O'Ceallachain delighted with 'huge' first senior win for Na Fianna

At the third time of asking, Na Fianna eventually got over the line and, remarkably, they broke their duck with 16 points to spare as a shell-shocked Ballyboden St Enda's were laid to waste.

Mon, 30 Oct, 2023 - 07:14

Paul Keane

Dublin SHC final

Na Fianna 2-19 Ballyboden St Enda's 0-9

With five Dublin minor hurling titles annexed between 2012 and 2017, it seemed only a matter of time before Na Fianna claimed the breakthrough senior win the club craved.

But when they coughed up a nine-point lead with only eight minutes remaining in the 2021 senior final against Kilmacud Crokes, they started to wonder.

And when they relinquished a four-point advantage in last year's final against Crokes again, the Mobhi Road faithful were starting to whisper the word jinx.

At the third time of asking, Na Fianna eventually got over the line and, remarkably, they broke their duck with 16 points to spare as a shell-shocked Ballyboden St Enda's were laid to waste.

The real kicker about this landmark win is that Na Fianna achieved it without their captain Donal Burke, one of the greatest forwards in the game just now.

The All-Star nominee missed the entire club championship as a result of the hamstring injury picked up while on Dublin duty.

In his absence, the Currie brothers, Sean and Colin, also Dublin players, picked up the scoring slack with 2-15 between them, Sean blasting two first-half goals and free-taker Colin picking off 10 points overall.

Boss Niall O Ceallachain said: "You can't describe it, for all of us individually and for the whole group, if you scrape it all back it's our first county title. The club is going since 1955, the amount of people who have been slaving away since then has been huge. We have had our peaks and troughs, our ups and downs, but we had never won a senior hurling title so to do that now is huge for us."

The obvious fear for the current group was that they may have missed their chance after blowing those big leads against Crokes in 2021 and 2022.

O Ceallachain said: "A couple of things went against us in the last year or two, yeah. But I never doubted the character of our lads for a second in that time. We knew well what was in them and we had full faith that if the game was tight in the last 15 minutes that our lads would stand up."

Former Dublin All-Star Liam Rushe was part of a Na Fianna defence that conceded just nine points, and only five from open play. It was only Rushe's second start of the campaign having arrived back late after nine months travelling.

At the other end, the Curries were terrific and between them scored 2-14 of the first 2-15 that Na Fianna registered before Gavin King, Sean Baxter and teenager Ciaran Stacey sniped late scores.

By that stage, Ballyboden had lost former Tipperary All-Ireland medallist Timmy Hammersley to a straight red card. The substitute was only on the field for three minutes when he was ordered off following an incident that left Na Fianna defender Conor McHugh grounded.

It wasn't any sort of turning point as Na Fianna were already 12 points up though it did help them to hold Ballyboden scoreless for the entire final quarter of the game.

Na Fianna could have won by more too as Colin Currie had an 18th minute penalty expertly saved by Ballyboden goalkeeper Conor O'Donoghue.

Burke watched on from the sideline with a maor uisce bib on and later raised the cup aloft with Baxter.

If they could get their prolific forward back at some stage in the coming weeks, they could be a decent shout in Leinster too.

Na Fianna will be favourites against Raharney, the Westmeath champions, on November 12, even with that quarter-final encounter being in Mullingar. The winners of that one will play Naas (Kildare) or Camross (Laois) in the last four.

O Ceallachain said: "We have Raharney in two weeks but we'll turn our heads to that in the middle of the next week or so. Our priority now is to enjoy this one and to let the lads enjoy it, they deserve that."

Sean Currie grabbed his first goal after a superb leap above 'Boden defender Stephen O'Connor, leaving him in the clear with a relatively easy finish.

His second goal, in the 26th minute, was a vicious ground stroke after a sumptuous AJ Murphy lobbed pass, initially meant for Shane Barrett, broke kindly.

Na Fianna had four wides too, as well as that missed penalty, but still led 2-10 to 0-6 at half-time.

Ballyboden needed a miracle after that. A goal would have been a good start. But they only managed three second-half points as the Curries continued to wreak havoc.

Scorers for Na Fianna: S Currie (2-5); C Currie (0-10, 7 frees, 1 65); AJ Murphy, S Baxter, G King, C Stacey (0-1).

Scorers for Ballyboden St Enda's: P Ryan (0-4, 4 frees); K Desmond, L McDwyer, A Mellett, N Ryan, J Lambert (0-1).

Na Fianna: J Treacy; K Burke, C McHugh, S Burke; D Clerkin, L Rushe, P O'Dea; B Ryan, P Feeney; J Tierney, S Currie, C Currie; C Stacey, AJ Murphy, S Barrett.

Subs: M Murphy for Barrett (33); S Baxter for Murphy (44); G King for Tierney (51); D Ryan for McHugh (58); M Quilty for B Ryan (60).

Ballyboden St Enda's: C O'Donoghue; S McDonnell, J Madden, L Corcoran; J Lambert, S Lambert, S O'Connor; N Ryan, A Mellett; L McDwyer, C Dooley, S Durkin; K Desmond, P Ryan, N McMorrow.

Subs: P Christie for Desmond (27); C Keaney for P Ryan (40); T Hammersley for P Ryan (47); E Behan for Durkin (47); D Kenny for N Ryan (58).

Referee: C Mooney (St Pat's).