Top Class Boden Stay the Course
Ballyboden St Enda’s 1 14 Lucan Sarsfields 1 13
Our Minor B hurlers travelled to Lucan for a quarter final clash short on match practice having only played one competitive game in the group stages. As a result we didn’t know what to expect – only that it would be the usual hard fought battle out at 12th lock.
On a fine sunny morning in ideal hurling conditions the two teams served up a really entertaining clash for the Covid restricted crowd in attendance. The first quarter of the game was hard fought with Boden heading into the first water break ahead 0-3 to 0-2 thanks to a superb long range point from Evan Welsh right on the break.
Whatever the lads brought in the water bottles did the trick for our lads as we dominated the second quarter. We slowly gained the advantage around the middle of the field with Martin Mulligan-Lynch, Evan Welsh and Sean Bury coming to the fore. Jack Larkin was the star of the show during this period – scoring a superb 1-03 in the space of 5 or 6 minutes, the goal brilliantly set up by Dylan Smyth. Jack’s contribution together with a couple from Charlie Brady either side got us to half time ahead by 6 on a score of 1-08 to 0-05.
The first period of the second half was a tight affair with both sides scoring 3 points each – the pick of ours a superb score from Mark McSharry, one of 3 excellent U16’s we had out. The hardwork from the lads was led from the front with Setanta Sudway and Timmy Cleary putting in huge shifts in this critical phase. Timmy “unluckily” picked up a yellow card during this period. We reached the water break still 6 ahead but starting to feel the pressure from a resurgent Lucan team.
Lucan got the break they needed with a lucky goal right after the break finally beating the dominant Conor Barnes in the Boden goal. Lucan came at us in waves for the rest of the game but our back line stepped up to the challenge with Michael Hanrahan, Tom White outstanding in the corners and Scott McDonald at full back withstanding everything Lucan could throw at them.
With the lead down to 3 every score mattered and in our time of need the excellent Tom Culleton put over 2 monster frees to keep our noses in front. We headed into injury time ahead by 1 and the game still anyone’s. These last few minutes seemed to be one Lucan attack after another followed by one Micheal Manning interception and clearance after another. Eventually one of these found Hugh Kelly – finally in a bit of space, Hugh put his head down and headed for the posts superbly slotting over the insurance point. Lucan had time for one more free to close the gap to a single point just on the final whistle but we had managed to hang on for an excellent 1-14 to 1-13 win.
A hard-fought and entertaining game which will stand the lads in good stead as we head for the semi-final. Thanks as always to the Under 16 mentors and players for their support.
Back Row: Setanta Sudway, Evan Welsh (0-2), Dylan Smyth, Jack Larkin (1-4), Scott O’Sullivan, Mark McSharry (0-1), Sean Bury, Micheal Manning, Evan Ryan, Mikey Connolly
Front Row: Scott McDonald, Martin Mulligan Lynch, Hugh Kelly (0-1), Timmy Cleary, Michael Hanrahan, Conor Barnes, Tom Culleton (0-3), Tom White, Charlie Brady (0-3)
The Minor A team were beaten 2 21 to 3 15 by St. Oliver Plunkett’s ER in their Quarter Final on Sunday morning.