Ballyboden St Enda’s ease past St Judes to claim spot in Go-Ahead Senior 1 Football Final

BALLYBODEN ST ENDA’S 3-13 

ST JUDE’S 0-9 

A strong start and even stronger finish proved central as Ballyboden St Enda’s eased past near neighbours St Jude’s by thirteen points in their one-sided Go Ahead Dublin Senior 1 Football Championship semi-final at Parnell Park on Sunday afternoon.

It was during these periods that St Enda’s were their most convincing but a deeply unimpressive third quarter will be something they’ll look to address as they look forward to a final meeting against Kilmacud Crokes.

St Jude’s struggled to get going in their laboured quarter-final victory over Cuala a fortnight previously and they suffered once again as their neighbours seized the initiative from the opening whistle.

James Holland waltzed through the Jude’s defence to pop over a straightforward point in the first minute and it wasn’t long before Luke O’Donoghue was afforded the same space to double Boden’s lead.

St Enda’s continued to punch holes at regular intervals with Ryan O’Dwyer and the influential Alex Gavin adding to their tally with St Jude’s failing to gain any tangible reward from some sporadic counter-attacks.

Ballyboden had already threatened to raise a green flag in the 9^th minute as Colm Basquel blazed across the goal from Michael Darragh Macauley’s clever pass but Jude’s weren’t so lucky three minutes later as they fell seven points behind.

The origin of the goal was another burst from deep by Gavin, who timed his pass to perfection as O’Dwyer dummied and crashed an unstoppable finish to the roof of Brendan Flynn’s net.

St Jude’s stemmed the flow towards their own goal through a Darragh Rooney free and a fine Pat Spillane point but these proved isolated moments of encouragement as their opponents continued to thrive.

O’Dwyer and Colm Basquel added to the Ballyboden tally as the half progressed and while Kevin McManamon and Rooney managed to hit back for St Jude’s, there was little doubt which team was in the ascendancy.

Colm Basquel clipped over a stunning point in the 25^th minute to restore that seven-point buffer with Spillane and Gavin exchanging points late on as Ballyboden entered the break with a significant 1-9 to 0-5 advantage.

Any hopes of a St Jude’s comeback would focus on their attempts to find the Ballyboden net and they proved errant on two occasions in the opening eight minutes of the second-half.

Firstly, Alex Hassett embarked on a tremendous run from deep in the 37^th minute but his finish over Darragh Gogan’s crossbar betrayed his corner-back status.

A minute later, Spillane showed a clean pair of heels to the Boden defence but Liam Connerton failed to avail of a gilt-edged as he twisted and turned before being dispossessed.

With Ballyboden a pale imitation of their first-half selves, St Jude’s continued to threaten with the leaders indebted to goalkeeper Darragh Gogan at the end of the third quarter as he denied Spillane at his near post.

At the opposite end, Warren Egan finally opened the St Enda’s account in the 49^th minute and while McManamon kicked over two points at the opposite end, the contest was effectively settled in the 56th minute as Boden were awarded a penalty.

It was of scant surprise to see Gavin the furthest player forward from a Shane Clayton-inspired counter-attack and after Cormac McCartan had upended the wing-back, Ryan Basquel lazily clipped away the spot-kick.

There was sufficient time for Egan to rub further salt into the St Jude’s wounds as he beat Flynn at his near post in the 60^th minute with Michael McDonald and Colm Basquel giving a late flourish to the final scoreline.

Scorers – Ballyboden St Enda’s: R Basquel (1-0 pen, 0-1f), R O’Dwyer 1-2 each, W Egan 1-1, C Basquel 0-3 (1f), A Gavin 0-2, L O’Donoghue, J Holland, M McDonald 0-1 apiece. St Jude’s: D Rooney (3f), K McManamon 0-3 each, P Spillane 0-2, A Hassett 0-1.

Ballyboden St Enda’s: D Gogan; S Clayton, B Bobbett, C Flaherty; K Kennedy, J Holland, A Gavin; C D’Arcy, MD Macauley; L O’Donoghue, C Basquel, W Egan; R Basquel, R O’Dwyer, R McGarry. Subs: P Dunleavy for Bobbett (46), M McDonald for Macauley (50), D O’Reilly for O’Dwyer (52), D Sweeney for McGarry (56), L McHugh for Kennedy (61).

St Jude’s: B Flynn; A Hassett, C Fitzpatrick, P O’Loughlin; C McCartan, O Manning, K Lahiff; C Murphy, T Lahiff; D Kavanagh, D Rooney, D Sheehy; P Spillane, K McManamon, L Connerton. Subs: D Sutcliffe for Sheehy (half-time), J Carty for Kavanagh (half-time), A Connolly for Connerton (40), S King for Murphy (50), C Guckian for Fitzpatrick (57).

Referee: Dave Feeney (Parnell’s)