Kilmacud Crokes claim victory over Ballyboden St Endas in PTSB Dublin Minor A Football Final

PTSB DUBLIN MINOR ‘A’ FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

KILMACUD CROKES 2-9

BALLYBODEN ST ENDA’S 1-10

By Daire Walsh

 A strong final-quarter paid dividends at O’Toole Park on Sunday as Kilmacud Crokes claimed the PTSB Dublin Minor ‘A’ Football Championship title for the sixth time with a final victory over Ballyboden St Enda’s.

Trailing by four points (1-9 to 1-5) with just under 47 minutes on the clock, Crokes appeared to have a battle on their hands in the quest to overcome the stiff challenge of fellow southsiders Ballyboden. Yet the Stillorgan men subsequently fired back with an unanswered haul of 1-4 and this was enough to get them over the line in the end.

The eventual winners had begun the game in devastating fashion as they found themselves four clear with only two minutes gone in the action. After being picked out by the marauding Paul Batten, Cian Manning passed across the goal for corner-forward Tom O’Halloran to palm to the net inside the opening 60 seconds of the contest.

This was the perfect opportunity for Kilmacud to settle into their stride and wing-forward David French immediately followed up with a point at a tight angle to give his side a firm stranglehold on the play.

This early blitz from Crokes came as a shock to the system for Ballyboden, but they got up and running in the fourth minute when a breach from their opponents led to a routine pointed free courtesy of full-forward Cian Cosgrove. The Firhouse Road outfit were then presented with a golden opportunity to level matters when they were awarded a penalty for a foul on Conor O’Keeffe, but the resulting spot kick from Jamie Heavey in the eighth minute rattled the upper end of the post before floating over the bar.

This did at least help them to double their tally and while Crokes’ Connie O’Sullivan split the posts at the far end of the pitch, Ballyboden continued to grow in stature as the play progressed.

Having managed to gain a stranglehold in terms of possession around the middle-third, Boden brought their deficit back down to two with another successful free by Cosgrove.

Ernesto Tennant was leading the team from left half-back and when the ball broke into his path on the stroke of 20 minutes in an advanced position, he displayed plenty of soccer skill to drill the ball home for an impressive goal.

This moved Ballyboden into the ascendancy for the first time and even though they had a number of efforts that dropped short into the arms of goalkeeper Ryan Crowley, Crokes also passed up some good opportunities as the opening period moved along.

However, wing-forward Rory Curry was able to find the range for Ballyboden and this provided them with a slender 1-4 to 1-2 advantage at the interval.

The tie remained delicately poised, but it was Boden who drew first blood on the resumption as O’Keeffe fired over off his right boot. Although it had been all of 24 minutes since Crokes had last troubled the scoreboard, this was finally rectified when Batten kicked a fine score.

Ballyboden were continuing to play with confidence nonetheless and after striking a superb two-point free, inside forward Sean Culleton also registered a single effort to move the eight-time champions into a five-point buffer on 41 minutes.

A spectacular two-pointer from play by centre half-back Andrew Blanker kept Crokes very much in the reckoning, only for the increasingly-prominent Culleton to kick another point on the run.

This left Crokes in a precarious position moving towards the closing quarter, but the game suddenly turned on its head at the beginning of this juncture.

In the wake of O’Sullivan bagging his second point, Crokes were awarded a penalty in the 49th minute. It was French who stepped forward to negotiate this set play and he made no mistake with a low finish to the bottom right-hand corner.

This suddenly meant parity had been restored to this showpiece affair for the first time since the start of the match, but it didn’t stay that way for long.

The captain of the side, midfielder Matthew Farrell pointed in clinical style on 52 minutes to edge Crokes back into the lead. This contribution was supplemented by quickfire scores from Manning and substitute Dan Quigley as Crokes dramatically seized control of the game with the full-time whistle fast approaching.

Having been out in front for a sizable chunk of the proceedings, Ballyboden were now attempting to chase down their counterparts. Much perseverance eventually led to Culleton kicking his fifth point of the day deep into second-half stoppage-time, but this wasn’t enough to deny Kilmacud Crokes a top-tier triumph.

Scorers – Kilmacud Crokes: D French 1-1 (1-0 pen), T Halloran 1-0, A Blanker 0-2 (P2), C O’Sullivan 0-2, P Batten, M Farrell, D Quigley, C Manning 0-1 each. Ballyboden St Enda’s: S Culleton 0-5 (1 F2), C Cosgrove 0-2 (2f), E Tennant 1-0, J Heavey 0-1 (pen), R Curry, C O’Keeffe 0-1 each.

Kilmacud Crokes: R Crowley; L Cooney, S O’Brien, C Hall; P Batten, A Blanker, J Smyth; M Farrell, D Murphy; J Friel, D Crean, D French; C Manning, C O’Sullivan, T O’Halloran. Subs: D Quigley for Crean (35), C Saunders for O’Halloran (54), C Munro for Smyth (58).

Ballyboden St Enda’s: C Leahy; L Kilmurray, B Connell, P Cashin; R Dunne, D Grant, E Tennant; B Doyle, C Doyle; R Curry, J Heavey, D Gannon; S Culleton, C Cosgrove, C O’Keeffe. Subs: D Lehane for O’Keeffe (40), L Byrne for Doyle (47-54).

Referee: Paul Fahey (Lucan Sarsfields).