Ballyboden St Endas 2 11  Kilmacud Crokes 3 16

Long Fella Reports from Silverpark

A personal scoring contribution of 10 points by Crokes wing-half Alex Hatt was a significant statistic from the final round-robin game in the senior B hurling championship. Another telling number from the game was their wide total of eight from the opening half played on a well-used surface, Silver Park. With the freshening wind on their side they laid siege on the Boden posts creating twenty scoring chances, whereas at the other end Boden were largely dependent on Fergal Ryan from placed balls and no dearth of luck. Close to the end of the half and Crokes eight points to the good, they “allowed” their visitors a modicum of hope by conceding a brace of goals in the space of a brace of minutes. The first was a looping shot from Conor Robinson that” got held” up in the wind and somehow was dropped into the net by the Crokes goal-man. The second was of similar nature, except that the ball “was allowed” to land between two Crokes defenders, allowing Boden’s Finn McDonagh to blast the ball past the unprotected custodian.

The Crokes “pogrom” started early with speedy forwards Sean Kinsella and Sean Purcell very much to the fore and if not getting a shot away, they created enough panic in the Boden rear-guard that fouls were committed and brought Hatt into the limelight. In total he notched  seven first-half points. Add to that, the Seans contributed a superb goal after a sweeping move down the “parking” wing, as well as three points. Boden’s Mattie Weldon angled a superb point from out on the race-course white-wash (a Mal Codd diagonal pass), and Ryan popped one over after Jack Lambert found him with a fine assist. Ryan did well from the frees and added three to bring the half-time score to 2-05 to 1-10.

The second half opened with Ryan and Hatt exchanging scored frees, followed by a period of stalemate that McDonagh broke with a quality point. Plenty of ball was getting into the Crokes defensive area, but the passes were not sticking, and defenders capitalised as well as sending telling balls into the attack. The assembled support, returning from a successful excursion to Parnell Park became vocal, particularly when Purcell goaled. Hatt kept his high-percentage scoring number with a series of points, replied to by Ryan in fine form. John O’Driscoll added a point from the wing to reduce the deficit. The final ten minutes were dominated by Boden peppering the Crokes inner sanctum with dropping and driven balls in the hope of a goal, but not alone did Crokes defence stand up, but in a rare attack they were awarded a penalty. In a case of goal-man on goal-man, Boden’s Conor O’Donoghue got the hurley to the sliotar, but the force of the shot was too much to deflect away.

So, after this visit to our friends in high places, Boden have a quarter-final to look forward to, in the knowledge that Faughs have topped the group and are likely favourites for the title. As for the Boden performance in this game, Lambert did well, as did Naoise Maguire. Ryan had a good day on the frees, but the general mood was low when considering the way that Crokes went about their business.

Conor O’Donoghue, Barry Maguire, Naoise Maguire, Keith McCarron, Adam Jermyn, Conor Robinson, Jack Lambert, Mattie Weldon, Mal Codd, Cillian Kirwan, Fergal Ryan, Darragh Kenny, Finnian McDonagh, John O’Driscoll, Adam Kelleher, mark Lambert, Cian Mellett, Kenny Wigglesworth Fionn Maguire.