Ballyboden St Enda’s deservedly set up a Leinster club final date against Portlaoise in a fortnight’s time thanks to a comfortable win over St Loman’s of Westmeath this afternoon.

However, while their victory over the home side at Cusack Park was fully merited, it was the incredible performance of referee Fergal Smyth that will stand out in as the abiding memory from the afternoon’s play.

Smyth awarded 51 frees in total during the hour’s play, 31 to the home side and 29 during a second half that never had any chance to develop real momentum one way or another.

That suited Ballyboden perfectly as they carried a four point lead into the half time break thanks to Sam Molony’s goal, and the southside Dubs stretched that out to seven thanks to three Conal Keaney frees in as many minutes immediately after the tie’s resumption.

The opening fifteen minutes suggested that these were two sides of real quality, well worth their place in the last four of the provincial competition, however from a position of strength – leading 0-4 to 0-3 having conceded the first two points of the tie – St Loman’s then fell away badly - their failure to compete largely the result of three key aspects.

First and foremost was the outcome of the game’s only two goal chances, each of which arose within the space of three minutes late in the first half. Loman’s had the first opportunity when Ken Casey and Kelvin Reilly combined to play in David Windsor, only for the wing forward to be denied by a spectacular close range save from Paul Durcan in the Ballyboden goal.

Shortly afterwards a quick free from Michael Darragh Macauley at midfield played in Conal Keaney in the right corner of the attack and he got the better of Shane Flynn before drawing the keeper and slipping in Sam Molony for a close range finish.

Secondly, the number of errors committed by St Loman’s players – both forced and unforced – greatly exceeded that of their counterparts. Time and again simply passes were put astray, players carried the ball into heavy traffic or opportunities to narrow the gap were spurned by the

Mullingar club, while Ballyboden continued to do the simple things well.

None of their scores will live long in the memory, but it’s notable that they actually had less scoring chances in the tie as a whole, 18 to 19.

Finally, there was the control exerted by Michael Darragh Macauley and Declan O’Mahoney at midfield. While Paul Sharry was consistently involved in the action and never afraid to take responsibility, he was simply overwhelmed by the workrate and the efficiency of his Ballyboden counterparts, who covered every inch of ground and consistently played in good ball into their effervescent inside forward unit.

A 1-7 to 0-6 interval lead for Ballyboden was substantial but still not enough to suggest that the tie was over as a contest, however three frees for Conal Keaney in the first 180 seconds of action after the resumption of the time gave them real breathing room.

A John Heslin free in the 35th minute trimmed the gap slightly but from then on neither side could gain any traction in the contest as every move seemed to end with the sound of Fergal Smyth’s whistle.

Steps, jersey pulling and taking frees from the wrong spot were all punished immediately and without any leeway and while Loman’s earned far more frees than their opponents, they never looked like gaining the momentum they needed.

Another free from Heslin, earned by substitute Ciarán Kilmurray, broke a run of fourteen minutes without a score from either side. However that point was cancelled out by a powerful run from Michael Darragh Macauley that ended with the former Player of the Year punching the ball over the crossbar from a tight angle.

Time, rather than the Ballyboden attack, was now St Loman’s real nemesis and as the home side became increasingly frustrated in the latter stages, their angst boiled over in a series of minor altercations, one of which saw Offaly county player Ken Casey dismissed on a straight red card.

St Loman’s: J Daly; J O’Toole, N O’Toole, S Flynn; G Glennon, D Whelan, G Grehan; P Sharry (0-1), A Gaffney; D Windsor, J Heslin (0-7, 0-6f), K Lynam; S Dempsey, K Reilly, K Casey (0-1).

Subs: C Reilly for Windsor (ht), C Kilmurray for N O’Toole (37), R O’Toole for Lynam (42), G Hickey for Dempsey (47).

Ballyboden St Enda’s: P Durcan; B Dwan, S Hiney, S Clayton; D Nelson, R McDaid, S O’Connor; D O’Mahoney, MD Macauley (0-1); C Basquel (0-1), D Davey, D O’Reilly; C Keaney (0-4f), S Molony (1-1), A Kerin (0-4, 0-3f).

Subs: D McCabe for Davey (48), S Durkin for Dwan (53)

Referee: Fergal Smyth (Offaly)