Minor A Footballers into Championship Semi’s

Congrats to our Minor A footballers as the secured their place in the Championship Semi-Finals after a 1-15 to 2-08 win over St.Sylvesters in PUM yesterday. Report by Liam Carter and pics by Miriam Doyle below.

Elsewhere our Minor B’s bowed out in the quarter final after a 1-15 to 1-06 defeat to Fingal Ravens. Congratulations to Tony, Cormac, Karl and the whole panel on a great run in both league and championship.

Minor A Football Championship Quarter-Final.

20/10/2019 Vs. St. Sylvesters

Venue: Pairc Úi Murchu.

 Result: Ballyboden St. Endas 1.15  St. Sylvesters 2.08

 The Minor A Football Championship reached the knock-out stage on Sunday morning with the visit of St. Sylvesters to Pairc Úi Murchu for the quarter final. Conditions were perfect for football with the pitch in its usual superb condition. The visitors settled quickly and scored a point with one of their first attacks but Ballyboden then got into their stride with points from Luke Byrne, Malachy Codd and Ryan O’Dwyer before another point from Sylvesters narrowed the gap.

The Boden defence were working extremely hard to limit space with Eoghan Gannon, Jack Lambert and Sean O’Donnell prominent with Jake Turley showing his usual accuracy with his kick outs. At midfield, Robert Cullen and Harry Colclough were winning good possession and a break forward by Robert resulted in a superb finish to the top corner of the net to stretch the lead. This was quickly followed by further points by Luke, Malachy and Conor Cullen before the visitors replied with three points to leave the half time score at 1.6 to 0.5 in favour of Ballyboden.

At the interval, it was clear that the match was going to be closely fought as has been the pattern between the teams over the years.

The home team started brightly in the second half and points from Luke, Ryan, Conor Cullen, and John McGuire stretched the lead. The half back line of Conor Hanrahan, Harry Donaghy and Cian Maher were covering large amounts of the pitch in order to limit the effectiveness of the visiting attack. A goal from Sylvesters was quickly followed by two points to narrow the gap still further with over 10 minutes left. Enda Cashman announced his arrival from the bench with a superbly taken point which was quickly followed by a pointed free from Ryan.

Eoin Behan and Conor Lowe worked tirelessly on their introduction as both teams sought the prize of a semi-final place. Good play from the attack resulted in David Keane calmly slotting the ball over the bar before the visitors were awarded a penalty which was converted despite the valiant effort of Hugh O’Sullivan to keep the ball out. The margin was now down to two points but great passing from the home side resulted in another superbly converted point from Enda. Dean Ralph worked hard on his introduction in the forward line and a converted free from Harry Colclough closed out the scoring to leave the home team victorious on a scoreline of 1.15 to 2.08 as referee, Andrew Cummins, sounded the full time whistle.

Well done to both teams for the spirit in which the match was played.

The result means the team is now through to the semi-final which is due to be played on Sunday 3^rd November.

Thanks to the parents and the large Boden support who gave great encouragement to the team throughout the match with special thanks to the senior players for their support. Good luck to all the Adult teams in the football championship next weekend and congratulations to the Minor A hurlers on reaching the championship final.

We wish our injured squad members a speedy return to fitness. Once again, a special mention to the club members responsible for the maintenance of the pitch which was in superb condition.

Minor A squad: Eoin Behan, Luke Byrne, Enda Cashman, Pearce Christie, Malachy Codd, Harry Colclough, Conor Cullen, Robert Cullen, Harry Donaghy, Joey Donohoe, Patrick Dunleavy, Eoghan Gannon, Conor Hanrahan, David Keane, Adam Kelleher, Jack Lambert, Conor Lowe, Cian Maher, Joe Maguire, John McGuire, Sean O’Donnell, Ryan O’Dwyer, Hugh O’Sullivan, Dean Ralph, Jake Turley.