BALLYBODEN ST ENDA’S are back in the All-Ireland series for the first time since 2016 and they reached the last four this time around by surviving a number of narrow scrapes.
Dessie Farrell’s Na Fianna brought Ballyboden to extra-time in the Dublin quarter-final and really should have won the game before the southside giants hit late two goals through Colm Basquel to advance.
In the semi-final, they trailed St Jude’s by six points at half-time but prevailed by three points after a powerful second-half.
They needed a late flurry to finish off the challenge of Louth winners Newtown Blues in the provincial opener and in the Leinster final required three last gasp scores to eke out a low-scoring win over Carlow kingpins Eire Og.
“I don’t even know how we practice that, I don’t know where the belief comes from,” says defender Shane Clayton.
“In the last couple of years, we feel like when it gets down to five or ten minutes to go and we’re within a goal, we feel like we have enough that we can pull through.
“We’ve done that in the Dublin championship, we did it against Newtown and the last day against Eire Og.
“I don’t know if it’s something you can teach, but I know we’ve been able to dig it out and I know that’s down to the management and players for having that belief and never-say-die attitude.”
The wet and windy conditions in the provincial decider didn’t suit Anthony Rainbow’s side but all their experience plus the impact of Warren Egan and Michael Darragh Macauley off the bench saw them avoid a similar faith to Kilmacud Crokes against Mullinalaghta a year earlier.
“Madness, really,” recalls Clayton of the Eire Og game.
“When they took the lead with five minutes to go, I was like, “Ah Jesus this isn’t our day, in these conditions, its going to be a tough one to deal with’.
“The chances we were missing, it wasn’t like our usual selves and we were doing things we weren’t normally doing. Things didn’t look too good. Then Warren picks up a point out of nowhere, a little jink inside and over the bar.
“We were like, ‘Jesus, this is it’. As soon as that went over, I knew we had enough in the bag, maybe not in normal-time but definitely in extra-time.
“Then Ryan [Basquel] comes up with another spinner with his left and saves the day, and as soon as that went over it more so relief than anything else.”
Their first competitive defeat of the season arrived just before Christmas in the Dublin league final against Ballymun Kickhams.
Clayton downplayed that loss when he was asked if it was a major setback.
“Not really, more so ending the unbeaten run than the actual league, but that’s the way it goes at the end of the day.
“Everything’s not going to fall your way, and hopefully we can use it as a motivation factor, not being too complacent going into the next day.”
Down and Ulster champions Kilcoo will provide another stern test of Ballyboden’s All-Ireland credentials in the semi-final on Saturday.
“They’re very good, very defensive with a great counter-attacking gameplan and a lot of athletic players across the middle.
“A few of the footballers up front are lovely, lovely footballers, I seen a few of their games on TV so you’re obviously watching it as a fan when they’re on and you can just see they’re not your typical northern footballers, they are great to watch, kicking lovely scores and hand passing and kick passing is lovely to watch.
“Obviously, it is their first Ulster title but when they’ve been on their runs over the last couple of years they haven’t come up against any slouches against the likes of Crossmaglen and Slaughtneil but we know how good they are.”
The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!
