Ballyboden St Enda’s reclaim their familiar status as Dublin hurling champions

Ballyboden St Enda's 0-13 Lucan Sarsfields 0-10

A year of glorious uprising for Dublin hurling has ended with something entirely more familiar. Ballyboden St Enda's are once again the undisputed heavyweights of the club championship.

Nothing, it turned out, was about to stop them from winning their sixth title in seven years – not the brave persistence of first-time finalists Lucan Sarfields, not their shaky start, and not even the fact Ballyboden were a man down for the last quarter of the game.

Instead the cool heads of captain Conal Keaney and David Curtin and Stephen Hiney and the very steady hand of free-taker Paul Ryan helped them close out the three-point victory, a deserved if not slightly flattering margin.

Still, having won five championships in succession before exiting in the group stages last year, winning the title back – with an unbeaten run all season – proved sweet.

Family outing
Indeed 'Boden also won the Dublin minor title earlier in the afternoon, making it the perfect family outing for the large group of travelling fans at Parnell Park. Next up are Carlow's Mount Leinster Rangers in the Leinster semi-final and there's no reason to suspect Ballyboden's winning run will end there.

Yet even Ballyboden manager Jonny Kenny had to take his hat off to the effort of the Lucan players, who never gave up the quest to win a first county title in their first final appearance. New All Star Peter Kelly and Dublin captain John McCaffrey exemplified their quality of play while Kevin O’Reilly led the scoring charge. But they trailed by three points at the break, and despite briefly reducing the gap back to the minimum, Ballyboden had the strength and depth of scorers to see them home.

“It means everything to the club, and to me,” said Kenny, in his first year as Ballyboden manager. “I’ve been one of their home-grown players all my life, and to win a Dublin championship with these players, who have come through the club, is just an unbelievable feeling. . .

"But fair play to Lucan. They really put it up to us. I thought we were gone when we lost the man. But instead our lads just seemed to up it to another level, get the few scores, and we just held out."

The stronger
When Ballyboden lost wing forward Maurice Nagle to a second yellow card on 46 minutes they held only a two-point advantage, and yet all 14 players on the field raised their efforts to amend for the loss, and they actually finished the stronger.

Lucan chased hard all through the second half, having been level four times in the first, and O’Reilly’s fine score on 42 minutes closed the gap to a single point. They had a couple of half-chances for a goal at the death, from Trevor Lee, then McCaffrey, that might have forced extra time, but it wasn’t to be.

“We did keep going until the very end, but then I felt we needed to get ahead, to have any chance of winning, ” said Lucan manager Damian Fox.

"We just couldn't seem to get that score. It was very tight . . .But Ballyboden are a very seasoned side. They knew how to hold on to the ball and to throw it around, when the occasion demanded. But I'm proud of these players, and bitterly disappointed for them."
BALLYBODEN ST ENDA'S: G Maguire; M Travers, D Curran, S O'Connor (0-1); C Robinson, S Hiney, S Durkin (0-1); P Buckeridge, N McMorrow (0-2); C Keaney (0-2), D Curtin (0-1), M Nagle; F McGarry, C McCormack, P Ryan (0-6, 5f). Subs: D Sweeney for Buckeridge (44 ), G Corrigan for McCormack (58 ).
LUCAN SARSFIELDS: D Quinn; J Bellow, P Kelly, M McCaffrey; B Aird, R Lambert, S McClelland; J McCaffrey (0-1), J Byrne; T Lee, C Crummey, T Somers (0-2); A Roche, K Fitzgerald, K O'Reilly (0-7, three frees). Subs: Mick May for Byrne (27 mins), E O Conghaile for McClelland (55 mins), Cronan Dooley for Bellew.
Referee: J Brennan (Thomas Davis)