Ballyboden’s Darragh Kenny gathers possession. Photo by John Kirwan
Boden dig deep after extra time to book last four spot
BALLYBODEN St Enda’s have booked themselves a place in the Go Ahead Dublin Senior 1 Hurling Championship semi-finals after a thrilling encounter against St Vincents in Parnell Park last Saturday afternoon with the game going to extra time and finishing with a scoreline of 1-31 to 2-27.
Boden were the first team to open the scoring with Niall Ryan bagging the first score of the game in the third minute. Darragh Kenny would manage a brace of frees to bring them two points clear by the 11th minute after Thomas Connolly had initially levelled the scoreline for Vincents.
Kenny would fire home again just minutes later and finished an impressive solo run with a somewhat scruffy finish past Vincent’s keeper Dara Perry to notch the first goal of the game.
The two sides would exchange scores for the remainder of the first half. Stephen Williams, Stephen O’Conor, Harry Curely, John Hetherton and Brian Moorhouse-Carroll would all contribute to the St Vincents scoreline while Niall Ryan and Darragh Kenny continued to play a huge role in Boden’s attack along with the likes of David Keogh and David Gleeson picking up scores.
The goal from Kenny would prove to be the decisive strike of the half with very little else separating the two sides as Boden went into the break four points clear, benefitting from a 1-13 to 0-12 scoreline.
The two sides continued to be evenly matched throughout the opening of the second half with Hetherton scoring frees along with Harry Curley continuing to score for Vincents while Niall McMorrow and Fionn Murphy continued to add to the Boden tally.
The game was dealt a blow as both teams were reduced to fourteen men towards the end of the third quarter as Boden’s Conor Dooley and Mark Sweeney from Vincent’s were shown red cards for an incident off the ball.
The dismissal seemed to favour Vincent’s more than Boden and the side from Marino would score a goal shortly after with Darach McBride netting in the 47th minute, McBride would play a vital role in the second half and pushed his side into the lead in the 59th minute with an excellent score.
The game had been turned on its head with Boden now chasing the lead, while the team continued to trade points throughout the match, Boden temporarily regained the lead following a point from Darragh Kenny just before the final whistle however a score from Conor Burke ensured that the game would head to extra time after regular time finished with a stalemate of 1-24 a piece.
Boden adapted well to the extra time however and established a significant lead thanks to scores from Niall McMorrow as well as a trio of Darragh Kenny points which would ultimately win them the game.
This was in spite of a late goal from Conor Burke which failed to rally St Vincents who were ultimately defeated.
Boden manager Stephen Hines spoke of the game afterwards and the impact of extra time.
“A massive two weeks ahead. I think there’s a lot of recovery needed after that game.
That was 80 intense minutes and it didn’t let up for the whole thing so firstly massive recovery was needed. We’ll regroup later in the week and give the lads a chance to recover properly and we’ll just prep again.”
“It was a great game. Both teams had opportunities to take advantage of that could have separated us a little bit, but it was a great game.”
