‘Self belief’ sees Boden over the line

“I wanted to give everybody a chance in the side to have their voice heard, because they do have a history of winning and they just needed that new voice to get them over the line,” Fortune said.

It was the old-firm that stood up for Boden when Crokes continued to ask questions with Conal Keaney pointing four times, Conor McCormack crucially bagging 1-1 and Paul Ryan clinical from placed balls.

Keaney chalked up all of his points from play and Fortune praised the 36-year-old saying “he’s a special character with an extreme will to win.

“He’s a warrior in those sorts of battles, and I’ve known him a long-time from when I was involved with the Dublin Under 21s and he was with the seniors.

“He’s a leader in Dublin hurling, a huge character in the club and a role model for the younger lads.”

It was Kilmacud who opened the scoring on Sunday with the ever-present Marc Howard pointing after being found by half-back Ryan O’Dwyer.

But the Firhouse side responded almost immed-iately with a goal after Paul Ryan’s direct running took three defenders and goalkeeper Matt Collins out of position, leaving wing-forward McCormack with the simply task of tapping the ball into an open net.

Points from David Curtin, McCormack, and Keaney catapulted Boden into a 1-6 to 0-4 lead while Howard chalked up 0-3 down the other end.

Crokes where awarded a penalty after Howard was taken down, and ultimately substituted, before Gary Maguire denied Oisín O’Rorke from the spot.

Despite having just missed a potentially game-changing penalty for his side, O’Rorke was unflappable and hit 1-3 to hurl Crokes into a 1-9 to 1-7 advantage by the interval.

However, Ryan put his side back on top just after the break when his close-range free snuck under the crossbar to bring his tally to 1-3 for the evening.

Coupled with points from Keaney and centre-forward Paul Doherty, Boden re-established a four-point gap between the sides.

O’Rorke was undeniable for Crokes with the Dublin star keeping his side hot on the heels of the Firhouse Road men at 2-13 to 1-15 heading towards the final whistle.

The introduction of James Roche and Colm Basquel in the forward line brought about a second wind for Boden, with Paul Ryan widening the gap to two points from a free before Basquel leapt onto the scoreboard in additional time.

Next up for Ballyboden is the Leinster quarter-final clash with Westmeath county champions Clonkill on Sunday back in Parnell Park, with the Boden manager recognising the short turnaround between games as a challenge.

He said: “We’ve had two massive weeks against Crokes and now we’re in a situation where there’s a week turnaround to get the bodies to recover and reset ahead of Sunday.

“Clonkill are a seasoned outfit and a few of their players have been playing senior with Westmeath for a few years so there is no illusion here, we’re taking them very seriously.”