Last Wednesday night saw another match at Harlequins for the Seniors in the space of a few days; this time against a flourishing Aldergrove team that are serious title rivals for Division 3. St Brigid’s again proved victorious in a great team display that augurs well for their championship and league ambitions.
In a relatively low-scoring first-half, Joe Brolly opened his account with a well-taken goal a few minutes after the throw-in that finished off some good work from James Loughrey to set him up. That was closely followed up with a point from Ruairi O’Neill in response to some early frees that were converted by the visitors. The defence cleaned up well in the opening half, with some great blocks by Greg McGonigle and Conor Mullan preventing any serious damage to St Brigid’s lead, and the all-round performances of Richard Smyth and Benny Reilly keeping the full-forward line at bay. Loughrey began to assert his dominance in midfield as St Brigid’s began to dominate the opening half with combination of tenacious defending and smart movement up front, leading them to score 3 without reply in the remainder of this half. Two points from Aidan Owens, and a well taken free from O’Neill on the stroke of half time kept the hosts firmly in front- but with a fair bit of work to do in order to maintain the advantage.
Half Time: St Brigids 1 – 4
Aldergrove 0 – 2
The second half started off well for the hosts, whom capitalised on their lead with Joe Brolly scoring a further 2 points (one from play and the other a placed ball). Aldergrove began shooting wildly as the St Brigid’s defence were firmly on top by this stage, mopping up everything and forcing the visitors into some wayward shooting and misplaced passes. The forward movement also improved as Greg McGonigle scored a low, placed shot to further the advantage after some fine play from Ruairi O’Neill to set him up. O’Neill got on the scoresheet himself a few minutes later after about 2 or 3 shots were saved well by the Aldergrove keeper, only for the ball to land at the feet of the corner-forward, who had enough time to take a touch and score a screamer from all of 40 centimetres.
Brolly followed the goal of the season up with a well-taken score with the outside of his boot from 20 yards out four minutes later, before O’Neill struck again with a fantastic curling point from 40 yards out on the sideline (that we will probably never hear the end of). Brolly popped up again a few minutes later to bring his total to 1-4 for the day, as he clipped the ball between the posts to put the game beyond doubt with 14 minutes left.
A sustained period of Aldergrove pressure that included a few long-range efforts and some lung-bursting runs from the back proved scoreless as the backs were giving their men no change (with Substitute Paul McCrudden and Richard Smyth being the standouts). Niall McDonald added 2 more points at the end; one a fine long range effort and the other a great team move from McGonigle, McAuley and him that ended up the last score of the game.
Full Time: St Brigids 3 -11
Aldergrove 0 – 2
The Seniors were always on top in this match, which saw a generally solid team performance with a clean sheet at one end and some great scores at the other.
Team: Stephen Morrissey, Benny Reilly, Richard Smyth, Frank O’Neill, Deaghlan O’Hagan, Conor Mullan, Gareth Mackin, James Loughrey, Gregory McGonigle(1-0), Aidan Owens (0-2), Niall McDonald (0-2), Duncan MacAuley, Ruairi O’Neill (1-3, 0-1 f), Joe Brolly (1-4 (0-1 f), Barry Gormley.
Subs used:
P McCrudden, K McCrudden, R Brolly, P McDonald, B Loughran.
