Ballyboden St-Enda’s 2-14
Castlebar Mitchels 0-7
Fintan O’Toole reports from Croke Park
BALLYBODEN ST-ENDA’S claimed their first AIB All-Ireland senior club football title today and they achieved that feat in some style as they swatted aside Mayo’s Castlebar Mitchels in Croke Park.
A dream start saw Ballyboden hit the net in the opening minute through Colm Basquel and they rattled off three points without reply then before raising a second green flag in the 16th minute.
Andrew Kerin tucked his shot into the bottom corner past Castlebar goalkeeper Rory Byrne and sent Ballyboden sailing clear by 2-3 to 0-0.
Castlebar were shell-shocked by that blistering Ballyboden opening and after falling nine points adrift, they were never able to work their way back into contention.
For the second time in three years, Castlebar fell short against Dublin opponents and they never managed to scale the heights here that they had reached earlier in the campaign.
Castlebar’s first score occurred in the 19th minute and it took until the 27th minute for their first point from play to arrive. At the break Ballyboden were in command as they were 2-5 to 0-3 in front and there was no let-up in the third quarter as they hit four points without reply.
Entering the final quarter Castlebar trailed by 12 points but they did manfully keep going to cut the gap to 2-9 to 0-7 with ten minutes left.
However Ballyboden – despite losing Michael Darragh MacAuley to injury – regained their control to finish out the match impressively. They outscored Castlebar by 0-5 to 0-1 in the last ten minutes and had nine different scorers on the day.
Corner-back Bob Dwan won the man-of-the-match award and got forward for 0-3 while the Basquel brothers, Colm and Ryan, also impressed as the Dublin outfit triumphed.
Scorers for Ballyboden: Andrew Kerin 1-2 (1-0 pen), Colm Basquel 1-1, Bob Dwan 0-3, Ryan Basquel, Shane Durkin 0-2 each, Stephen O’Connor, Darren O’Reilly, Conal Keaney, Michael Darragh MacAuley 0-1 each.
Scorers for Castlebar: Neil Douglas (0-1 ’45), Aidan Walsh (0-2f) 0-2 each, James Durkan, Neil Lydon, Paddy Durkan 0-1 each.
Ballyboden St Enda’s:
1. Paul Durcan
2. Bob Dwan
3. Stephen Hiney
4. Shane Clayton
18. Stephen O’Connor
6. Darragh Nelson
19. Shane Durkin
8. Michael Darragh Macauley
7. Aran Waters
10. Darren O’Reilly
11. Colm Basquel
5. Robbie McDaid
17. Ryan Basquel
14. Conal Keaney
15. Andrew Kerin
Subs
22. Simon Lambert for MacAuley (inj) (34)
13. Sam Molony for Ryan Basquel (59)
12. Daniel Davey for O’Reilly (59)
20. Donogh McCabe for Waters (61)
25. Sean Gibbons for McDaid (62)
Castlebar Mitchels
1. Rory Byrne
2. Tom Cunniffe
3. Alan Feeney
4. Donie Newcombe
5. Paddy Durkan
6. Eoghan O’Reilly
7. Ray O’Malley
8. Ger McDonagh
9. Barry Moran
10. Shane Hopkins
11. Neil Lydon
12. Neil Douglas
13. Stephen Keane
14. Richie Feeney
15. Danny Kirby
Subs
19. Fergal Durkan for Hopkins (24)
20. James Durkan for Feeney (37)
18. Cian Costello for Keane (37)
24. Aidan Walsh for Douglas (41)
17. Sean Conlon for O’Malley (45)
21. Ronan Burke for Newcombe (50)
Referee: Conor Lane (Cork)
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