Ballyboden St Enda’s overcome local rivals St Jude’s in Dublin Senior 1 Football Championship semi

FINAL BOUND: Ryan O'Dwyer of Ballyboden St Endas celebrates after scoring. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

BALLYBODEN ST ENDA’S 3-13 ST JUDE’S 0-9

A 12th minute goal from Ryan O’Dwyer helped Ballyboden St Enda’s overcome local rivals St Jude’s in their Go Ahead Dublin Senior 1 Football Championship semi-final at Parnell Park on Sunday afternoon.

Their reward is a final date with southside neighbours Kilmacud Crokes in a fortnight’s time and there was much to admire in the manner in which they seized the initiative from the opening whistle.

Of greater concern would be their poor showing in the third quarter as they failed to trouble the umpires while conceding three gilt-edge goal chances, opportunities that St Jude’s were unable to make the most of, crucially.

James Holland opened the scoring for Ballyboden within thirty seconds and further scores by Luke O’Donoghue, Ryan O’Dwyer and Alex Gavin pushed St Enda’s four points ahead by the fifth minute.

Colm Basquel spurned a wonderful opportunity to add to their lead as he blazed wide from a Michael Darragh Macauley pass in the ninth minute but it proved a short reprieve for St Jude’s as they conceded three minutes later.

The origin of the goal was another burst from deep by Gavin, who timed his pass to perfection as O’Dwyer dummied and crashed an unstoppable finish to the roof of Brendan Flynn’s net.

St Jude’s stemmed the flow towards their own goal through a Darragh Rooney free and a fine Pat Spillane point but these proved isolated moments of encouragement as their opponents continued to thrive.

O’Dwyer and Colm Basquel added to the Ballyboden tally as the half progressed and while Kevin McManamon and Rooney managed to hit back for St Jude’s, there was little doubt which team was in the ascendancy.

Any hopes of a St Jude’s comeback would focus on their attempts to find the Ballyboden net and they proved errant on two occasions in the opening eight minutes of the second-half.

Firstly, Alex Hassett embarked on a tremendous run from deep in the 37th minute but his finish over Darragh Gogan’s crossbar betrayed his corner-back status.

A minute later, Spillane showed a clean pair of heels to the Boden defence but Liam Connerton failed to avail of a gilt-edged as he twisted and turned before being dispossessed.

With Ballyboden a pale imitation of their first-half selves, St Jude’s continued to threaten with the leaders indebted to goalkeeper Darragh Gogan at the end of the third quarter as he denied Spillane at his near post.

At the opposite end, Warren Egan finally opened the St Enda’s account in the 49th minute and while McManamon kicked over two points at the opposite end, the contest was effectively settled in the 56th minute as Boden were awarded a penalty.

It was of scant surprise to see Gavin the furthest player forward from a Shane Clayton-inspired counter-attack and after Cormac McCartan had upended the wing-back, Ryan Basquel casually clipped away the spot-kick.

There was sufficient time for Egan to rub further salt into the St Jude’s wounds as he beat Flynn at his near post in the 60th minute with Michael McDonald and Colm Basquel giving a late flourish to the final scoreline.

Scorers for Ballyboden St Enda’s: R Basquel (1-2, 1pen, 1f), R O’Dwyer (1-2), W Egan (1-1), C Basquel (0-3 1f), A Gavin (0-2), L O’Donoghue, J Holland, M McDonald (0-1 each).

Scorers for St Jude’s: D Rooney (0-3, 3f), K McManamon (0-3), P Spillane (0-2), A Hassett (0-1).

Ballyboden St Enda’s: D Gogan; S Clayton, B Bobbett, C Flaherty; K Kennedy, J Holland, A Gavin; C D’Arcy, MD Macauley; L O’Donoghue, C Basquel, W Egan; R Basquel, R O’Dwyer, R McGarry.

Subs: P Dunleavy for Bobbett (46), M McDonald for Macauley (50), D O’Reilly for O’Dwyer (52), D Sweeney for McGarry (56), L McHugh for Kennedy (61).

St Jude’s: B Flynn; A Hassett, C Fitzpatrick, P O’Loughlin; C McCartan, O Manning, K Lahiff; C Murphy, T Lahiff; D Kavanagh, D Rooney, D Sheehy; P Spillane, K McManamon, L Connerton.

Subs: D Sutcliffe for Sheehy (half-time), J Carty for Kavanagh (half-time), A Connolly for Connerton (40), S King for Murphy (50), C Guckian for Fitzpatrick (57).

Referee: Dave Feeney (Parnell’s).