Ballyboden stave off fightback to reach semis
From Back Page return will add significant firepower to a Dublin attack that was also without the injured Con O’Callaghan when they scored just 1-13 in coming up one point shy against Kerry in this summer’s All-Ireland semi-final. The return of former footballer of the year McCaffrey is even more unexpected given he has not featured for Dublin since the 2019 All-Ireland final replay win over Kerry, having set a scoring record for a defender in the drawn game when he scored 1-3. After leaving the Dublin set-up in 2020, McCaffrey, who will turn 29 this year, explained his decision, saying, ‘I just felt the fun had gone out of the whole thing really.’ Meanwhile, veteran Conal Keaney ensured Ballyboden St Enda’s staved off a final-quarter fightback from Ballinteer to book their place in the last four of the Dublin senior football championship yesterday.
Ballyboden appeared to be cruising thanks to a brace of goals from Warren Egan and another from Darren Reilly that saw the winners ease into a 10-point lead after 55 minutes. But they were rocked by a Ballinteer blitz that yielded 2-1 without reply.
Goals from Fearghal Duffy and David Devereux were followed by a Jack Lundy point to reduce the margin to three points, before Keaney kicked the last two points of the game to steer Ballyboden to a 3-15 to 3-10 win and a semi-final spot against Na Fianna. Thomas Davis, who romped to a 1-12 to 0-5 win over Castleknock, will meet Kilmacud in the other semi-final. Meanwhile, another former inter-county veteran came up trump for Naomh Conaill – who join Kilcar, Gaoth Dobhair and defending champions St Eunan’s in the last four of the Donegal championship – after they defeated Michael Murphy’s Glenswilly by 210 to 0-10 in Letterkenny. However, it was a much closer affair than the final scoreline suggested, with Glenswilly leading at the interval by 0-6 to 0-4, and stayed in the game primarily through the scores of Murphy, who finished with 0-7 but failed to score from play.
A goal early in the second half gave Naomh Conaill a lead they would not lose, but it took a goal from Leo McLoone in the closing minutes to get the Glenties men over the line. A brace of goals from Darragh Kirwan was enough to book Naas a place in the Kildare county final with a 2-11 to 0-14 win over Celbridge.