?Adult Hurling League Div 1: Round-up

By Daire Walsh 

Ballyboden St Enda’s continue to lead the way at the top of the Adult Hurling League Division One table, after they dug deep to claim a 3-13 to 1-14 win over St Jude’s at Tymon North on Wednesday night.

Courtesy of a superb Paul Doherty goal on the stroke of 50 minutes, ‘Boden finally saw off the challenge posed by southside rivals St Jude’s. With just two games remaining in the regular season of the top-flight, Joe Fortune’s men remain unbeaten.

The only points they have dropped to date were against Cuala at Bray Emmet’s on May 13, but five consecutive wins has helped to underline the credentials of the defending champions. A facile victory against Crumlin aside, ‘Boden were made to work for the majority of their recent league successes.

In contrast to the sunny weather that greeted the lower-tier championship games 24 hours earlier, this encounter was played in damp conditions throughout. A number of Dublin senior stars returned to club duty in the past few days and Danny Sutcliffe was a welcome addition to the Jude’s attack.

It has been a difficult campaign to the date for the Wellington Lane outfit but with Sutcliffe combining effectively with Diarmuid McLoughlin, they enjoyed a bright start to the contest. ‘Boden inevitably fired back through Luke McDwyer and Kevin Desmond, before the latter was released by the versatile Conor Dooley for an outstanding three-pointer.

Simon Lambert’s successful long-distance free created further daylight between the teams and Aidan Mellett also worked his way onto the scoresheet. As ever, the dead-ball accuracy of Dooley and Fionn O Riain Broin (Jude’s) proved pivotal for their respective sides.

They both rattled the net in the closing stages of the opening period - which ended with Ballyboden leading on a scoreline of 2-5 to 1-6. Dooley’s influence on the game increased after the resumption as the visitors sought to create further daylight over their challengers.

Sutcliffe and Ciaran Mangan ensured Jude’s were still in the reckoning and while Dooley enhanced his already impressive personal haul, the hosts built momentum heading into the final-quarter. After briefly finding themselves in the lead, Jude’s replied to a mini ‘Boden surge with an O Riain Broin ’65’.

It was this point that the divisional pace-setters pushed into overdrive, however. Following McDwyer's approach work, Doherty raised a third green flag for his side with a magnificent strike. This major was preceded by a James Roche single and Doherty contributed a point of his own to guide Ballyboden towards an eighth league triumph of 2019.

As has been the case for much of the season, Cuala are the ones who continue to keep up the chase on ‘Boden. They recently fell to their first defeat of the season against Kilmacud Crokes at Shankill, but responded with a gutsy 3-20 to 2-21 success over Whitehall Colmcille at Collins Avenue on Wednesday.

Willie Maher’s charges are currently four points adrift of ‘Boden - albeit with a game in hand. Crokes will have an opportunity to move into second (on score difference) when they welcome Na Fianna to Glenalbyn this evening.

Meanwhile, St Brigid’s moved up to seventh thanks to a 1-13 to 0-13 win at the expense of Ballinteer St John’s at Marlay Park on Thursday. The returning Alan Nolan dictated much of the Brigid’s play with his shrewd puck-outs, while Mark Kavanagh, Eoin McKeague and Cathal Doyle were excellent in defence over the course of the hour.

Paul Winters and Johnny McGuirk Jr dovetailed to excellent effect in midfield, providing a strong platform for their attack in the process. In addition to reliable figures like McGuirk (0-3), Donnacha Ryan and Winters (0-2 each), Dublin U20 James O’Connell was also in fine scoring form.

He came away with a final haul of 1-2, his goal proving to be the difference between the sides in the end. Former county star Daire Plunkett also grabbed a point in a typically busy showing and although Brigid’s clocked up a number of wides late on, they had done enough to leap-frog the hosts in the league standings.

Also on Wednesday evening, St Vincent's edged past Lucan Sarsfields at Pairc Naomh Uinsionn.