Play against the wind, give it everything from the first whistle, leave them wondering what hit them! … ala Kerry (v Tyrone) 2003, Tyrone (v Derry) 2006 and Mayo (every year). That was the plan …. 15 minutes later the scoreboard read Rossa 0 – 00 St Brigids 0 – 00. The actual score was 0–3 to 0-0 to Rossa but the officials at Casement “couldn’t find the clicker”. Throw in 7 Rossa wides and they could have been out of sight.
16th minute and St Brigids finally cut through the Rossa defence resulting in Paddy McDonald blasting over the bar. Two points from Joe Brolly (one from a free) tied it up at 3 each before Rossa tagged on two more along with another half dozen wides.
Ruari O’Neill pulled one back in injury time, to make up for the one not given by the umpire who couldn’t quite see it because he had just tripped over his guide dog (not the same dog James Loughrey fell over on the stairs the night before the match, her name has yet to be revealed).
Half Time:
St Brigids 0 – 4
Rossa 0 – 5
It was either the inspirational team talk at the break or the fact that Joe Brolly (hard and all as he is to listen to) is still a class act that swung the game towards the Malone Road in the second half. Me fears it was the latter. Points on 3, 8, 11, 19 and 21 miutes gave the blues (in Magherafelt school boy jersies) a two-point lead.
To their credit O’Donovan Rossa never stopped trying and tied the game up twice more before superb points from Paul O’Hara and Duncan MacAuley plus two more from you know who gave St Brigids a 4 point cushion and guaranteed victory.
John Mackle, in for the hard done by Stephen Morrissey, belied his years with a superb display of kick outs. Joe Mc Keever gave what would have been a man of the match display in corner back, except for the fact that Deaghlan O’ Hagan was mom in the other corner. In between Richard Smyth was sound. Paul O’Hara was the best of the halfbacks, with Gregory McGonigle having to come back to shore up the defence. Paddy McDonald gave his all for 45 minutes while Mark Sweeney, Benny Reilly and, in the second half, Duncan MacAuley worked tirelessly. Loughrey came on at half time having received a texted ok from the SINI physio, Chris McCann replaced Ruari O’Neill while Aidan Owens came on to give a “how f**king dare you drop me” performance in the last quarter. And Brolly scored 8. And Brolly scored 8. That’s not a typo … Brolly scored 8.
Tyrone won an All Ireland in 2005 while never managing to break even at midfield; St Brigids won an Antrim Intermediate Quarter Final without winning a break ball, never mind midfield. A new template or a sign of the standard? Once again, me fears the latter.
Full Time:
St Marys Magherafelt 0 – 12
St Pauls 0 – 8
