Ballyboden St Endas 2 - 10  Cuala 0 - 15

Ballyboden U16 hurlers hosted Cuala on Saturday afternoon in Sancta Maria in the semi final of the 2010 championship. Boden won the toss and decided to play with the slight breeze.

In almost perfect conditions, two early points were quickly matched by Cuala and the large support for both teams felt this game could go the distance. Cuala then got on top and stretched out a 0-6 to 0-3 lead. Following a powerful, direct run by Johathon O’Driscoll, Boden levelled with a close-in strike from Donal Butler. Points were exchanged and the sides went to the break all square on 1-4 to 0-7.

Points were again traded at the start of the second half and at the 45 minute mark, the scores were Boden 1-7 to 0-11 for Cuala, with Colm Cronin punishing any fouls by Boden with a series of well-taken frees.  In a match that moved from end to end, Boden’s defence was well marshalled by Conor McKeon, ably assisted by Niall Keegan and Kenneth Wigglesworth. As attacks were exchanged, it was clear this match was going right down to the wire.

Half-time talk from John Keegan and Ray McKenna

With six minutes to go, a long ball in from midfield found Butler, who found the net for the second time. This gave Boden a two-point cushion. Again, Cuala fought back and pulled ahead going into the closing minutes. Magnificent work in the middle by Ben McEntee and some good puckout wins by Fionn Maguire made a difference as Boden once again pushed upfield and with the game entering injury time led by a point.  Cronin once again levelled for Cuala and as the crowd looked at their watches, a long ball from Donal Butler found James Roche on the 21m line, who caught, turned and fired over the final point in an classic match.  The large crowd cheered at the final whistle and Boden had won the day on a scoreline of 2-10 to 0-15.

This was indeed an epic semi-final between two teams that had met each other in the 2009 final. The lead changed hands seven times and the sides were level nine times throughout.

Afterwards, Bill Roche of Cuala was full of praise to the Boden team and indeed all of the Cuala team were most magnanimous in their wishes. It takes two teams to create a great match and this was certainly the case.

Well done to Ray, John & Eugene for preparing the team and many thanks to the large support of parents, friends, fellow players and managers. Boden look forward to the county final against Whitehall Colmcilles in the coming weeks.