The Leinster Senior Football Championship Final is on Sunday where Ballyboden St Enda`s will play Portlaoise who have won the Leinster Championship an impressive seven times.
BallyBoden are Following in the footsteps of St Vincent’s (2007, 2013, 2014), Kilmacud Crokes (2008, 2010), St Brigid’s (2011) and Ballymun Kickhams (2012), Ballyboden St Enda’s have reached the Leinster senior final after beating St Lomans from Westmeath and will encouraged by the fact that in all but one of the finals those sides have reached, the Dublin side has left with the trophy.
But before they can dream about winning the Leinster Championship they must recognise that they face strong opposition in Portlaoise who will be aiming to cause heartbreak for Ballyboden St Enda`s and will also look to claim an 8th Leinster Championship.
But the Ballyboden St Enda`s attack looks strong with Declan O’Mahoney and the Dublin `super sub` Michael Darragh Macauley are the key players in the middle while Colm Basquel, Keaney, Kerin and Molony are clinical forwards. Who will be looking to claim help Ballyboden win their first Leinster Championship.
Ballyboden are also strengthened by the fact Paul Durcan who has won an All Ireland with Donegal is in goal for them. Durcan will look to put in one last excellent performance before he relocates to the middle east for work reasons.
Portlaoise on the other hand will be very much up for the championship final especially after their semi final thrashing of Longford club side Emmet Og Killoe.
The main threat to Ballyboden is Paul Cahillane who was outstanding in the semi final , hitting 2-6 in the win. Portlaoise also have Brian McCormack and Craig Rogers who also continued their fine form that day, hitting 1-2 each.
Portlaoise have elite level talent all over the pitch, you only have to look at their back line to see that. Cahir Healy is in his element at full-back while Kieran Lillis is a dominant figure at centre-half back. Both players will surely make life difficult for the Ballyboden forwards.
The winners of the Leinster Championship will advance to February’s All-Ireland semi-final, and will play either Munster champions Clonmel Commercials or London champions Tír Chonaill Gaels.
Leinster Senior Football Championship most titles won
Portlaoise – 7 titles
St Vincent’s – 6 titles
Éire Óg – 5 titles
Kilmacud Crokes – 4 titles
Image Courtesy of http://www.gaa.ie/content/images/news/laois/MDMA_Cahillane_promo2015.jpg
And it`s over the bar 