A personal return of 0-7 from Luke Byrne (see what I did with the headline!!) was enough to send Crokes back down the M50 pointless on a breezy morning in PUM. Armed to the teeth with fair-trade lattes, made only with Soy milk and lightly sweetened with raw manuka honey, the Crokes supporters were in fine voice, the key of C Major to be precise. This had all the hallmarks a ‘Battle Royal’ for the moral high ground and if they won the football? Well, that’s a bonus.
Playing into the wind, Boden kicked into gear with a hat trick of points from Byrne, a long-range beauty from Colcough and a cracking goal from McGlynn. Fabulous support play from Harry Donaghy and Daniel Lynch helped create an unrivalled attacking platform. The wing back pairing of Hugh O’Sullivan and Cian Leahy are future stars with their forays into the Crokes attack causing havoc by creating overlaps and options a plenty. Finally, a special word for corner back Ronan Long, who would kick his own Granny “in the face” if she got in the way of the ball.
On the stroke of half time, we caught up with “Supposed” mentor Declan Maguire, who just hangs around the management to make himself look important. He said, “Do you think everyone noticed me walking up and down the line with my whistle and stopwatch, I looked like I knew what I was doing, didn’t I?” When asked not to be so self-obsessed, he said, “It was an excellent performance, particularly the back six’s ‘Robust’ defending. I love the way they’re controlling the game by moving the ball patiently from wing to wing waiting for the correct opportunity” He went on to use the old cliche “10 points up and the breeze at our back, hopefully we’ve done enough. But a wind has never won a game yet.” What a clown.
Following their half time Granola bars with natural yogurt and selection of organic seasonal berries, Crokes had a renewed and recycled energy about them in the second period.
The 2nd half saw Ballyboden starting to build their finishing 15 (That’s ‘fancy speak’ for making 4 substitutions). Kenny, Kane, Maguire and Hickey entered the Frey and fought like Crokes supporters over a Vegan salad. But the constituents of Dun Laoghaire Rathdown didn’t offset their carbon footprint just to make up the numbers. “Kilmacud battled hard and for fear of spreading the Corona Virus, our lads weren’t overly anxious to make contact with them.” commented that mentor moron Maguire, who loves the sound of his own voice.
With O’Dwyer moving to mid-field, the ever-electric inside forwards always looked like creating something. And, like Pat Kane’s financial advice, that massive gamble paid off when Keogh got on the end of a lovely through ball to raise the 3rd green flag of the day. And that effectively was that.
“It was a workman like performance and the result is a bonus. It was a different 20 lads this week with 7 first year minors in the starting 15. It’s all about blend, balance and exposure” said Maguire as he followed me out of the car park ramming his opinions down my throat. Christ, I couldn’t get away from him quick enough.
Final Score BBSE 3-12 Kilmacud Crokes 0-7
Next up: Bookies favourites Ballinteer in Marley Park on 22nd March.
The team: Eoin Donne, Ronan Long, Alex Gavin, Eoghan Gannon, Hugh O’Sullivan, Harry Donaghy, Cian Leahy, Harry Colclough (0-1), Daniel Lynch, Eoin Behan, Conall McGlynn (1-0), Cian Hassett, David Keogh (1-1), Ryan O’Dwyer (1-2 (1xF)), Luke Byrne (0-7 (2xF)), Kevin Hickey, David Kane (0-1), Joe Maguire, Daragh Kenny, Luke Mulligan Lynch
Sunday 8th March Pairc Ui MhurchuResult BBSE 3-12 Crokes 0-07
Posted by BodenGAA on Monday, March 9, 2020
