Champions Ballyboden survive as Ballymun edge out Na Fianna

Ryan Basquel of Ballyboden St Enda's in action against Eoin Keogh of Raheny during the Dublin County Senior Football Championship Quarter-Final match between Ballyboden St Enda's and Raheny at Parnell Park in Dublin. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Dublin SFC

Holders Ballyboden St Enda’s required extra-time to eventually see off a battling Raheny by 2-16 to 0-16 in their Dublin Senior Football Championship quarter-final at Parnell Park on Sunday afternoon.

The teams were deadlocked at 1-10 to 0-13 at full-time but St Enda’s finished strongly in the second period of extra-time with substitute Ciaran O’Reilly justifying his introduction with a telling contribution of 1-1.

Ballyboden led by 0-9 to 0-6 at the break, despite their obvious struggles around the field with Conal Keaney leading the way with three points from play.

Raheny remained in their vision as Brian Howard began to influence matters and his excellent point, augmented by a Gavin Ivory free, left the bare minimum between the teams by the 34th minute.

However, from an isolated attack at the end of the third quarter, Michael Darragh Macauley was adjudged to have been impeded close to goal and Ryan Basquel calmly slotted home the resultant penalty.

Far from building on that score, St Enda’s, who saw Cathal Flaherty dismissed in the 54th minute, only added one further score through Ross McGarry as Raheny finally gained tangible reward for their plentiful amounts of possession.

Brian Fenton’s clipped effort preceded a trio of scores from substitute Sean Grenham with Fenton ensuring stalemate by full-time with another classy score in injury-time.

They failed to carry that momentum into extra-time as their defence began to creak and O’Reilly raced through unopposed to settle the issue at the second attempt.

The champions are joined in the last four by a Ballymun Kickhams team that edged near-neighbours Na Fianna by 1-18 to 2-13.

There was very little to separate the teams in a hugely entertaining first half with Na Fianna on the front foot thanks to points from Aengus Farrell, James Doran and Conor McHugh, and the latter ensured a healthy 1-10 to 0-8 interval lead for the Glasnevin side when netting smartly in the 29th minute.

Ballymun resumed in a dominant manner, despite the loss through injury of Paddy Small, as points from Dean Rock, James McCarthy and Jason Whelan helped restore parity by the 40th minute.

An Andrew McCaul goal ten minutes later helped maintain their control as Fiach Andrews added two further points to take the tie away from Na Fianna.

Jonny Cooper’s subsequent black card was another blow and although Niall Cooper netted in the fourth minute of added time, it arrived too late to deny Kickhams their victory.

Meanwhile on Saturday afternoon, St Jude's and Kilmacud Crokes advanced to the semi-finals following their respective last eight wins over Skerries Harps and St Vincent's.

First up in Donnycarney was the clash of St Jude's and Skerries with the former advancing to their seventh semi-final in eight years by virtue of their 1-17 to 1-10 win.

Despite Harps enjoying an early advantage through points from Stephen Smith and Killian McGinnis, it was Jude's that controlled matters initially thanks to three points by Kevin McManamon.

However, Harps hit back well to level matters at 0-6 apiece by half-time with McGinnis, Ciaran Murphy and Cormac Rocks all on target for the seasiders.

They failed to maintain that momentum upon the resumption however as the Templeogue outfit assumed complete control pushing five points clear following a brace of Diarmuid McLoughlin points and further scores by Tom Devlin, Niall Coakley and McManamon.

It was McManamon that effectively settled the issue when netting at the second attempt after a trademark solo run in the 42nd minute with McGinnis firing home a consolation goal for Harps eight minutes from time.

Kilmacud were another team to pull away after the break as they beat St Vincent's by 4-15 to 1-12.

Paul Mannion scored an 8th-minute goal for Crokes that was immediately cancelled out by Greg Murphy's effort at the opposite end.

Dara Mullin impressed in the Kilmacud attack with his 13th-minute goal edging his team 2-6 to 1-8 ahead at half-time.

An opportunistic Hugh Kenny goal in the 37th minute helped open a buffer for Crokes and Kenny's second goal six minutes from time proved the final nail in the St Vincent's coffin, with a late penalty miss from Tomas Quinn compounding their misery by the final whistle.