Senior A Fall to Cuala in AHL 1 Final

Cuala Capture Ballyboden’s league title at Summery O’Toole Park – The Long Fella Reports – Photos by Clíona

Ballyboden St. Endas  0 18  Cuala 3 17

“Tipp would still have won”…. explained the man behind the sunglasses… “regardless of the Hogan red card”. He’d come in from Stillorgan to “check out the temperature of the favourites” for the Dublin Senior Hurling title. “Cuala are on the shortest odds” says he. “Let’s see how the ‘mocks’ go in advance of the exam down the track?”.

He kept the floor with “got drownded we did last Sunday in Croker….one hundred and eighty euro for an involuntary showering, and we spent the remainder of the time upstairs drying out and keeping an eye on the non-contest…..maybe Brennan is right….too dear for neutrals like meself and me daughter”.

Cuala had come to Crumlin on Saturday afternoon intent on de-throning dual 2018 champions Ballyboden of a title that they had held for two years. The game centered on the performance of the bigger names on the team-sheet, and on that score Cuala came on well on top. In the engine room they partnered Dubs stars Daragh O’Connell and Jake Malone. At centre-back Paul Schutte deputised for the absent Sean Moran, and protecting the inner sanctum they placed John Sheanon in the spot normally reserved for Cian O’Callaghan. However, the star man was arguably their net-minder Sean Brennan. He was equal to about six goal-bound shots from the Boden forward-line, resulting in a well-earned clean sheet. Up front Colm Cronin looked very sharp and moved elusively into the open spaces.

On the scoring Cuala bagged three goals, two of which came in the opening thirty minutes and were of the highest quality. Cronin took a leaf from Tipperary in the manner of his low daisy-cutter of a shot from some distance. This score equalled Boden’s opening scores from Paul Ryan and a beauty from Niall Ryan after Conor McKeown set him up. Cuala kicked on with Cronin pointing after Liam Murphy found him in space. The scoring over the next fifteen minutes was all points with the sweetest of them coming from Boden’s James Madden and Conor Dooley. Cuala replied with equal quality and Cronin and David Treacy showed why their side must be respected as the team to beat in the autumn. Boden’s Aiden Mellett looked sharp and pointed after Luke Corcoran found him with a long ball. Cuala’s second goal later in the half also had a Tipperary touch to it. O’Connell raced through the Boden defence after accepting the sweetest pass in a parallel line to the goal-line from tight on the spectator side. His direct run ended with a rasper of a shot that Gary Maguire could not reach, albeit that O’Connell almost matched Tipp’s O’Meara with a generous step-count. Half-time had the score at 13 points to 2.09.

Boden dominated possession for the second half, but try as they did they never levelled with the Dalkey men. A tally of five points over the thirty was never going to be enough to match Cuala. Paul Doherty and Stephen O’Connor pointed two quality scores, but again it was the goal-threat from Cuala that undid their efforts. Boden tried several low shots but the Cuala line remained unbreached. At the other end a defensive mix-up led to a poached goal for Cuala and a lead that would be enough to see them home. Boden’s James Roche pointed a trade-mark score after he worked hard to create his own bit of space. Cuala’s big players kept to the script and looked comfortable in the heart of the defence. The last four scores were all for Cuala and they finished ‘full-value’ for their win.

Boden squad: Gary Maguire, James Madden, Luke Corcoran, Shane Durkin, David O’Connor, Stephen O’Connor, Conor McKeon, Sean McDonnell, Niall Ryan, Conal Keaney, Paul Doherty, Paul Ryan, Conor Dooley, Aiden Mellett, David Curtin, James Roche, Finn McGarry, Finn McDonagh, Kevin Desmond…..also Eoin Small, Peter Buckeridge, Shane Kennedy, Mark Lambert, Rob Leddy, Ken Wigglesworth, Luke McDwyer, Cian Mellett, Niall McMorrow, Simon Lambert, Conor O’Donoghue