The Ballyboden St Enda’s players line-up before the Leinster Championship quarter-final match earlier this month. Photo by John Kirwan
Crunch test for Boden
BALLYBODEN St Endas gear up for a Leinster semi-final this weekend in the provincial senior football championship as they take on Tullamore at Glensik O’Connor Park this Saturday at 1:30pm.
Boden reached the semi final following a decisive win over Castletown Liam Mellowes where they managed an impressive nine point victory coming out on top 2-16 to 0-13 thanks to goals from Colm Basquel and Alex Gavin.
They will have a difficult task on their hands of course. A provincial semi final is nothing to take lightly and Tullamore have shown their ability winning three county championships over the last three years.
The midlands side have dangerous players at their disposal with Harry Plunkett being one such example. Plunkett scored eight points in the county final as Tullamore came from behind on multiple occasions to get themselves past Ferbane.
The provincial quarter final saw them travel to Mullingar where they took on Westmeath Champions The Downs.
The game would see Tullamore get themselves in front relatively handily through the opening 2/3s of the match and the side seemed to be on track for an easy victory with a scoreline of 3-12 to 2-4 with just nine minutes left to play in the tie.
A collapse in the final ten minutes of the match however would see them almost throw away their lead, conceding two further goals and only winning the game by a two point margin.
Again, Harry Plunkett appeared as a pivotal player for the side scoring 1-5 for the team along with Diarmuid & Cormac Egan and John Furlong who picked up a man of the match award on the day for his performance.
Tullamore’s performances reveal that while there is a significant attacking threat poised, they can be exploited defensively.
Boden will hope to take advantage of any defensive weakness with players such as Daire Sweeney, Ryan O’Dwyer and the Basquel brothers to name just a few.
