In a very entertaining match at Sarsfield’s 15 minutes of dominance by the home side at the beginning of the second half effectively seperated these two good football sides. In a reorganised team St Brigid’s were missing Tim McCrudden, Stevie McAleer, Donal Connolly and Patrick Bogue to injury.
Making his first start at midfield Matthew Edgar slotted in as if he had played that role all his life. The first half saw the home-side scoring seven points from ten chances. The away team scored three points from their ten chances which was the difference throughout the match. The three points scored by St Brigid’s were solo efforts by Chris Donnelly(x2) and Ryan, sorry Ciaran Mackle, where they ran straight at the Sarsfield’s defence. Perhaps recognising the closeness of the match Sarsfield’s mentors reorganised, moving their star player into centre-half forward and Sweeny to centre-full forward.
The first 15 minutes of the second half saw Sarsfield’s edging on the 50:50 balls, being crisper on their passing and seeming to have a free man every-time. However this was a commited showing and gutsy performance from St Brigid’s who continue to give great performances against the established teams. David Brennan was extremely unlucky not to have scored a goal in the first half. In a goal mouth scramble he had the keeper beaten but the ball bizarrely got stuck in the mud. In the second half Daniel McKeever (coming on as sub and having a super game) had a screamer of a shot which flashed wide of goal. Stevie O’Brien’s solo goal effort was undoubtedly the highlight of the second half.
This was a good performance by a committed St Brigid’s team and great preparation for the championship quarter-finals. Once again Stevie Murton excelled in goals. They don’t call him Cech for nothing. Malone was dominant as full back. The half back line of Kervick, McKeogh and McGread caught the eye time and time again. This time Chris Mooney had a new midfield partner in Matthew Edgar. It says a lot about a player who moves into a new position and earns man of the match status. Ben Sinnott was moved from the half backline to the half forward line and gave a tiring performance. As usual Donnelly and O’Brien’s performances were top-class. Brennan and Mackle gave earnest displays at full forward and another referee would have penalised many of the home sides tackles on them. Coming on as sub Daniel McKeever gave a performance which screamed ‘Pick me’ for the Championship.
Team: S Murton, C Mackle, M Malone, P Nolan (R Ward 30mins), R Kervick (N Murray 45mins), T McKeogh, L McGread, M Edgar, C Mooney, B Sinnott, C Donnelly, S O’Brien, M Kelly (D McKeever 30mins), D Brennan, R Mackle (C Fitzpatrick 50mins)
Subs not used: C Connolly, C McLoughlin, R O’Reilly
Scorers: C Donnelly 0-3, C Mackle 0-1, M Edgar 0-1, S O’Brien 1-0
Man of the Match: Matthew Edgar
