Dublin Senior Football Championship Semi-Final

Ballyboden St Enda’s 2-11 St. Jude’s 1-11

By Jamie Ó Tuama at Páirc Pharnell, Áth Cliath

Ballyboden St Enda’s progressed to their second county final in a row after a hard-earned win against St. Jude’s this evening in Parnell Park.

Anthony Rainbow’s team, who were without the services of Michael Darragh Macauley and Colm Basquel due to injury, started brightly and opened up a five-point lead after ten minutes and lead 1-04 to 0-02. Alan Flood, Ross McGarry, Aran Waters and Ryan Basquel all pointed for the Rathfarnham club and Robbie McDaid found the net after 8 minutes when Warren Egan spotted him unmarked on St Jude’s 20 yard line. He calmly tucked the ball away to the bottom left hand corner of Paul Copeland’s goal. Brian Coakley and Kevin McManamon registered the two scores for St Jude’s.

There was a nice flow to the game and St Jude’s managed to reduce the gap to four points after Niall and Brian Coakley pointed either side of a Ross McGarry free for Ballyboden.

After the water break points from Tom Devlin and Brian Coarkley narrowed the gap to just two points but St Jude’s hard work was undone when Ryan Basquel and Ross McGarry converted a free each deep into time added on. Declan O’Mahony was ordered to the sin bin either side of those scores for Ballyboden.

Scór leathama: Baile Buadáin-Naomh Éanna 1-07 Naomh Jude 0-06

Playing with the wind in the second half St. Jude’s quickly found their rhythm and within seven minutes of the restart they reduced the margin to just 2 points thanks to a point from Kieran Doherty and a converted mark from Niall Coakley. The gap should have been further reduced, however, and Jude’s will rue missed chances in the third quarter. Diarmuid McLaughlin was also unlucky when he hit the upright when bearing down on the Ballyboden goal.

A point apiece from Basquel and McGarry settle the Ballyboden side down however, and restored their lead to four points. In an attempt to change the game Séamus Ryan, Simon King and Pat Spillane were introduced for St Jude’s in the final quarter. They pushed on and yet again reduced the margin to just two with eight minutes left on the clock thanks to fine shooting from Diarmuid McLoughlin and Tom Devlin.

St Jude’s continued to pile on the pressure but were sucker punched in the 55th minute when Simon Lambert lost his marker and collected a nicely weighted pass from Brian Bobbett to find the net for Ballyboden to leave five points between the teams. This was soon to be six when McGarry tapped over for Ballyboden a minute later.

St. Jude’s were not finished however, and the gap became two points yet again following a goal from substitute Simon King and another Niall Coakley point. Tom Hayes finished the scoring a minute later to leave three points between the teams and that is how it would remain.

Ballyboden’s goalkeeper, Darragh Gogan, was sent off after receiving a straight red deep into injury time following an altercation with Kevin McManamon and now looks set to miss the final.

Anthony Rainbow’s side will now await the winners of Kilmacud Crokes and Ballymun Kickhams tomorrow as they look forward to the opportunity to retain their county title in a fortnight’s time.

Scór deiridh: Baile Buadáin-Naomh Éanna 2-11 Naomh Jude 1-11

Scorers for Ballyboden-St. Enda’s: Ross McGarry 0-05 (2f), Ryan Basquel 0-03 (1f), Robbie McDaid 1-00, Simon Lambert 1-00, Tom Hayes 0-01, Alan Flood 0-01, Aran Waters 0-01

Scorers for St. Jude’s: Brian Coakley 0-03, Niall Coakley 0-03 (1f, 1m), Simon King 1-00, Tom Devlin 0-02, Kevin McManamon 0-01, Kieran Doherty 0-01, Diarmuid McLoughlin 0-01

Baile Buadáin-Naomh Éanna: Darragh Gogan, Kieran Kennedy, Shane Clayton, Cathal Flaherty, Brian Bobbett, Robbie McDaid, Darragh Nelson, Aran Waters, Declan O’Mahony, Alan Flood, Warren Egan, Drren O’Reilly, Ross McGarry, Ryan Basquel, Conal Keaney

Subs: James Holland for Aran Waters (21), Simon Lambert for Alan Flood (49), Donogh McCabe for Darren O’Reilly (57), Tom Hayes for Ross McGarry (13), Jake Turley for warren Egan (63)

Naomh Jude: Paul Copeland, Oísín Manning, Jack McGuire, Ciarán Fitzpatrick, Mark Sweeney, Rob Martina, Rian Wallace, Tom Lahiff, Kieran Doherty, Tom Devlin, Chris Guckian, Diarmuid McLoughlin, Niall Coakley, Kevin McManamon, Brian Coakley

Subs: Colm Murphy for Rob Martina (H/T), Séamus Ryan for Rian Wallace (44), Simon King for Kieran Doherty (44), Pat Spillane for Chris Guckian (47), Pádraic Clarke for Brian Coakley (55)

Ref: Barry Tiernan, O’Dwyers