Match of the Week: Boden delight at winning U21 Hurling C’ship
BALLYBODEN St Enda’s were crowned Dublin U21 ‘A’ Hurling Championship winners with a superb 1-25 to 1-23 extra-time victory over Raheny at O’Toole Park on Saturday afternoon, December 3.
In arrears for the vast majority of the additional periods, Boden gave themselves a lifeline with a dramatic goal deep into second half stoppage-time.
Raheny continued to provide a stubborn challenge right up until the final whistle, but the Firhouse Road outfit held firm to claim the silverware on offer.
Positioned at centre half-forward, Boden dead-ball specialist Fergal Ryan ended the contest with a remarkable 0-16 to his name.
Malachy Codd and Jack Lambert also stood out and while Liam Dunne contributed 15 points for Raheny, Boden had enough in the tank to come out on top.
The Ballyboden squad contained a number of players who featured for the club in their U21 ‘A’ Football Championship defeat to Ballinteer St John’s on the previous weekend at the same venue.
They were eager to come away with top honours on this occasion and kept themselves in touch during the early exchanges courtesy of three points from Ryan and one by Codd.
Yet Raheny created some daylight through Thomas Hurley’s 22nd minute goal, following some hesitancy in the opposition defence.
Although Leon Kennedy, Codd and Ryan found the target as the half wore on, Dunne (two) and Jamie Herbert did likewise for Raheny to leave Boden three points adrift (1-7 to 0-7) at the interval.
The cup was still very much up for grabs on the restart, however, and Boden were taking the game to Raheny at every available opportunity.
In addition to Ryan’s excellence, wing-back Lambert popped up with a brace of superb points out on the left-wing. Raheny were heavily reliant on Dunne for scores – he hit their opening seven points of the second half – and Boden cut their deficit to the bare minimum on 58 minutes when Ryan split the uprights from open play.
Their northside rivals had one hand on the trophy when Daniel Broderick, Dunne and Hurley hit three points without a reply, before another Ryan free kept Boden in the hunt.
He subsequently had a shot turned away in the 65th-minute, but Codd was on hand to divert home the rebound.
This ensured that an additional 20 minutes were needed to determine the outcome of this compelling showpiece encounter.
It was difficult to predict how the game was going to unfold from here, though there was a sense Boden would have strong momentum behind them.
Ryan converted a brace of ‘65’s in the first half of extra-time, but Tom Geary and Adam McAweeney points for Raheny left the sides inseparable on the stroke of 70 minutes.
A penalty shootout was beginning to loom large and even though Ryan, Ryan O’Dwyer and John Maguire pointed to stretch Boden three clear, Raheny restored parity with two minutes of extra-time remaining.
Ryan McGuirk also added to the latter’s tally, but Pearse Christie and Ryan (two) raised white flags to ultimately swing the tie in Ballyboden’s favour.
