Result: 0-07 to 1-07
Venue: Pairc Úi Murchu.
The Minor A Football Championship campaign continued on Sunday morning with the visit of Whitehall Colmcille to a pristine Pairc Ui Murchu. The rain arrived just in time for the throw in making conditions difficult for both teams. Ballyboden won the toss and elected to play with the breeze towards the Cremorne end. An early free from John McGinn gave the home side the advantage but a Whitehall attack in the 5th minute resulted in a penalty and a harshly awarded black card for Jake Turley, the Ballyboden goalie. Peter Gannon deputised superbly in goal but Whitehall scored from the penalty to give them an early advantage. Both defences were on top in the conditions and 2 John McGinn frees and a Ciaran O’Reilly point were countered by 2 Whitehall points. David Ward scored a good point from play with Whitehall getting the final score of the half to leave the half time score 1.3 to 0.5 in favour of Whitehall.
The second half began with early Ballyboden pressure but the Whitehall defence stood firm to deny the home team any early scores. Whitehall scored 2 good points from play to stretch their advantage with John McGinn replying with a point from a free. Ciaran O’Reilly then scored a point from play to leave a point between the teams but Whitehall’s defence were keeping the chances to a minimum. The scoring was closed out by 2 Whitehall points to give the visitors a 3 point win.
Great credit is due to the effort made by all the Ballyboden players during the game but it was one of those days when the ball just did not run our way. Congratulations to both teams for the spirit in which the match was played. Once again, a special thank you to the club members responsible for the maintenance of Pairc Úi Murchu in its excellent condition. The quality of the pitch was commented on by the visiting mentors. Thanks to the parents and the large Boden support who gave great encouragement to the team throughout the match.
The next championship match is away against St. Sylvesters on Sunday November 4th with the winner qualifying for the championship semi-final. Whitehall, Sylvesters and Ballyboden are now level on points at the top of the group with one match left to determine the semi-finalists.
We wish our injured squad members a speedy return to full fitness.
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.
