The Under 15 B team made their championship bow in impressive fashion away to a game St Patricks Palmerstown side on Sunday in Glenaulin Park. St Pats currently reside in a lower division but are unbeaten at home this year so this was not expected to be easy. The pitch was in great shape, firm under foot and with a good covering of grass so there were to be no excuses. Boden had the benefit of a stiff breeze running down the pitch and worryingly St Pats started sharper and owned the ball for the first couple of minutes. However, due to teak tough defending, marshalled by Jack Hutchinson at full back and Andrew McGough at centre back with great support from the flying wings Stephen Pullan, Dylan French, Jarrod Murray and Aodhán O’Reilly, their early dominance yielded no score.
Pushed on by the midfield duo of Sean O’Shea and Niall Reddy, Boden started to get into the game. A point followed quickly by a goal settled the team and they started to motor like this team can. With the half forward line of Ollie Brophy, Shane Flood and Kealan Smith winning their battles, they turned up the heat by both scoring themselves and providing to the sharp full forward line of Darragh Brooks, Myles O’Sullivan and Scott Cramer Walsh. Quickly Boden pulled away.
Going with the coaching maxim of finishing with a stronger team and to refocus our efforts into the wind, a number of changes were made at half time and shortly afterwards. There was no let up for St Pats as the scores continued to mount. Brendan Creegan, returning from a back injury, Stephen Ormsby, Mark McSharry and Ryan Doyle all played like men possessed and looked extremely dangerous whenever they got the ball and, between them, racked up a lot of scores. Seán Wall and Michael McShane took over in defence, gave nothing to the opposition and both made trips forward that produced scores.
Through all this effort, Boden eventually ran out easy winners. While it should be noted that only 3 points were given up to the opposition in an hour of football, a special mention has to go to the keeper, Sam Doyle. When called into play he dealt with everything that was thrown at him and his kick outs invariably hit their man. They were the launch pad for a large number of Boden attacks.
This is not a team of 15 but a team of 21. Everyone wants and gives their heart to the cause with no individual bigger than the team. There will be harder challenges ahead but the collective will in this team is a match for anyone.
The boys finished off the perfect day with a goody bag provided by Audrey. Special thanks to all who came out, it was great to have such support on the sidelines and we look forward to the next round (Quarter Final) against Na Fianna B on Sunday 28th April.