St Brigids made it through to the Quarter Final of The Intermediate Championship by the minimum of margins in a real nail biting cliff hanger (if there is such a thing) at Ballymena.
After the saga of rearranged dates venues and times the action finally commenced with Dunloy scoring a free in the first minute. Niall McDonald opened the St Brigids account after some good play involving Mark Sweeney and Joe Brolly. Brolly himself added a free on the quarter hour before Dunloy tied it up at two apiece a minute later.
The exchanges were hard but fair and the St Brigids defence were giving an exhibition of how to tackle and block, not least the wingmen, Aidan Owens, Benny Reilly, Gareth Macklin and the impressive Paul O’Hara.
Already it was obvious that it would take something special to separate the sides and that something came in the form of a Brolly goal on 29 minutes after a great passing movement involving some half dozen players. Brolly and Ruari O’Neill had already pointed frees and St Brigids looked to be heading for the break on double scores. Dunloy however responded strongly and scored two points in injury time to cut the lead to two, a fair reflection on the half.
Half Time: Dunloy 0 – 5
St Brigids 1 – 4
Dunloy controlled the opening third of the second half but some superb defending led by Richard Smyth and Conor Mullan restricted them to two points.
It was then St Brigids turn for a period of domination driven by the runs of young Mark Sweeney. This domination however yielded wides on 13, 14, 16, 17 minutes plus two scorable frees missing the target.
So, ten to go and all square, time for some drastic action…
1. The “Paddy McDonald” experiment …
Building on the new template of Mickey Harte of playing no challenge matches and limiting training to no more than once a week for league and twice for championship games, the St Brigids management have decided that Paddy should train no more than twice a month and be very selective about what matches he shows for. In fact he was even sent to Spain for a break on the week of the game. Big Joe never thought of that one! Of course it worked a treat. Paddy moved to the middle for the last quarter where he completely dominated. What possession he didn’t win was invariably picked up by a blue jersey with Deaghlan O’Hagan, Niall McDonald and Paul McCrudden, a half time replacement for the injured O’Hara, starting to win break ball.
2. The “Shoukri factor” …
What do you do when your forwards aren’t scoring but your midfield is on top and your defence is expertly dealing with any challenge thrown at them with disciplined marking and tackling and above all else, not conceding frees? Well if you’re the keeper it’s obvious, wait until a forward gets close enough, then attempt to decapitate him. Stephen didn’t even smell the penalty go past him.
3. Your man McCann …
7 minute to go and 2 points behind, time to check out what life this virus has left in Chris McCann … answer three possessions 2 frees won and a shot that shook the net and led to joy on the sideline.
The ref found time for nine added minutes but powered on by Gregory McGonigle and late sub Barry Gormley, the Belfast boys held out for a famous victory.
Full Time: Dunloy 1 – 7
St Brigids 2 – 5
Phew!!!
Team:
Stephen Morrissey, Aidan Owens, Richard Smyth, Benny Reilly, Paul O’Hara,
Conor Mullan, Gareth Macklin, Gregory McGonigle, Deaghlan O’Hagan, Duncan MacAuley, Paddy McDonald, Mark Sweeney, Ruari O’Neill (0-2 frees),
Joe Brolly (1-2, 1 free), Niall McDonald (0-1).
Substitutes Used:
Paul McCrudden, Chris McCann (1-0), Barry Gormley.
