St Vincents Edge Out Boden To Make It Two Wins From Two

Image courtesy Grainne Mc Kinney 

ST VINCENT’S 0-17 

BALLYBODEN ST ENDA’S 0-15 

St Vincent’s put themselves in the driving seat in Group 2 of the Go-Ahead Dublin Senior 1 Hurling Championship after overcoming a lacklustre Ballyboden St Enda’s by two points at Parnell Park on Saturday afternoon.

There was never too much separating the teams throughout a contest of variable quality but a string of five successive points in the final quarter handed Vinnies a sufficient buffer to withstand some late St Enda’s pressure.

St Vincent’s opened the scoring through the familiar fashion of a John Hetherton free with an initially sluggish Ballyboden levelling matters thanks to David Gleeson in the 4^th minute.

The Marino side were showing the benefits of last week’s opening fixture as they settled to the task far quicker and they soon restored their advantage as another Hetherton free arrived in the slipstream of a Daniel Peel point.

Hetherton added a smart score from distance to move Vinnies three points clear by the 6^th minute with St Enda’s indebted to goalkeeper Conor O’Donoghue soon after as he diverted Aaron Cosgrave’s low drive to safety.

Ballyboden seemed to gain inspiration from that save as they gradually found their collective feet, edging their way back into contention through points from Niall McMorrow and Paul Ryan (free).

The experienced duo repeated the trick to leave St Enda’s a point clear by the 13^th minute with their opponents left ruing a number of presentable chances that marginally missed their intended target.

A brace of Hetherton frees finally saw St Vincent’s regain their lead as the lead exchanged hands in the second quarter as Paul Ryan clipped over two further scores from placed balls, nullifying an excellent point at the opposite end from Darach McBride.

The half finished with Ronán Twomey edging Ballyboden back in front, this score arriving after the influential James Madden had stopped a Hetherton free from finding the corner of the net.

Simon Lambert and Cillian O’Neill traded points within ninety seconds of the restart to keep matters delicately poised but St Enda’s gradually assumed control as their opponents offered little in terms of an attacking threat.

Gleeson and Simon Lambert both doubled their personal tallies to help build a three-point lead by the 36th minute for Boden but some poor shot selection undermined their dominance as they struck five wides during that period.

They were made to pay for their profligacy as Vinnies struck four unanswered points, kickstarted by a cracking Conor Burke effort and augmented by two equally well-taken points by the increasingly influential McBride.

Points from Ryan and Jack Lambert either side of the three-quarter mark briefly stalled that St Vincent’s momentum but a trio of Hetherton frees and points by Burke and Cian McBride helped push the locals four points clear by the 56^th minute.

Ryan and Simon Lambert replied in the closing stages to halve Boden’s deficit but the goal required to complete their comeback never looked likely to materialise as St Vincent’s held on with a fair degree of comfort.

Scorers – St Vincent’s: J Hetherton 0-9 (8f); D McBride 0-3; C Burke 0-2; D Peel, C O’Neill, C McBride 0-1 apiece. Ballyboden St Enda’s: P Ryan 0-6 (5f, 1 ‘65’); S Lambert 0-3; D Gleeson, N McMorrow 0-2 each; R Twomey, J Lambert 0-1 apiece.

St Vincent’s: D Perry; D Twomey, B Moorehouse Carroll, A Gilroy; E O’Neill, C Burke, C O’Neill; T Connolly, S Mulcahy; P Gilroy, A Cosgrave, B Bolger; D McBride, J Hetherton, D Peel. Subs: C McBride for Bolger (41), C Dolan for P Gilroy (45), K Ryan for Peel (52), J Brady for Cosgrave (56).

Ballyboden St Enda’s: C O’Donoghue; S McDonnell, L Corcoran, L Mulligan-Lynch; P Dunleavy, J Madden, J Lambert; J McGuire, E Behan; P Ryan, S Lambert, N Ryan; R Twomey, N McMorrow, D Gleeson. Subs: J Kennedy for N Ryan (44), S O’Connor for Behan (47), K Desmond for Twomey (52), C Kirwin for McGuire (52).

Referee: Luke Lacey (Na Fianna).