Thank you to Kieran Duffy for these match reports. Apologies for the delay in publishing them.

Adult Football Championship Match Reports

Seniors V Ballymun. Senior 1 Championship

With a Qtr. Final spot at stake this was billed as the BSJ young guns V the Mun experienced elders and that is how the game turned out with the more experienced Mun having the edge on us in the end.

The first score of the game was to Dean Rock and Mun. We then missed a great goal chance when a great ball to Luke Cullen was double saved by Alan Comerford. We opened the scoring with a point from a 45 by Luke Breatnach which was followed by another by Eoin Fitzpatrick. We then conceded a very soft goal who followed up with another point . We responded with 2 good points from Jack Lundy and Donnacha Carey . Following a Mun point we got 2 excellent points from Donnacha Carey and Luke Breatnach. A critical point in the game came before half time when an excellent run through the middle by Mark Mc Nally opened the Mun defence and despite a well-placed shot into the right hand corner of the net it was expertly saved by Alan Comerford. HT 1-4 to 0-6 to Mun

Luke Breatnach kicked the first point of the second half but Mun replied with 3 on the trot. We replied with 3 on the trot from Jack Lundy ,Liam Smith and Eoin Fitzpatrick to bring the deficit to 1 point. Mun got the next 2 and then a Seamus Fenton point was our last score. With a goal in it we found it very hard to break down a well-structured Mun defence. Our last chance for an equalising goal was when our appeal for a penalty from a blatant foot block was turned down. With Johns players out on their feet Mun broke for the last point of the game. Final score BSJ 0-11 Mun 1-12. Best for BSJ were Liam Smith ,Mark Mc Nally , Jack Lundy and Liam Fenton.

Our players will rightly feel that this was an opportunity lost . However even in defeat our young team will have learned and experience comes with age and matches like this greatly

Inters V Thomas Davis . Junior 1 Championship

A real downpour welcomed both teams and supporters and it continued for much of the first half.

It was a very strong start by Johns right from the throw .Following a fortuitous goal after just 4 mins Johns pushed on to lead 1-3 to no score at the 12 min mark.

Davis’s had their own period of dominance for the next quarter where they rattled over 4 unanswered points .Both sides exchanged points again just before halftime.

Johns led by 2 at halftime.

Second half began with both sides scoring quick points .From there Johns scored 3 without reply to put 5 between the sides. They would keep this gap at 5 until three mins from time Davis scored a goal to bring it back to 2 with a few mins left.

Johns never panicked though and worked a terrific score through the lines from end to end with Sam Tully fisting over the final score of the game to finish 1-12 to 1-09 and on to the quarter final!

BSJ had already qualified for the QTR Final pitot to this game but this hat trick of wins guaranteed us a home QTR final V Fingallians on Sunday 24th at 11

Junior 1 V Naomh Barrog. Junior 2 Championship

There was a very competitive edge to the opening of this game with both scoring a point a piece in the first 5 minutes. Ludghaidh Lynch opened the scoring for us and followed up with 2 more points from frees. While Barrog got the next point ,Eoin Coffey then got on the scoring sheet after finishing off a very impressive movement. Finn Nolan was then on the end of a great movement and finished it beautifully to the net for BSJ . While Barrog got the next point , we followed up with another goal, again a great movement ,this time finished by Ludghaidh Lynch. Ht score 2-4 to 0-5.

First score of the second half was a BSJ point scored by Cathal Morrissey . While Barrog hit back with 2 points on the trot Cathal again popped up for another . The next 2 points were for BSJ ,scored by

the veteran Cathal , Cathal Mc Garrigle. . We allowed Barrog in for a soft gaol and they then followed up with a point. However Oisin Brennan back after a long absence from the game scored a goal and a point in the closing minutes. Final score BSJ 3-10 Barrog 1-8.

Best for BSJ were Eoin Hoctor playing an old fashioned full back role, Oscar Cronin who played the sweeper role very effectively , Matthew Naughton at wing forward , Seamus Comer and Lughaidh Lynch up front with Lughaidh finishing top scorer.

So the 2 wins on the trot qualifies us for the QTR final against Castleknock in Somerton PK on Sunday 24th at 11.

Junior 2 V Clanna Gael .Junior 6 Championship

Results in both Group 4 games in the Junior 6 Championships threw up big surprises as 2 places in the QFs were up for grabs. BSJ played away to Clann Na Gael while St Annes hosted St Judes. A win for Johns would have ensured qualification while the firm expectation that Annes would beat Judes held the prospect of Johns advancing even with a defeat. Unfortunately Johns couldn’t get the better a really good Clann side which was peppered with top quality minors and young Junior players while Judes beat Annes away to progress along with Annes.

Johns lost 3 or 4 players to illness in the 24 hour period prior to game which stretched our resources massively. We conceded an early goal but fought back to raise the green flag ourselves following a fantastic through ball from Colly O Donnell, the sort of ball Gooch would play to Star, to Thomas Victory who goaled with a fabulous star strike to bring us back to even. Both players were excellent throughout. The teams exchanged points over the remainder of the half with George Walker, Tony Gillick and the Quinn brothers closing out space and stemming strong attacks from Clann. A quick attack from a turnover provided a further goal for Clann and left us a couple of points down at half time. The second half started with several attacks made and broken, by both sides, as we all sensed a game in balance on a warm humid afternoon. Clann got the break with younger players covering the space between the 45s giving them the upper hand. To be fair they played some really excellent football to a standard which their previous results wouldn’t have predicted. Clearly a different team than the one they put out in their previous two defeats. While Clann stretched their lead through the half, our pride in the jersey ensured heads didn’t drop despite the gap. Aaron Crotty, Sean Dunne, Billy Davern and Cian Duffy took nice points with Eamonn Brennan making his presence felt and delivering good ball. Barry O’Brien, who joined the Club two years ago and is now black and tangerine to the core, excelled as sweeper. Sean Dunne, Neil McGrath and Sean Burke who came to us for the Championship from the JAs never stopped we dominated the last 10 minutes with Andy Kane and Rory Kyne to the fore but had too much to do.Final Score Clann 5-8 BSJ 1-5. Some great performances all around the pitch with Ethan Bonner attacking with pace and defending with vigour catching the eye and Steve Callaghan producing top class saves throughout. The commitment of these lads throughout the year and this game was exemplary with Darragh Johnson showing the way. We are very proud of the lads who played and trained over the 9 months with us going 6 wins in a row in the league. An injection of more pace from minor and junior ranks will ensure this team can be really competitive next year.

The irony of the results being that Judes progressed despite losing to Johns by 25 points in the first group game.