In stark contrast to the quarter final St Brigids opened up this Intermediate Semi final with a first quarter blitz against Davitts at Casement Park.
After 15 minutes St Brigids led 0-5 to 0-1 through points from Mark Sweeney, Joe Brolly twice, Benny Reilly and Ruari O’Neill, all from play. Truth be told, it should have been 3-10 to 0-1 given the chances created, but at least they were created.
St Brigids then took a break while Davitts notched up a couple of points and almost hit the net to tie it up at 5 all. Another score from Reilly on the stroke of half time left it double scores.
Half Time: St Brigids 0 – 6
Davitts 0 – 3
As in the first half the boys in Blue totally dominated the opening period of the second, so much so that the game was effectively over by the time O’Neill chipped over his third point of the day in the 45th minute. Along with two more from Reilly and two Brolly frees this gave a 9 point advantage to the South Belfast Gaels.
A bit of a Davitts revival yielded two points before Reilly and O’Neill struck again. Substitute, Chris McCann added the coup de gras with a goal on the long whistle.
Full Time: St Brigids 1 – 14
Davitts 0 – 5
John Mackle saved superbly in the first minute of the second half to prevent the score being levelled. In front of him the full back line of Joe McKeever, Richard Smyth and Deaghlan O’Hagan were outstanding. Half balks, Gareth Macklin, Gregory McGonigle and especially Paul O’Hara were solid as rocks. Paddy McDonald gave it his all for half an hour while James Loughrey ruled the roost around the middle when coming out to accompany Conor Mullan. Duncan MacAuley didn’t put a foot wrong; Mark Sweeney (0-1) will be joining Loughrey in a Saffron jersey if he keeps this up. Joe B had a quiet day (0-4!) while Benny (0-5) and Ruari(0-4) stole the show.
(P.S. Aidan Owens gave another eye opening performance coming off the bench … how come he’s not starting? Must be Eunan’s fault!)
Team:
John Mackle, Joe McKeever, Richard Smyth, Deaghlan O’Hagan, Gareth Macklin, Gregory McGonigle, Paul O’Hara, Paddy McDonald, Conor Mullan, Duncan MacAuley, Mark Sweeney, Benny Reilly, Ruari O’Neill, Joe Brolly, James Loughrey.
Substitutes Used:
Aidan Owens, Chris McCann, Niall McDonald, Frankie Devlin, Paul Finnegan.
