Ballyboden St Enda’s gear up for Minor A Championship Final at O’Toole Park

Ballyboden St Enda’s Minor A team prepares for an A Championship final this coming weekend as they take on Kilmacud Crokes at O’Toole Park on Sunday morning.  

Coming into the final, Boden had to overcome a spirited Ballinteer St Johns side at the semi final stage with the game going to extra time.  

It had originally been a poor first half for Boden though they had managed to go into the break a point ahead at the interval. 

With a slim lead and a reset at halftime the team expected to kick on and see out the victory but a poor third quarter saw Ballinteer regain control of the game.  

The two sides would trade scores for the remainder of the match with regular time being unable to split them.  

It would be Boden who prevailed throughout the extra time minutes however with a goal either side of the interval effectively killing off the contest and securing them a place in the final. 

That final will see them take on a Crokes side who also went to extra time in their semi final game.  

They managed to defeat a highly rated Na Fianna side that many had picked to go and win this year’s Championship.  

Coach Tony Duffy touched on the improvement to his side’s mentality regarding togetherness this year and credits it as a major factor in improving the squad as a whole.  

“We always had a very talented team but we used to defeat ourselves by playing as individuals rather than as a collective group. From January we really went after trying to change their mindset regarding working as a collective.

‘They are maturing and becoming young men.” 

“We even have some Dublin developmental players who have a huge impact on players.

‘If they barked at fellas on the pitch or training, making them understand how that would feel.

‘Their role is to show leadership and support these lads and develop them as best they can as well.

‘That’s what we’ve really chased after, the skillsets were always there but it’s really starting to come together in terms of the group and the team dynamic.”