By Daire Walsh

On the opening weekend of the new Adult Hurling League Division One season, 2017 finalists St Brigid’s and Ballyboden St Enda’s enjoyed hard-earned victories over St Jude’s and St Vincent’s respectively.

Brigid’s were defeated by ‘Boden in last year’s top-flight final at O’Toole Park, and they played host to St Jude’s in Russell Park. This game had a slightly later start than the remaining games in Division One (12.15pm as opposed to 10.15am), but thanks to James O’Connell’s first-half goal, Brigid’s entered the interval with a 1-4 to 0-6 cushion.

The Navan Road men were determined to push on after the restart, having been narrowly defeated by Jude’s at the same venue last June. Indeed, with Aodhan McInerney’s exemplary free-taking being supplemented by Derry Murphy and Johnny McGuirk contributions, they remained in the ascendancy at the beginning of the final-quarter.

A 55th-minute goal raised the possibility of another triumph for Jude’s, before McInerney guided Brigid’s towards a 1-15 to 1-14 success.

‘Boden faced a tricky away assignment against Vincent’s, but eventually prevailed with five points to spare (1-15 to 0-13) at Pairc Naomh Uinsionn. After an initial promising start by the home side, their southside counterparts rallied with points from Niall Ryan, Niall McMorrow, Conor Robinson and Conor Dooley – who had featured for their senior footballers on the previous weekend.

Simon Lambert also played his part in that comprehensive win over Ballymun Kickhams, and his pointed free helped ‘Boden to create further daylight between the sides. As expected, Vincent’s grew back into the game as the half wore on.

However, they couldn’t quite curb the attacking of influence of ‘Boden – who claimed the only goal of the game just before the break. Following excellent spade work by Paul Doherty, Ryan found the back of the Vinnies net.

This allowed Ballyboden to develop a 1-8 to 0-7 interval lead, offering them a fine platform for the start of the second period. With Jamie Desmond, Stephen O’Connor and former Wexford hurler Malachy Travers excelling in defence, they largely kept the Vinnies forward line at bay.

Goalkeeper Conor O’Donoghue also impressed in his first-ever AHL1 start, while Lambert continued to enhance their tally with a series of well-executed placed-ball efforts. To their credit, Vinnies were competitive for large stretches of the contest, which gave them a fighting chance of success in the final-quarter.

Yet, courtesy of late scores by Ryan and McMorrow, Ballyboden secured the two points on offer. Their next league encounter is on Sunday week at home to O’Toole’s – who suffered a 0-13 to 1-15 reversal to Na Fianna at Blunden Drive in their first competitive game of the term.

Elsewhere, Faughs recorded a commanding 6-11 to 0-13 success over Crumlin at Tymon North. They will next be in action against Craobh Chiarain on 11 March, when the Clonshaugh outfit will be eager to make amends for their 1-14 to 0-12 loss at the hands of Kilmacud Crokes in Silver Park.