By Joe Begley
It was a depleted U16 St. Brigids squad that turned up to play St. Johns U16s at Corrigan Park. Fifteen players began the match with no back up on the bench.
St Brigids started brightly with Ben Sinnott opening the scoring. He quickly followed up with another fine effort.
Michael Malone then got his first score on the board giving St. Brigids a comfortable three-point lead. This advantage was abruptly cancelled when St. John’s scored a goal. Undeterred, St. Brigids carried on with Michael Malone finding the target again. Chris Mooney the dynamic midfielder followed up with another point. Matthew Kelly then skilfully lost his marker to find space and fire over the bar.
Despite this promising start St. Brigids then lost their rhythm. St. Johns started to settle into the game and scored their first point. Another two goals and two points followed this.
Halftime Score:
St. Brigids 0-6
St Johns 3-3.
St Brigids came out positively in the second half with Michael Malone taking the first score. St Johns replied with two successive points. St Johns were really dominating the game and it was obvious certain members of the St Brigids team were beginning to tire. With no substitutes there were limited options available to the managers. St Johns took full advantage of this situation and went on to score a further two goals and four points. Conor Mackle managed a goal late in the second half to save some of St. Brigids blushes. Along with another point from Michael Malone this made the final score:
St Brigids 1-10
St Johns 5-9.
While some players played valiantly it was clear that others were suffering from tired legs and low energy levels – possibly an aftermath of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.
It was a punishing day. Hopefully future matches will see a bigger squad and more appetite for victory.
