Junior A Impress in League Opener

BBSE  4 19  St. Patricks 3 08

Long Fella Reports from Sancta Maria – Photos by John Kirwan

A rare sight, the sun, greeted a decent gathering of supporters at a windy Sancta Maria (all-weather surface) on Sunday morning last for the opening round of the hurling league, division 4. The initial speculation centred around the appearance (or otherwise) for our Palmerstown visitors of star Dublin hurler Liam Rushe, but he was central to the warm-up and donned his familiar number eleven jersey. This sight was greeted with a modicum of excitement by the audience, some of whom may have been concerned that if the star man was to be given sufficient room, that the home defence might fold like a cheap suit. That this did not happen was due to a solid showing by the Boden back seven. Centre-back Fergal Ryan did enough over the hour to deserve the accolade of MVP for Boden, but he was ably supported by Des O’Sullivan and the tenacious Andy Hand.

Morgan Ryan opened the Boden tally with a neat strike, but this was overturned by a quick brace for the visitors, the second by Rushe after he accepted an assist from the imposing Dave O’Hanlon. The sides levelled up when the evergreen Aiden Dundon pointed the first of his day’s tally, after Daniel Nugent worked a clever ball to his grasp. The home side were dealt an immediate blow when a vicious ball-bounce in the Boden square was not cleared, leaving O’Hanlon with the easiest of tasks in tapping to the net. Boden responded immediately with a superb goal from a tight angle by Daniel O’Riordan and again a point from Dundon, re-visiting his glory days at Sarsfields, although lacking his youthful movement. Ryan opened a Boden lead of three points from a 65, followed by a share of a brace of frees by Rushe and Dundon. 1.06 to 1.03.

Into the second quarter Boden’s combinations were working better that the visitors, and Eoin McKenna with a classy point and solid work by Chris Lambert made the task of playing into a ‘four-point wind’ look manageable. O’Riordan struck again as well as Lambert, making up for an earlier missed goal opportunity. Pats kept in touch with points from Rushe and a beauty from O’Hanlon. Half time had the scores at 1.09 to 1.07.

Talk on the rail was mainly about the Dublin loss to Wexford the previous evening and the generally held view articulated by commentator Marty Morrissey that the performance was as much about the referee as it was about the hurling. ‘Shocko’ was not slow in offering some explanation for the Limerick ‘whistler’s’ persistent blowing, suggesting that the referee coming from a football area may have contributed to the high tally of frees given.

The second half opened with Boden taking over in the scoring stakes. Morgan fed Dundon….point, Ciaran Cashman moved into good positions and notched the first of three points, and again Dundon landed a fine effort. Lambert raided into the Pats square and came away with a goal……game as good as over…..score 2.14 to 1.08. Ryan and the increasingly imposing Lambert added to the Boden tally, only to be checked back by Rushe with his goal from a penalty. In defence Boden’s Des O’Sullivan stood tall and commanded the rear-guard with authority, but his best was no match for a superb Pats goal from Brain Mooney after two triangular movements worked a treat. The visitors now stripped their defence placing centre-back Graham Kelly upsides with Rushe in search of more goals. At the other end, Boden’s forwards went on the same goal mission and Ciaran McDonald along with Ruairi MacMahuna hit the onion-sack for Boden. In between Cashman pointed a fine contribution, capping an accomplished second-half performance.

Dan Boland and his mentors will be well pleased with this solid team showing and will hope to build on it towards the group championship stages later in the spring.

Squad…..Matthew Nolan, Andy Hand, Des O’Sullivan, Alan McGrath, Darren Lennox, Fergal Ryan, Ruairi MacMahuna, Eoin McKenna, Daniel Nugent, Neill Farrell, Chris Lambert, Morgan Ryan, Ciaran Cashman, Aiden Dundon, Ben Kelly, Daniel O’Riordan, Jack Lambert, Eamonn O’Gorman, Ciaran McDonald, Dave Gilheany.