty and Donal Griffin for doing the sideline.

Junior A squad:

Adam Farrell, Barry O’Donnell, Michael Dunne, Joey Donohoe, Dean Ralph, David Gilheaney, Conor Cullen, Dylan Walsh, Robert Cullen, Enda Cashman, John McGuire, Aidan Garvey, Ciaran Cashman, Luke Grady, Luke Basquel, Alex Craven, Damien Kenny, Andrew Hughes, Larry Murphy, Graham Heavey, Sam Lally, Kevin Cronin, Colm Humphreys, James McTernan, Charlie McPartland, Rory Jordan, Craig Irwin, Dara Walsh.