We may be in the depths of winter but it didn’t stop the thrills and spills of the U21 Championship that we had over the last 6 weeks. 

In the QTR Final  after a slow start ,we got into our rhythm and won in the end over St Vincents on a scoreline of 1-15 to 0-13. The semifinal against Ballyboden st Endas  was Roy  of the Rovers stuff. Eight points down in the 25th minute of the second half ,we brought off an incredible win on the scoreline of 2-14 to 2-13. 

The final against St Judes was always going to be a tough battle . They got to the final battle hardened having beating Na Fianna , Lucan Sarsfields and Castleknock (who beat Crokes in the QTR Final). So on Saturday a huge BSJ support headed to O Toole Pk . While the rain held off the pitch was in treacherous condition. Judes opted to play with the breeze in the first half. They got the first score of the game a point  and  Joey Quirke equalised   . A poor kick out gave Judes a goal chance but an excellent tackle by Captain  Matthew Gardiner saved the day. Following a foul on Jack Long, Joey Quirke converted . With both team finding it hard to keep possession ,scores were at a premium. Judes were denied a great goal chance following a scramble in our goalmouth .Our first goal chance came when Patrick Coleman hit Mark mc Nally with a long pass who laid off to the in running Jack Long who lost his balance when shooting for  goal  While we were struggling to win our own kick out, we managed to get the next score, a point from a free from John Clair. On the 18th minute Judes got a further point to leave the score at 3 points each. We got the next score when a great catch by Patrick Colemen was laid off to Mark McNally who  burst through the middle to be fouled for Joey to convert. Judes who had earlier missed a number of 2 pointer frees got the next score. We then got our best score of the first half when Patrick Coleman laid off to Mark Mc Nally on the run to  score a great point, the first from play. Disaster then struck when we lost possession on our own 45 and Judes moved the ball quickly and while we had chances to clear ,the ball broke kindly to Judes to score a goal. They followed up with a 2 pointer to leave the score 1-6 to 0-4 in Judes favour entering the last few minutes of the half. We put together a great attacking movement only to be denied again by a great save by the Judes keeper from a Joey Quirke shot . We did get the last score of the half, due to a 3 on 3 infringement to leave the score at HT 1-6 to 0-5 to Judes.

The second half could not have started better. Eamon Naughton turned over a Judes player on our 14 m line who laid off to Danny Gaffney who then  passed to Matthew Gardinar who  hit an excellent through ball, which allowed  Conor Quinn  to take the ball without breaking his stride  to lay off to Joey Quirke who blasted to the net. This was followed up with another great turnover by Patrick Coleman who was fouled and John Clair expertly converted for a 2 pointer. Judes got the next  point, so after 8 minutes of the second half it was all square at 1-7 each. The next score was an excellent one from Mark Mc Nally cutting in from the wing to slot over the bar. Mark also got the another point and then Judes converted a free to leave the score  1-9 to 1-8 , 15 minutes into the second half.  We then hit a purple patch. Conor Quinn after another great run was fouled with Joey converting. Patrick Colmen hit a screamer of a 2 pointer from the 45m line . Then Jack Long hit the first of 3 great points, cutting in from the wing . Following a long foot pass into him from Joey Quirke ,he scored his second. Judes got one back to leave the score 1-14 to 1-8 , on the 53rd minute. A 3 on 3 infringement brought it back to a 5 point game and we survived a scary moment when a Jude’s shot blasted off the post , went across the goal line and was cleared . Then Cody Graham made a great turnover on our 45 m line and delivered a 40m pass into Jack, who cut in the from the wing and with his man in chase , he came back to clip over a point  The final score fell to us when Dylan Bannon pointed. Final score BSJ 1-16 Judes 1-10. What a second half for us in scoring 1-11 .Commiserations to St Judes who fought a hard but clean game in terrible conditions.  This was a great team performance . Best for us was our young first year minor keeper Ronan Murray, who after a shaky first few minutes settled well into the game, Carl Mc Donnell who marshalled his full back line, our Captain Mathew Gardiner at centre half back  , Cody Graham at wing back, Mark Mc Nally who not only covered a lot of ground but made critical breaks for scores in the first half when scores were at a premium, Patrick Coleman who won  a lot of critical ball around midfield ,  Conor Quinn who made several scorching  runs into the Judes half on a very heavy pitch. Joey Quirke who’s free taking in addition to his goal was excellent and Jack  Long who got critical points in the last qtr.  A huge congratulations and thanks to our young Management Team of Paul Mc Donnell (not so young) Jack Lundy, Liam Smith, Paddy Quinn Glennon, Oisin Grady, David Murray and Finan Chambers. 

The size of the pitch invasion , young and old reflected the size of the BSJ support. The Cup was presented by the Vice Chairperson of the Dublin County Board Elaine Dolan , the cheers went up and after much photo taking and talk we headed home to regroup in the clubhouse  for celebrations which coincided with the POTY awards , ensuring a packed clubhouse long into the night. 

For many of the lads it was a great 3 weeks as they added Minor B  Football and U21 B Hurling championship medals to their U21 A Championship medal. That’s my last report for 2025 and we thank all our players and management teams for the thrills and spills, and enjoyment we got over the year.

Kieran Duffy