Result: 3-11 to 2-06
Senior football league v Cuala, 26 July 2017, Shanganagh Park
Ballyboden St Endas 3 – 11; Cuala 2 – 6
After a number of recent defeats which had left us third from the bottom of the league table, it was important to get a win in this game against Cuala who were one place below us. A reasonably strong team was available and so confidence was high that we could push away from the regulation zone.
Cuala had a point from a free within one minute but Sam Molony immediately cancelled this out. Cuala scored from play but this was cancelled out by Ryan Basquel from play. Cuala scored again but Ryan again cancelled out on the 10th minute. Donagh McCabe interrupted the Ryan show with a fine score from play which Cuala cancelled out in what turned out to be their last score of the half. Ryan Basquel popped over three points in five minutes (one free), Collie Dunne added a point from a free before Ryan brought the first half scoring to an end by finishing to the net leaving the half time score at 1 – 8 to 0 – 4.
Cuala were first on the score board again in the second half with a point in the first minute. On 9 minutes James Holland received a pass around midfield and drove forward at speed before finishing to the net with the aid of a slight deflection. Declan O’Mahony popped over a point from play almost immediately. Cuala then showed that they were not to be taken lightly as they pulled a goal back a few minutes later. Eric Monaghan replaced Darragh Shovlin 10 minutes into the second half and immediately popped over a point. A third goal, to give us a bit of breathing space, arrived through Sam Molony following a pin point pass from distance by Collie Dunne. Cathal O’Dea and Finn McGarry replaced Collie Dunne and John Murphy midway through the second half. Howevr, Cuala were not giving up and added a goal and a point with three minutes of normal time still remaining. They also had a number of wides that, had they been converted to scores, might have caused some problems for the visitors as time ran out. Donagh McCabe scored his second point well into added time to make the final score 3 – 11 to 2 – 6.
TEAM: Ronan Cleary; Scott Cullen; Darragh Nelson; Cathal Flaherty; Donagh McCabe; Shane Durkin; John Murphy; James Holland; Declan O’Mahony; Darren O’Reilly; Ryan Basquel; Collie Dunne; Darragh Shovlin; Conor Dooley; Sam Molony. SUBS: Cathal O’Dea; Eric Monaghan; Finn McGarry.