BODE TO JOY

St Enda's hit all the right notes in one-sided win over Athy

- GARRY DOYLE

IN the end, the scoreline told the truth.

Ballyboden were better and no one leaving this Leinster SFC club final could mount a case to the contrary.

Athy battled, even rallied in moments, but this was Ballyboden's day from the instant the ball was thrown in until the final whistle confirmed a thoroughly deserved seven-point win.

By the time Colm Basquel clipped over the opening score, the chaos had already begun.

His brother Ryan was gone - not substituted, not injured but de-jer-seyed, the shirt torn straight off his back in the kind of skirmish usually reserved for later, darker stages of championship fare.

Two minutes in and Ballyboden were one up, a man down in clothing only, and completely on top.

Ryan O'Dwyer added the next, Athy looking as if they'd wandered into a game that had started without them.

Their first shot - Barry Kelly, ambitious and optimistic from beyond the arc - was a postcard to the clouds.

Daire Sweeney's free made it 0-3 to nothing, Athy punished for lip to the referee, punished again for indiscipline, punished generally for existing in Ballyboden's path.