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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Pat Nolan

Eire Og 0-06 Ballyboden St Enda's 0-08: Late onslaught wins 'boden Leinster Club Championship

Ballyboden St Enda’s hit Eire Og with a late scoring raid to snatch the Leinster club football title at O’Moore Park.

Trailing by a point in the final minute of normal time, a fine score from Ballyboden sub Warren Egan looked to have forced extra time though the Dublin champions found enough momentum to add a further two points from Ryan Basquel and Michael Darragh Macauley in injury time to claim their second ever provincial crown and first since 2015.

They now go on to play Ulster champions Kilcoo in the Al-Ireland semi-final next month.

It was tough on Eire Og, who looked set to win their sixth Leinster crown in a wind- and rain-swept Portlaoise.

It was clear from a very early stage that this was going to be a low-scoring encounter as both sides turned the ball over at will and struggled to fashion scoring chances in the desperate conditions.

Ballyboden minded possession slightly better and more of the game was played in the Eire Og half in the first half, with the Carlow champions struggling to progress beyond their own half-forward line.

They did manage to open the scoring in the 11th minute through Ross Dunphy and within 60 seconds had completed their first half tally as pressure on the Ballyboden kickout quickly yielded further points through Sean Gannon and Christopher Blake.

Colm Basquel had a chance to wipe out the three-point advantage though the Ricky Keating smothered his shot before the former Dublin panellist finally opened his side’s account in the 23rd minute.

Eire Og's Ross Dunphy and Conal Keaney of Ballyboden St. Enda's (©INPHO/Ryan Byrne)
A view of the trophy (©INPHO/Ryan Byrne)

Conal Keaney added another before Ryan Basquel’s free brough the sides level at half-time at 0-3 each.

Colm Basquel put Ballyboden in front for the first time on the restart and though Dunphy quickly equalised, it didn’t herald a marked increase in the rate of scoring in the second half.

Keaney put Boden back in the lead in the 41st minute though Jordan Morrissey restored parity and extra-time appeared increasingly inevitable entering the last 10 minutes.

Gannon took a short from from Dunphy with five minutes remaining and pointed off his left to put Eire Og back in front at 0-6 to 0-5 and it looked like it would deliver a first Leinster title in 21 years for the five-times winners as a Ryan Basquel free trailed wide for Ballyboden nearing the finish.

But Boden found an extra gear when they needed it most with Egan and Ryan Basquel kicking points from similar positions on the left flank, the latter effort coming in off the post, while Macauley produced a typically lung-bursting run before fisting the clinching point in the third minute of injury time.

BALLYBODEN ST ENDA’S: D Gogan; B Dwan, S Clayton, C Flaherty; K Kennedy, R McDaid, B Bobbett; D McCabe, D O’Mahony; A Flood, C Basquel (0-2), D O’Reilly; R McGarry, R Basquel (0-2, 0-1f), C Keaney (0-2).

Subs: MD Macauley (0-1) for Donoghue (40), S Gibbons for Bobbett (40), W Egan (0-1) for Flood (49), T Hayes for McGarry (50), J Holland for Keaney (56).

EIRE OG: R Keating; B Kavanagh, M Fitzgerald, J Lowry; R Mahon, M Furey, P McElligott; J Morrissey (0-1), E Ruth; R Dunphy (0-2), S Gannon (0-2), C Hulton; D O’Brien, C Mullins, C Blake (0-1).

Subs: K Chatten for McEilligott (17), D Hayden for Mullins (44), N Quinlan for Hulton (56).

REFEREE: F Smyth (Offaly).

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