Ballyboden St Enda’s 2-10
St Jude’s 1-10
FOR THE FIRST time in four years, Ballyboden St Enda’s are back in the Dublin SFC final.
That prospect looked extremely unlikely at half-time as they trailed St Jude’s by six points, but a magnificent turnaround from Ballyboden sealed a return to the decider for the first time since 2015 – the season they went on to be crowned All-Ireland champions.
Managed by Kildare legend Anthony Rainbow they’ll play the winners of Kilmacud Crokes and Thomas Davis in the final.
Ballyboden trailed from the first minute and only took the lead with five to go. St Jude’s lead by six at half-time but scored just against the breeze 0-2 after the restart.
Rainbow must take credit for his half-time switch that changed the game.
The Basquel brothers Colm and Ryan hit 3-9 between them in the quarter-final but were scoreless from play here until the second-half. Ryan was moved to centre-forward, Colm went inside and the latter scored a vital 1-1 from play in the final five minutes.
Ballyboden had the wind at their backs in the second period and pinned St Jude’s in as Michael Darragh Macauley controlled the midfield.
Kevin McManamon has won so much during his career but the trophy that has long eluded him is the Dublin SFC title. St Jude’s are still chasing their first county crown, having been beaten in the 2018 and 2009 deciders on their only two previous trips to the final.
St Jude’s have taken a number of scalps in recent years – dumping out St Vincent’s in the last two years, Ballymun in 2018 and Kilmacud Crokes in 2016. But they’ve never quite done enough and will be disappointed with how this game turned out after such a bright start.
St Jude’s set the tone with a McManamon point seconds after the throw-in. A minute later Chris Guckian fired a rocket into the top corner and St Jude’s had a four point head start.
Darren O’Reilly saw a great strike on goal saved but he raised a green flag with his second effort minutes later after he was found with a quick free. That brought Ballyboden within a point, but they’d only trouble the scoreboard once for the remainder of the half and that came from a free.
St Jude’s controlled the tempo of the game as three scores from Tom Devlin helped his side into a commanding 1-8 to 1-2 interval lead.
Ballyboden were clearly given a stern talking to at half-time by manager Anthony Rainbow because they looked a different outfit in the second period. Their aggression and urgency levels ramped up while they were far more efficient in front of goals.
With Macauley a driving force from midfield, Ballyboden scored six points – more than their entire first-half tally – in the third quarter to move two behind.
Ballyboden were utterly dominant on the opposition kick-outs and it was the platform for their second-half turnaround. Then Colm Basquel started sparkling. He curled over three straight frees, hit the net and then added a lovely point from the wing.
Ryan Basquel popped up with another score and all of a sudden Ballyboden were three up after 56 minutes. With all their experience, they were never going to let it slip from there.
Watch all the Full-Time Highlights of @Bodengaa v @clgnaomhjude in the Dublin SFC Semi-Final here on GAANOW. pic.twitter.com/FYNmmKXefj
— The GAA (@officialgaa) October 26, 2019
Scorers for Ballyboden St Enda’s: Colm Basquel 1-4 (0-3f), Darren O’Reilly 1-1, Ryan Basquel 0-2 (0-1f), Declan O’Mahony, Ross McGarry and Darragh Gogan (0-1 45) 0-1.
Scorers for St Jude’s: Chris Guckian 1-0, Tom Devlin 0-3, Niall Coakley 0-3 (0-1f), Kevin McManamon 0-3 (0-1f), Padraic Clarke 0-1 (0-1f).
Ballyboden St Enda’s
1. Darragh Gogan
23. Bob Dwan
4. Cathal Flaherty
3. Shane Clayton
5. Darragh Nelson
6. Robbie McDaid
19. Donogh McCabe
8. Michael Darragh Macauley
9. Declan O’Mahoney
10. Darren O’Reilly
14. Ryan Basquel
7. Aron Waters
13. Ross McGarry
11. Colm Basquel
15. Warren Egan
Subs
17. Alan Flood for McCabe (ht)
20. Tom Hayes for McGarry (44)
22. Brian Bobbett for O’Mahony (54)
21. James Holland for Egan (62)
12. Sean Gibbons for Nelson (65).
St Jude’s
16. Paul Copeland
4. Ciaran Fitzpatrick
7. Rob Martina
2. Oisin Manning
5. Tom Lahiff
3. Jack McGuire
6. Chris Guckian
8. Mark Sweeney
9. Seamus Ryan
12. Kieran Doherty
11. Diarmuid McLoughlin
10. Tom Devlin
13. Niall Coakley
14. Kevin McManamon
15. Padraic Clarke
Subs
27. Ronan Joyce for Ryan (47)
23. Declan Donnelly for McLoughlin (54)
22. David Sheehy for Devlin (58)
20. Colm Murphy for Sweeney (60).
Referee: David Sweeney
The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!