Boden beat Whitehall To Claim First Win Of Go-Ahead Ireland SHC1 Campaign

Image courtesy Mark McDonagh 

BALLYBODEN ST ENDA’S 1-27 

WHITEHALL COLMCILLE 0-15 

Ballyboden St Enda’s picked up their first win in Group 2 of the Go-Ahead Ireland Dublin Senior 1 Hurling Championship when overcoming Whitehall Colmcille by double scores at O’Toole Park on Saturday afternoon.

While far from their fluent Best, Boden always looked likely to prevail and they finished on the front foot to eventually pull away from a tiring Whitehall by the final whistle.

Despite a brief purple patch approaching the interval, Colmcille looked short of firepower in attack with the absence of Eoghan O’Donnell keenly felt despite a lively and skilful showing by Jamie Raftery at corner-forward.

While Paddy Spellacy opened the scoring in the 2^nd minute from a ‘65’, it didn’t take too long for Ballyboden to take control as they struck five scores on the bounce through Niall McMorrow (2), Kevin Desmond, Niall Ryan and Ronán Twomey.

The strong breeze allowed Eddie Moran to pop over from distance for Whitehall but Boden’s advantage in terms of speed was evident from the outset, with corner-backs Luke Mulligan Lynch and Stephen O’Connor making well-timed sorties to extend their team’s lead.

Michael Noonan replied with a brace of points for Colmcille and they finished the half strongly with two points in quick succession by Enda O’Donnell and a long-range effort by Daire Gray reducing their arrears to two points (0-12 to 0-10) by the break.

The classy McMorrow doubled his own tally with a two points in as many minutes at the start of the second-half but Niall O’Connor and Raftery replied at the opposite end to keep Whitehall in contention.

With their forwards struggling throughout in terms of their marksmanship, it was up to Ballyboden’s defenders to lead the way as Paddy Dunleavy and O’Connor clipped over impressive points.

Spellacy converted a couple of frees to stem the flow briefly but St Enda’s were beginning to click, as reflected in further points from Dunleavy, Niall Ryan, Sean McDonnell and McDwyer.

The evergreen O’Connor added two further points as he availed of the generous amounts of space afforded to him while James Madden also troubled the umpires as the half evolved.

Whitehall’s final score of the contest arrived as early as the 49^th minute and Ballyboden finished the game on a high as substitute Cillian Kirwin fired clinically to the bottom corner of the net deep into added time, confirming his team’s first win of the group in the process.

Scorers – Ballyboden St Enda’s: N McMorrow, S O’Connor 0-4 each; D Kenny 0-3 (1f); C Kirwin 1-0; K Desmond, L McDwyer, N Ryan, J Madden, P Dunleavy, D Gleeson 0-2 each; L Mulligan Lynch, C Dooley (‘65’), S McDonnell, R Twomey 0-1 apiece. Whitehall Colmcille: P Spellacy 0-6 (4f, 2 ‘65’); D Gray, M Noonan, Enda O’Donnell 0-2 each; E Moran, J Raftery, N O’Connor 0-1 apiece.

Ballyboden St Enda’s: C O’Donoghue; L Mulligan Lynch, L Corcoran, S O’Connor; P Dunleavy, C Dooley, J Lambert; S McDonnell, J Madden; L McDwyer, N McMorrow, N Ryan; R Twomey, K Desmond, D Gleeson. Subs: P Christie for Twomey (40), D Kenny for Desmond (45), C Kirwin for McMorrow (57), E Behan for McDonnell (58), J McGuire for Lambert (58).

Whitehall Colmcille: R Murray; J Thorp, C Murphy, S Kellett; E Moran, D Gray, L McCarthy; C Cummins, M Noonan; A McDermott, N O’Connor, Enda O’Donnell; C Sheedy, P Spellacy, J Raftery. Subs: S Cassidy for Sheedy (38), J Barry for O’Connor (48), D Noonan for Murphy (52), S Thorp for J Thorp (59), S O’Leary for McCarthy (60).

Referee: Jason Buckley (Setanta).