Match report Foxrock Cabinteely v Ballyboden St Endas
- Oct 02,2017
FOXROCK CABINTEELY WIN THIRD SENIOR CLUB TITLE IN A ROW AFTER TENSE BATTLE
Foxrock Cabinteely 1-10
Ballyboden St Endas 1-05
By Nigel McCarthy
The second final played in Fingallians GAA Club on Sunday afternoon was the New Ireland Assurance Senior Club Championship duel between Foxrock Cabinteely and Ballyboden St Endas.
Foxrock were seeking their third senior title in a row while Ballyboden were looking for their first title in seven years.
A large crowd gathered for the much anticipated meeting between two of the heavyweight sides in Dublin Ladies Club Football and they were treated to an intense battle throughout and a game that had plenty of hard hits, a missed penalty, two well taken goals and some excellent passages of play.
In the end it was Foxrock’s guile and experience, clever kick-out strategy, pace in attack and double sweeper system that won out on the day.
The opening exchanges set the tone for the game as both sides went full blooded into tackles. A foul on Foxrock midfielder Laura Nearney on the 45’, from the resultant free the ball was played into Fiona Claffey on the 13 metre line and she in turn was fouled. Up stepped Amy Ring to score the first point of the game.
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Ballyboden were getting on plenty of possession but they were to rue two golden goal opportunities seconds apart form each other in the 5th minute of the game. Doireann Mullany intercepted a pass from the next Foxrock attack, she played the ball out to Dee Lawless on the wing, Lawless cut inside and off loaded the ball to Katie Murphy, Lawless continued her run and received the ball back and was upended in the square and the referee awarded Ballyboden a penalty.
Simmone Reilly was the player given the responsibility of the spotkick, but the left half forward struck the ball high and wide of the left hand post. That miss was compounded thirty seconds later, Boden won the resultant restart and midfielder Sinead Burke found herself in on goal but she blasted her shot wide. They were two golden chances that would come back to haunt them by the end of the game.
Ballyboden’s tackling was also letting them down at the other end and with Amy Ring in accurate form their indiscipline was punished. A foul on Hannah O’Neill on the 45’ in the 6th minute was quickly followed by another foul about 30 metres out on Fiona Claffey which Ring put away for a point.
Ballyboden were getting plenty of the ball and put together some nice passages of play with some excellent passing and interplay involving Dee Lawless, Katie Murphy, Sinead Burke and Maria McGrath but inexplicably with the strong wind at their backs they dropped two efforts short.
At the other end the runs from deep from Sinead Goldrick were causing havoc, one such run yielded the next point, Goldrick cut through the Boden defence, picked out Ciara Ni Mhurchadh, a quick off load to Claffey who hand passed on to Ciara Murphy to swing over a great team point.
Finally in the 14th minute Ballyboden troubled the scoreboard, a brilliant run from defence by Rachel Ruddy who was in exquisite form throughout the game ended in a sideline ball, it was worked inside to Maria McGrath to grab her sides opening point.
Foxrock hit back in the 17th minute, Tarah O’Sullivan won the ball in her own half played the ball cross field to Aedin Murray, coming off her shoulder was Goldrick, she took off through the middle with the ball, leaving would be tacklers in her wake, that opened space for Claffey to run into for a pass and she in turn found Ciara O’Riordan to point for the Kilbogget Park outfit.
Sinead Goldrick was heavily involved in the next Fox Cab attack, she took the ball from the halfway line and cut like a hot knife through butter right through the central channel, she hit a dangerous footpass towards Hannah O’Neill in front of the Boden goal. The ball bounced in front of O’Neill and with no time to gather the ball into her hands with the keeper advancing, O’Neill pulled on the ball first time and it nestled into the back of the net.
The response from Ballyboden was instant, they worked the ball from one end of the pitch to the other and a shot by Simmone Reilly was misjudged by Foxrock keeper Laurie Ahern and ended up in the top right hand corner of the net.
Foxrock finished the half on the up and scored the last two points before the break, a free from Amy Ring and a point from play from Ciara O’Riordan gave them a five point lead as they headed to the dressing rooms with the score 1-06 to 1-01.
Ballyboden needed to cut the deficit in the opening quarter of the game but three quickfire wides in the opening five minutes of the second half didn’t help their cause. Ciara Ruddy was causing problems with her ball carrying ability and runs from deep, but the Firhouse side weren’t capitalising on the possession.
Foxrock were mixing up their play between quick interplay and running from deep and slow measured build up and probing for an opening. Amy Ring scores their opening point of the second period from 30 metre out after Ciar Murphy was fouled.
The next Foxrock attack seen a shot by Amy Ring come back off a post but they won back the ball and Goldrick made sure with a point straight over the black spot.
The missed chances from Boden continued, after working the ball downfield to the 30 metre line Maria McGrath was fouled by Sarah Brophy but McGrath dropped the Free short into the keepers hands.
The referee got involved albeit accidentally midway through the second half. She awarded a Free to Foxrock inside the Boden half for a high tackle on Fiona Claffey by Mairead Luttrell. From the resultant free the referee Angela Gallagher inadvertently crashed in Ballyboden’s number 2 Claire Kirwan and was left with no choice but to throw the ball in.
Ballyboden won the ball broke up field and Sinead Goldrick was lucky not to see yellow for dragging down Maria Hoey and McGrath put away the Free for a point.
Foxrock where finding it more difficult to find their forwards or make any clear cut chances and the side from Firhouse reduced the deficit with to excellent points from play scored by Simmone Reilly and Claire Kirwan.
The final ten minutes plus almost nine minutes the referee added on surprisingly were high on action bit low on scores. Amy Ring added another point from a free with five minutes of normal time remaining.
The sides swapped points as the game headed into injury time, a point from Simmone Reilly for Boden was replied to by Anne Marie Murphy for Foxrock.
That finished the scoring for the final, but with only five points between the sides it made the what seemed never ending injury seem like an eternity for the Foxrock players, management and supporters.
But when the final whistle went they could all celebrate a deserved three in a row.
Player Of The Match: Rachel Ruddy (Ballyboden St Endas)
Ballyboden St Endas Scorers:
Simmone Reilly 1-02
Maria McGrath 0-02 (1f)
Claire Kirwan 0-01
Foxrock Cabinteely Scorers:
Amy Ring 0-05 (5f)
Hannah O’Neill 1-00
Ciara O’Riordan 0-02
Sinead Goldrick 0-01
Ciara Murphy 0-01
Anne-Marie Murphy 0-01
Ballyboden St. Endas:
1. Elizabeth Cohalan
2. Claire Kirwan
3. Doireann Mullany
4. Ciara Ruddy
5. Rachel Nugent
6. Rachel Ruddy
7. Dee Lawless
8. Aoife O'Brien
9. Sinead Burke
10. Katie Murphy
11. Maria Hoey
12. Simmone Reilly
13. Elaine McGrath
14. Maria McGrath
15. Emily Flanagan
Ballyboden Substitutes:
23. Mairead Luttrell For 10. Katie Murphy (41st Min)
20. Aoife Martin For 15. Emily Flanagan (53rd Min)
17. Hannah Hyland For 2. Claire Kirwan (58th Min)
Foxrock Cabinteely:
1. Laurie Ahern
2. Sarah Quinn
3. Aedin Murray
4. Emma McDonagh
5. Sarah Brophy
6. Niamh Collins
7. Sinead Goldrick
8. Laura Nerney
9. Tarah O'Sullivan
10. Ciara Ni Mhurchadh
11. Fiona Claffey
12. Ciara O'Riordan
13. Hannah O'Neill
14. Amy Ring
15. Ciara Murphy
Foxrock Cabinteely Substitutes:
19. Anne-Marie Murphy For 15. Ciara Murphy (38th Min)
24. Jodi Egan For 13. Hannah O’Neill (41st Min)
16. Ciara Crotty For 12. Ciara O’Riordan (58th Win)
23. Sarah O'Leary For 8. Laura Nerney (64th Min)