This trip to Mobhi Road was never going to be easy in view of the aftermath of our championship match against the same opposition last year, and so it proved. Na Fianna scored first after two minutes but Ross McGarry quickly pointed to equalise. Both defences were on top with scores hard to come by. Darragh Gogan made a great save to deny the home side and Ross McGarry had a good opportunity at the other end shortly thereafter but his shot was well saved. We had to wait until the 10th minutes for the next score which was a goal for the visitors. Collie Basquel carried the ball through the home defence, laid it off to Warren Egan who passed to Darren O’Reilly who palmed it into the net. The lead did not last long and Na Fianna scored a goal when the Boden defence failed to deal adequately with a high ball and, when it broke loose, a Na Fianna forward lashed it to the net. However, Darren O’Reilly repeated his earlier goal when Warren Egan again found him lurking near the goal and he again palmed the ball to the net. This was no more than was deserved as the ball should have been finished to the net twice in the short period before that. Ross McGarry with three points and Darren O’Reilly with one brought the visitor’s score to 2 – 5 for the first half. The second of Ross’s points was made by Darrgh Gogan who soloed, unchallenged, along the right-hand line into the Na Fianna half before finding Ross with a good pass and Ross did the rest. Na Fianna got a point back before the half time whistle to bring their score to 1 – 2.
Na Fianna scored first in the second half but Collie Basquel cancelled it our with a point from a free after Warren Egan was fouled, to restore the lead to six points. Over the next 20 minutes Na Fianna scored 7 points without reply to go one point ahead with 25 minutes gone. Our cause was not helped when Aran Waters had to be replaced early in the second half. In this period, Darragh Gogan made a marvellous save to deny Na Fianna a certain goal. With five minutes remaining, Boden again found their rhythm and kept Na Fianna scoreless for the remainder of the match. Collie Basquel scored from a free before Warren Egan and Alan Flood made the two points safe.
Next up, championship against Clontarf on Saturday 13 April at 3.15 pm in O’Toole Park.
TEAM: Darragh Gogan; Bob Dwan; Cathal Flaherty; Brian Bobbett; Kieran Kennedy; James Holland; Darragh Nelson; Aran Waters; Declan O’Mahony; Darren O’Reilly; Collie Basquel; Donagh McCabe; Warren Egan; Sean Gibbons; Ross McGarry. SUBS USED: Tom Hayes; Alan Flood; Tom Hanafin; Kieran O’Reilly. NOT USED: Cian Murray; Luke O’Donoghue.