Ballymun Kickhams claim Dublin Senior football championship

Having not won a senior club title since 2012, Ballymun Kickhams comfortably outfought last year’s champions Ballyboden St Enda’s to register only their fourth championship win to date.  

This outcome looked a certainty even so early into the affair with Ballyboden unable to match the pace and power of the Kickhams attack. A 14-point victory was a deserving margin on this occasion. 

With several Dublin county footballers lining out for Ballymun, their quality was most definitely on display this time around with Dean Rock, John and Paddy Small, James McCarthy and Philip McMahon putting in superb performances.  

The game started with both sides trading point for point, with Ballyboden’s Conal Keaney and Ryan Basquel kicking some lovely scores in the opening exchanges. Basquel’s score left the sides level on the 10-minute mark at four points each. This would be Ballyboden’s last score of the half. Beyond these early exchanges, Ballymun Kickhams grew further into the game and began to pull away as the first water break approached. 

Talisman Dean Rock kicked Ballymun into a three-point lead in the 15^th minute with wing forward Fiach Andrews also getting his name on the score sheet. Ballymun Kickham’s front line were on top as the first half drew to a close with Paddy Small and Rock causing havoc for the Ballyboden full-back line. Andrews and Rock further tagged on scores for Kickhams with the half time score reading 0-14 to 0-04 at the interval. 

Dylan Keating performed well throughout for Kickhams with the full forward putting his side further adrift in the opening stages of the second half with a couple of long-range scores. James McCarthy was a thorn in the side for Ballyboden, with the county star making several bursts through the heart of the defence, assisting the likes of Rock and Andrews as the Ballyboden defence began to tire. 

The game was virtually over as a contest before the 60^th minute with Rock putting the final nail in the Ballyboden coffin from the penalty spot topping off a wonderful scoring tally of 1-8 for the corner forward. Jason Whelan got the final score of the day to round off a wonderful performance by Ballymun Kickhams as they won 1-19 to 0-8. 

Kickhams now progress to the Leinster stages of the club All-Ireland Championship and will most certainly be favourites to take this crown. 

Much of this squad will now turn their attention to winning a sixth All-Ireland title in a row when Dublin begin their campaign with a Leinster Championship quarter-final against Westmeath.