LEINSTER SFC QUARTER FINALS/Ballyboden St Enda's 1-10 Rathnew 1-7:PARNELL PARK was bathed in November sunshine yesterday as before an exclusive audience of around 1,500 Dublin champions Ballyboden St Enda's moved into the semi-finals of the AIB Leinster football championship.
As expected they found it hard to shake off the challenge of Rathnew who snapped at their heels all the way through an ugly, if at times gripping, match. The Wicklow side appeared to lose their heads at the very end when, despite trailing by just a single score, they got involved in a fracas rather than tapping over a free to bring the margin down to two.
Referee Maurice Deegan cancelled the free and threw up the ball but still the shenanigans persisted and he ended up red carding Rathnew’s James Stafford and his marker Declan O’Mahony in what is likely to be a costly act of indiscipline by the Ballyboden captain, who will now probably miss the semi-final in a fortnight against Westmeath’s Garrycastle.
Things could have been a lot worse for the south Dublin club, as they had to overcome a three-point deficit twice during the second half but the manner in which they pulled the match out of the fire in the closing minutes was most impressive.
Having clawed themselves back into contention with 12 minutes to go and levelled at 0-7 each, Boden looked on in horror as within 60 seconds Leighton Glynn’s shot, apparently for a point, ended up looping over everyone into the corner of the net to restore the Wicklow side’s three-point lead – a more than daunting margin in such a low-scoring match.
But the game featured lengthy spells of scoring doldrums which were intercut by rapid-fire scoring sequences. And after the goal Ballyboden roared back with two points in a couple of minutes, the first a free from Conal Keaney and the second a fine effort from out on the right by Kenny Naughton.
With the outcome on the line and just four minutes to go Boden manager Liam O’Dwyer sent in Dara Shovlin to substitute Daniel Davey and within about 20 seconds of his arrival Shovlin had been slipped through the Rathnew cover by Keaney to cooly fire past Peter Dignam to the net.
Only a minute later and another sub, Paul Galvin, had fired over the final score to cap a six-point turnaround in eight minutes.
At times Ballyboden moved the ball well and a number of their scores were well constructed but they struggled to get to grips with practised opponents (seven of whom had played in the successful Leinster final of eight years ago) who led by 0-4 to 0-3 at half-time.
Their tight-marking defence restricted Ballyboden to just one score from play in the entire first half. At centrefield Stafford and Stephen Kavanagh played well and came out on top of the tussle for loose possession.
“We have been working hard on breaking ball, but Rathnew really proved themselves in that area,” said O’Dwyer. “They won a lot of ball and they were very quick in on it to break up our play. We’re just delighted to come away with a three-point win.”
In attack Rathnew channelled a lot of their moves through Glynn, who had come close to an All Star last month. His ability to win ball and protect possession before doing the right thing – apart from one horribly sliced free – became such a thorn in Boden’s side that Darragh Nelson was switched from wing back to pick up the Ireland international.
Glynn nearly had a goal in the 16th minute but having robbed goalkeeper Daire Walsh he saw his shot saved for a 45 that ended in a score for Nicholas Mernagh when the ball broke in the square. Otherwise Rathnew depended on Tommy Gill for scores and his flawless return from frees kept the scoreboard ticking over.
Ballyboden used the ball less economically and the one-point interval lead was deserved. The margin trebled in the third quarter, as Gill kicked further frees and Walsh endured more jittery moments as he again lost possession on the way out, which ended in the third of those frees.
Ballyboden’s first hot streak came with three points between the 47th and 49th minutes, the equaliser a fine move instigated by Nelson and continued by Lambert, who set up Keaney for the point.
O’Dwyer was concerned about O’Mahony’s likely suspension but confident that there would be no other absentees, as his team attempts to emulate their two Dublin predecessors Kilmacud and St Vincent’s, who won both Leinster and All-Ireland titles, as well as contest the provincial hurling championship against Ballyhale Shamrocks next weekend.
“Kenny Naughton has a dislocated shoulder but we’re hopeful after a few weeks rest he’ll be able to start the next day,” he said.
“The ground is going to take its toll now . . . Fellas are going to start pulling muscles and getting injuries, but they’ve always said that they’d love to be playing games rather than training so that’s what they’ve got for the next few weeks.”
BALLYBODEN: D Walsh; C Dolan, I Clarke, M O’Sullivan; D Nelson, J O’Hara, S Durkin; M MacAuley, D O’Mahony (0-1); C Smyth, D Davey, S Lambert (0-1); C Keaney (0-5, three frees), K Naughton (0-1), A Kerin (0-1, free). Subs: D Kiernan for Dolan (44 mins), P Galvin (0-1) for Kerin (46 mins), D Shovlin (1-0) for Davey (56), C Hiney for Naughton (58 mins).
RATHNEW: P Dignam; A Clarke, D Power, S Byrne; C Healy, S Canavan, B Mernagh; J Stafford, S Kavanagh; R Dignam, N Mernagh (0-1), E Doyle; T Gill (0-5, frees), M Doyle, L Glynn (1-1). Subs: M Byrne for E Doyle (40 mins), P Ronan for Healy (52 mins), D Franey for M Doyle (54 mins).
Referee: M Deegan (Laois).
