BBSE 10 18  Clontarf 1 10

The Ballyboden Minor B hurling team played the D championship semi-final against Clontarf in Sancta Maria last Sunday, 16th Oct. Clontarf were an unknow quantity as we had not played them in a number of years so the lads duly gave them fully respect and from the start of the warm-up they were fully focused, knowing if they delivered, a final awaited.

Playing with the wind, Ballyboden got off to an unbelievable start, knocking in 3 goals and 2 points in the first 5 minutes, leaving the opposition shellshocked and the Ballyboden management pinching themselves. The Ballyboden players were first to every ball, won must rucks, their backup for each other was top class and the just wanted it more than the opposition. The rest of the half saw the player rack up a big score with a half time score line of 6 11 to 0-3 and the game was over as a contest. As per the score line, the forward line were on fire, lapping up the quality ball coming in from the half backs and midfield.

There was a number of changes in personnel for the second half with all of 5 switches being made. It didn’t change much in terms of outcome as Boden continued to knock off the points and score goals with the final score coming in at 10-18 to 1-10. From the full back line to the full forward line, they all remained focused on the job and stepped up when asked, full back Kieran Burke being a prime examples – he had little to do but when called on, he snuffed out all danger, gave the simple pass to the free man who then found the next man in the best position to have an attempt for a score.

I won’t go through all the player but special mention to Darragh Kennedy and Ronan O’Breartuin who shot the lights out and Torna MacGearaith,  Conor Butler and Dylan Timbs who controlled the middle and delivered quality ball for the duration of the game.

Next stop is a final against the winners of Cuala and Lucan – so it’s time to park the result and heads down for training  until we line out again. Huge thanks to the U16 B management for providing players all year, we can’t function without them. The players are a credit to their coaches and themselves.

Conor Butler, Dylan Timbs, Torna MacGearailt, Alex Brady, Rian Meaney, Jack Doran, Sean Luz, Rory Malone, Conor Reynolds, Conor Carton, Sean Keogh, Ciaran Sharkey, Sean Langan, Kieran Burke, Miko O’Byrne, Joe Rafer, Stephen O’Connor, Adam O’Gorman, Darragh Kennedy, Ronan O’Breartuin, Adam Edge, Rian Mention