Boden finish in a flourish to defeat Jude’s in SFC1 semi-final

Sat, 26th October 2019

DUBLIN SFC1 SEMI-FINAL

BALLYBODEN ST ENDA’S 2-10 ST JUDE’S 1-10

Ballyboden St Enda’s came with a storming finish to progress to next Sunday’s Dublin SFC1 decider following this semi-final victory over St Jude’s in Parnell Park on Saturday.

Jude’s, having played with the wind advantage, had a six-point lead at half-time but Boden improved massively in the second period to run out winners by a goal.

St Jude’s could only muster two points in the second half as Boden took control and with Colm Basquel finding his form the Firhouse Road men dominated the conclusion of the second half.

Points form Declan O’Mahony, Darren O’Reilly, and two Colm Basquel frees made it 1-9 to 1-7, Jude’s leading, with 15 minutes to play.

Despite Niall Coakley stalling their scoring sequence with a free Colm Basquel hit 1-2 before the finish, with his older brother Ryan kicking the other to drive Anthony Rainbow’s men to victory.

The goal arrived in the 55^th minute when Jude’s lost possession and slick interplay between Michael Darragh Macauley and Colm Basquel concluded with the Boden forward finding the roof of the net.

He followed this up with a beauty of a point off his left before Ryan finished the job off in similar style to how they had comeback from in arrears in their quarter-final against Na Fianna (which went to extra-time).

St Jude’s dictated the terms and conditions of the opening half and held a 1-8 to 1-2 half-time lead.

Their work-rate and game-plan was impressive with angled ball into the right corner-forward position early on putting Boden on the back foot.

Chris Guckian’s link play and driving runs from deep were another source of joy for Jude’s as he rifled a third minute goal to Darragh Gogan’s net to give his side a 1-1 to 0-0 after Kevin McManamon had opened his side’s account with a fine point after just 14 seconds.

Ross McGarry got St Enda’s up and running with a well struck shot in the sixth minute before Niall Coakley pushed Jude’s lead out to four points again.

Boden’s Darren O’Reilly had a sighting of goal but his attempt was well blocked out for a ‘45’ by Ciarán Fitzpatrick which keeper Gogan failed to convert.

However, in the ninth minute O’Reilly made no mistake with a clinical finish to the Jude’s net past Paul Copeland following a quick-thinking free from Ryan Basquel.

From then though till the interval Jude’s held the upperhand and their defending in numbers down the centre and pressure on the ball-carriers saw Boden cough up possession on a few occasions.

Points from Tom Devlin and Pádraic Clarke (free) made it 1-14 to 1-1 before Boden’s Ross McGarry pulled a shot well wide from close range.

Jude’s concluded the half with four unanswered points – McManamon converted a free from 50 metres following a foul on Guckian, Tom Devlin made it 1-6 to 1-2 before Devlin added another (his third) and Coakley extended their lead to six points after they successfully pressurised Boden’s kickout.

It was to be 'a game to two halves'.

SCORERS – Ballyboden St Enda’s: C Basquel 1-4 (0-3f), D O’Reilly 1-1, R Basquel 0-2 (0-1f), D O’Mahony, D Gogan (0-1 '45'), R McGarry 0-1. St Jude’s: T Devlin, N Coakley (0-1f), K McManamon (0-1f) 0-3 each, C Guckian 1-0, P Clarke (0-1f) 0-1 each.

BALLYBODEN ST ENDA’S: D Gogan; B Dwan, C Flaherty, S Clayton; D Nelson, D McCabe, R McDaid; MD Macauley, D O’Mahony; D O’Reilly, C Basquel, A Waters; R McGarry, R Basquel, W Egan. Subs: AFlood for McCabe (ht), T Hayes for McGarry (44), B Bobbett for O’Mahony (54), J Holland for Egan (63), S Gibbons for Nelson (65).

ST JUDE’S: P Copeland; O Manning, J McGuire, C Fitzpatrick; T Lahiff, R Martina, C Guckian; M Sweeney, S Ryan; T Devlin, D McLoughlin, K Doherty; N Coakley, K McManamon, P Clarke. Subs: R Joyce for Ryan (47), D Donnelly for McLoughlin (54), D Sheehy for Devlin (58).

REF: D Sweeney (St Oliver Plunkett’s/Eoghan Ruadh).