Ballyboden cut loose after the break to crush Castletown and set up Tullamore clash

Ballyboden St Enda’s shrugged off a cautious, wind-affected first half to overwhelm Wexford champions Castletown

Colm Basquel scored 1-4 for Ballyboden St Enda's as the Dublin champions beat Wexford's Castletown in the Leinster SFC quarter-finals. Pic: Michael P Ryan/Sportsfile

Leinster Club SFC quarter-final: Ballyboden St Enda's (Dublin) 2-16 Castletown (Wexford) 0-13 

A week after Na Fianna were relieved of their Dublin, Leinster and All-Ireland titles on the same Wexford Park pitch, perhaps Ballyboden St Enda's were a little wary.

They were certainly forewarned and played like a team taking cautious and carefully considered steps in the first-half.

But when Eamon O'Reilly's crew cut loose in the second-half, they looked much more like the side that has been tipped to return to the summit of Leinster and to push hard for a second All-Ireland title.

Tied at half-time, 1-4 to 0-7, and admittedly playing into the stiff wind until then, the 2015 and 2019 provincial winners moved up a couple of gears after the break.

With the result that they cut back-to-back Wexford champions Castletown asunder in that 30 or so minutes, winning the half by 1-12 to 0-6.

Colm Basquel was central to the blitz, finishing with 1-4 and, in a clear sign that the game was over well before full-time, called ashore early.

There were strong performances too from his Dublin colleagues Ross McGarry, who struck 0-5 from play, and Alex Gavin, who hit the team's second goal in the 42nd minute which killed the contest.

All of which means another road trip for the Firhouse Road faithful, to play Tullamore, in Tullamore, on Saturday week at 1.30pm.

Ballyboden, the 2016 All-Ireland winners, will be favourites again but it could be a stickier contest against the three-in-a-row Offaly champions who are coached by Stephen Rochford.

"They've got real pedigree," said Ballyboden manager Eamon O'Reilly of Tullamore. "They know that they have a chance of winning a Leinster title based on where they're coming from. This is our first Dublin championship win since 2019 but we have a focused group and we think we can go into the match the next day and hopefully get a performance out of ourselves."

O'Reilly, careful not to give Tullamore anything to pin to the dressing-room wall, insisted the south Dubliners really haven't given their short odds for provincial and All-Ireland success much thought.

"You have to earn your crust," he reasoned.

And Castletown certainly gave them plenty to think about, for half an hour at least.

The hosts' solitary point from play in the first-half mightn't have seemed like near enough to trouble a side like Ballyboden who also possessed a Galway star, Cein D'Arcy, Kerry man Pa Warren and former Antrim captain Peter Healy.

But with goalkeeper Darragh Brooks kicking two-pointers for fun from the deck - he converted four two-point frees in the entire game - Castletown led late in the first-half.

It had appeared like Basquel's expertly taken 22nd minute goal after a turnover at midfield and rapid breakaway might ignite 'Boden but, initially at least, it didn't pan out that way.

Castletown did a pretty good job of dropping back into a defensive formation within the arc and stifling their opponents. Two pointers weren't on the cards for 'Boden at that stage so they tried to run the ball into scoring positions, with mixed results.

Then came the turnaround for half-time and, with it, a total change of fortunes for the five-times Dublin champions. The second-half was only four minutes old and already the men in stripes had four points tallied; one from McGarry, one from the up and coming Ryan O'Dwyer and a Basquel two-pointer.

Already it was looking ominous and they duly piled on the misery in the form of further points and then the Gavin goal, when he palmed in from close range, 2-13 to 0-11.

Robbie Brooks and Liam Coleman pulled back a couple of points for Castletown, punching the air and doing their best to inspire those around them. But not even Darragh Brooks' fourth two-pointer of the afternoon could reel a rampant Ballyboden in.

"We believed at the start of the year that we could push on in Dublin this year," said O'Reilly. "After that, it's just about getting the hard work done and you can see the boys doing it here now, getting through that hard work which it takes to get into the next round of a competition like this.

"We thought over the last number of weeks that we'd put in that hard work and thankfully we got ourselves into a situation where we could compete today and now we're in a semi-final."

Ballyboden St Enda's scorers: C Basquel 1-4 (1 tp); R McGarry 0-5; A Gavin 1-0; D Sweeney 0-3 (1 free); R Basquel 0-2; R O'Dwyer, C O'Dwyer 0-1 each.

Castletown scorers: D Brooks 0-8 (4 tpf); L Coleman 0-2; R Brooks, D Holmes, B Halpin 0-1 each.

BALLYBODEN ST ENDA'S: H O'Sullivan; R Baynes, C Flaherty, B Bobbett; J Holland, P Warren, P Healy; C D'Arcy, A Gavin; R O'Dwyer, C Basquel, P Dunleavy; R McGarry, R Basquel, D Sweeney.

Subs: K Kennedy for Healy & D O'Reilly for R Basquel (51); C O'Dwyer for Sweeney (56); D Keogh for C Basquel (58); M O'Gara for O'Dwyer (68).

CASTLETOWN: D Brooks; S O'Hagan, J Ahern, R Cody; K Pierce, S Moloney, J Higgins; R Heffernan, L Coleman; G Kelly, C Carty, D Holmes; R Brooks, J Bealin, B Halpin.

Subs: G McNulty for Kelly (52); D Daly O'Toole for Holmes (52); J Gardiner for Heffernan (57).

Ref: K Williamson (Offaly).