Senior football championship v Ballymun in Parnell Park on 9 August 2023
Ballyboden St Endas 1 – 16
Ballymun 1 – 11
Report by Paddy Walsh
This was always going to be a tough start to the championship, and so it proved with Boden coming home winners after a late scoring surge. With plenty of recent All-Ireland medal holders on show, Warren Egan was the first to score with a good point after just two minutes. Ross McGarry added two points in the 7th and 8th minutes. Ballymun got a point back on 11 minutes but Daire Sweeney, Luke O’Donoghue ad Colm Basquel added to the Boden score to put five points between the sides. Ryan Basquel (free) and Ballymun exchanged points but then Ballymun added three points in two minutes from the 22nd to 24th minutes. After Boden showed great patience to break through the Ballymun defence, James Holland got on the end of a defence-splitting pass by Colm Basquel to put three points between the sides again. But back came Ballymun with two more points before halftime to leave the scores 0 – 8 to 0 – 7 in favour of Boden.
Boden again made a good start to the 2nd half with Warren Egan again to the fore with a point after two minutes. Ryan Basquel (free), Colm Basquel, and Warren again, put five points between the sides. However, this didn’t last very long when a number of defensive errors led to a Ballymun goal giving Darragh Gogan no chance. Ballymun quickly added a point to leave the minimum between the sides with just 12 minutes gone. Darragh Gogan (from a 45) and Daire Sweeney (free) restored a three-point lead, but Ballymun were in no mood to surrender. They added the next three points to bring the sides level for the first time with about six minutes of normal time left. The next five minutes were very cagey with both sided missing chances to go ahead. The breakthrough for Boden came in the 29th minute when Michael Darragh Macauley fed Céin D’Arcy and he fired over. The Boden forwards were putting severe pressure on the Ballymun goalkeeper’s kickouts and this paid off from the next kickout when Colm Basquel intercepted a short kickout to a Ballymun defender. Under extreme pressure, Colm retained possession as he made some forward advances and with the help of Ryan O’Dwyer, the ball was scrambled over the line by Ryan (at least I understand that he is claiming it!!). Colm fired over another point as added time was coming to an end and this was the last score in an absorbing match.
Next up is Ballinteer St Johns who were winners over Templeogue Synge Street in the other group match.
TEAM: Darragh Gogan; Shane Clayton; Brian Bobbett; Leo McHugh; Kieran Kennedy; James Holland; Alex Gavin; Céin D’Arcy; Michael McDonald; Luke O’Donoghue; Ross McGarry; Warren Egan; Daire Sweeney; Ryan Basquel; Colm Basquel. SUBS USED: Ryan Baines; Michael Darragh MacAuley; Paddy Dunleavy; Darren O’Reilly; Ryan O’Dwyer; SUBS NOT USED: Jake Turley; Josh Hayes; Evan Nugent; Harry Donaghy; Mikey Dunne; Ciarán O’Reilly.
Photo by Cliona Mellett.