Ballyboden St Enda’s celebrate their Leinster Club Football Championship victory over Athy in Croke Park. Photo by John Kirwan
Ballyboden crowned Leinster Club champions
Ballyboden St Enda’s senior footballers have been crowned champions of Leinster following victory over Athy on Saturday afternoon in Croke Park.
Only a week removed from their semi-final clash with Tullamore, Boden had little rest heading into the final and were tested throughout the first half of the game with the opening few minutes being a cagey affair.
Boden did manage to get themselves into an 0-04 to 0-00 lead early on however through the efforts of Athy, particularly from Kevin Feely the game was equalised on numerous occasions throughout the first two quarters with Athy even finding themselves ahead at one stage.
During the first half Boden actually went through a 14 minute period without scoring.
Boden would stamp their authority on the match by the 26th minute however with Ryan Basquel scoring a goal to give them a slender three-point lead at the interval.
The third quarter would really be when they kicked into another gear and throughout this period of the game they would outscore Athy 1-06 to 0-01, leaving little doubt as to who was going to emerge victorious in the game.
The cherry on top in the third quarter would come from a goal from Patrick Dunleavy, which immediately had followed a two-pointer from Colm Basquel which had Boden with a 14 point lead by the 45th minute.
Athy would fight back bravely however and while they were not able to overturn the deficit completely they did manage to score a goal of their won before the conclusion of the match and reduce the scoreline to a more respectable 2-18 to 1-14. Only losing by seven points in the end.
Manager Eamon O’Reilly was delighted with his sides win but is also aware of improvements that can be made.
“It’s a brilliant club and it’s a huge honour for me personally to lead my club to a Leinster Championship. But that’s because of all the work that goes on in the background right the way through the club. There are so many good people within Ballyboden St Enda’s.
“People talk about super clubs all the time — what makes a super club is super people and we’ve got super people right throughout the club. I think that’s a big thing that gets missed when there’s all these negative connotations around the clubs in Dublin. Clubs in Dublin are massive communities and it means an awful lot to all of us to be part of that community, it gives us identity, and it gives us a place within a huge city.”
“I’d still say there’s room for improvement with our performance. If you look at the first half, I think we were absolutely smashed in the breaks. That was a big thing for us to get on top of in the second half. The boys readjusted at half-time and got on top of that, which was a huge turning point in the game, allowing us that third-quarter drive.”
“We have a very controlled dressing room, we’re not about peeling the paint off the walls. We go through our process at half-time and we work things out. That’s the great thing about having a team with very good game IQ. You’re able to make alterations within a game, without fazing the lads as you’re going along.”
Ballyboden now progress to an All-Ireland semi-final which will be contested in early January.
Their opponents are Kerry side Dingle who defeated St Finbarrs to be crowned Munster champions last weekend.
