Ballyboden St Enda’s 2-16
Raheny 0-16
(after extra-time)
IT WAS ALMOST a day of days for Raheny.
They brought the reigning Leinster and Dublin champions right to the wire, requiring extra-time before eventually falling by six points in this quarter-final.
Ballyboden were well below their best for long spells and they scored just a point from play in a second period where their attack badly faltered. But they showed good heart to score 1-4 in the second-half of extra-time as the Raheny legs were tiring.
The north Dublin side only played a refixed group game against St Oliver Plunkett’s/Eoghan Ruadh on Wednesday night to seal their place in the last eight so their fatigue late on was understandable.
Credit must go to Raheny who brought a well-executed game plan, matched up with the Ballyboden all over the field and defended brilliantly.
Raheny arrived into this game as major underdogs despite the presence of All-Stars Brian Fenton and Brian Howard at midfield.
For the second game in succession, Ballyboden were without manager Anthony Rainbow who remains in his native Kildare which is still in lockdown.
They went without usual midfielder Declan O’Mahony, instead deploying McDaid in a man-marking role on Fenton – which worked to good effect.
The reigning champions looked dangerous when direct ball went inside to Colm Basquel and Conal Keaney early on, but they weren’t quite up to their usual standard further out the field.
Keaney, reintroduced for extra-time, finished the game with 0-5 from play. Basquel was well-marshalled before his injury-enforced departure late in the second-half.
They mirrored Raheny’s tactic of dropping the half-forwards deep to defend to protect the D, making patience the order of the day.
After moving into an early two point lead, ‘Boden found themselves 0-5 to 0-4 behind 20 minutes in.
Despite having two of the best fielders in the country at centre-field, Raheny spent most of the first-half trying to go short with their restarts. The tactic backfired when Ballyboden twice turned them in defence over for scores from Darren O’Reilly and Colm Basquel.
Ballyboden led by three at the interval, but a Howard score and a free from Ivory reduced the gap to the minimum.
In a defensive game, a key moment arrived when Michael Darragh Macauley was deemed to have been fouled for a penalty midway through the second-half.
Raheny had largely frustrated Ballyboden and were 0-9 to 0-8 behind when what looked to be a harsh penalty was awarded against them. Ryan Basquel converted the spot-kick and McGarry added a point moments later.
‘Boden were four ahead and looked almost home, but there was life in Raheny yet. At the second-half water break, Howard urged his team-mates to keep popping over their scores.
Ballyboden lost corner-back Cathal Flaherty after he picked up two yellows in the space of 60 seconds. Sean Grenham arrived off the bench to clip over three scores for Raheny and then Fenton equalised with a trademark effort to force extra-time.
Ciaran O’Reilly arrived off the bench to bag 1-1 for ‘Boden, though there was a touch of fortune about his goal.
His point attempt arrived back off the post and he slotted past Ciaran Heapes to seal the win.
Scorers for Ballyboden St Enda’s: Conal Keaney 0-5, Ryan Basquel 1-2 (1-0 pen, 0-1f), Ciaran O’Reilly 1-1, Ross McGarry 0-3, Colm Basquel (0-1f) 0-2, Luke O’Donoghue, Darren O’Reilly, Michael Darragh Macauley 0-1 each.
Scorers for Raheny: Sean Grenham 0-4 (0-1m), Gavin Ivory 0-3 (0-3f), Brian Fenton, Brian Howard and Darragh Keogh (0-2f) 0-2 each., Cian Ivers, James O’Kane and Darren Byrne 0-1 each.
Ballyboden St Enda’s
1. Darragh Gogan
12. Kieran Kennedy
3. Shane Clayton
4. Cathal Flaherty
5. James Holland
7. Darragh Nelson
2. James Holland
8. Michael Darragh Macauley
6. Robbie McDaid
23. Simon Lambert
14. Ryan Basquel
10. Darren O’Reilly
13. Ross McGarry
11. Colm Basquel
15. Conal Keaney
Subs
20. Tom Hayes for Lambert (44)
19. Donogh McCabe for O’Reilly (45)
21. Stephen O’Connor for Keaney (54)
22. Ciaran O’Reilly for Colm Basquel (57)
15. Keaney for Flaherty (back to 15 for extra-time)
25. Barra McGarry for Ryan Basquel (66)
9. Declan O’Mahony for Holland (69)
14. Basquel for McGarry (74)
Raheny
1. Ciaran Heapes
2. David Shatwell
3. Sean Byrne
4. Darren Byrne
7. Ben McHugh
6. Sean McMahon
5. Rutherson Real
8. Brian Fenton
9. Brian Howard
10. Darragh Keogh
21. Brian Talty
12. Sean McCarthy
28. James O’Kane
14. Cian Ivers
15. Gavin Ivory
Subs
13. Sean Grenham for McCarthy (34)
26. Jack Kearney for Keogh (38)
11. Eoin Keogh for Brian Talty (45)
17. Jack Dalton for McHugh (62)
20. Aran Kelly for O’Kane (71)
23. Jack Lyons for (71)
Referee: Liam Aherne Clarke
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