The Minor A Football Championship campaign continued on Sunday morning with a trip to Dalkey to take on Cuala. Conditions were bright and sunny with a breeze blowing towards the Hyde Road end. Ballyboden won the toss and elected to play with the breeze. Early points from two John McGinn frees were cancelled out by two pointed frees for Cuala with both defences determined not to allow any clear chances. John McGinn then scored a good point from play before Cuala were awarded a penalty which was well taken to put them two points ahead. Ballyboden were now beginning to settle into the match and a very good forward move finished with Cuala being forced to concede a penalty which was well converted by Cian Maher. Mark Walsh and Conor Lowe were doing very well in midfield with Conor and Pearce Christie making surging runs into the heart of the Cuala defence. Points from John McGinn and Malachy Codd were followed by two Cuala points from play with good quality football being played by both sides. A flowing move then resulted in Ciaran O’Reilly finishing superbly to the net. Jake Turley in goal made a superb save to deny Cuala and Luke McDwyer and Ciaran O’Reilly added further points with Cuala also scoring two points before the break leaving the half time score 2.7 to 1.6 in favour of Ballyboden.
Cuala had the breeze and hill advantage in the second half but the entire Ballyboden team worked extremely hard to limit any clear cut chances. John McGinn continued to punish the Cuala defence scoring four points from frees from both the hand and placed balls. A great forward move resulted in Luke McDwyer being fouled and the penalty was superbly scored again by Cian Maher. Cuala were finding it very difficult to get any clear cut chances with the entire Ballyboden defence marking very tightly as Kevin Desmond, Cillian Kirwan and Sean O’Donnell worked very well together in the full back line. Enda Cashman and Conor Hanrahan continued to surge forward at every chance. Jake Turley again made a very good save to deny Cuala with the ball looking destined for the top corner of the net. Peter Gannon and Dean Ralph worked very hard when coming on in the second half. Further points from Malachy Codd and Ciaran O’Reilly stretched the lead before Cuala replied with a goal. The Ballyboden team continued the great work rate up to the final whistle to finish winners by seven points. Great credit is due to both teams for the spirit in which the match was played.
The next championship match is at home against Ballymun on Sunday October 7th.
Thanks to the parents and the Boden supporters who travelled to Dalkey and gave great encouragement to the team throughout the match.
More great photos by John Kirwan here
Minor A Squad: Enda Cashman, Pearce Christie, Malachy Codd, Jacques Dalton, Kevin Desmond, Joey Donohue, Patrick Dunleavy, Peter Gannon, Conor Hanrahan, Jack Kenny, Cillian Kirwan, Conor Lowe, Ruairi MacMathuna, Cian Maher, Luke McDwyer, John McGinn, John McGuire, Sean O’Donnell, Ciaran O’Reilly, Dean Ralph, Jake Turley, Cillian Wall, Mark Walsh, David Ward.