Despite difficult conditions on a rain soaked Musgrave pitch, St Brigids U-12s outplayed a strong St Galls team to maintain their great start to the season. Both teams started brightly and for the first minutes tested each other with some nice passages of play. However, the sparring was abruptly interrupted by a quick change of pace from Neil O’Reilly who fired a low shot wide of the keeper and into the St Gall’s net. This was followed almost immediately by great work from Enda McCann playing wide on the right and feeding the ball into Dermot McMenamin at centre-full forward whose accurate cross was converted by Neil O’Reilly doubling his goal tally with a fine punch past the St Gall’s goalkeeper.
By this stage St Brigid’s were in complete command with James Smith and Peter Webb controlling midfield and Conor King roaming freely and only some determined tackling by the St Gall’s defence prevented further scores. After the excellent start, over confidence began to creep in particularly among the forwards who tended to over elaborate on the ball frequently opting for further goal attempts rather than the easier option of a point. Then, showing strong resolve, St Gall’s began to find their form with neat forward passing and only for the quick intervention of Patrick Finnegan, Rory Smith and the excellent Paul Storrs, they would surely have recorded some fine scores. Responding to this wake up call, St Brigid’s gained control, once again in midfield, and following a strong run from James Smith and a pin point pass, Shane Moran fired his first and St Brigid’s third goal of the game. The play now switched to the left side and good work from Michael Cummings and Daire McGarvey ensured there was no respite for the St Gall’s defence and resulted in further scores for Neil O’Reilly and an excellent point from Dermott McMenamin.
Again, St Gall’s rallied and this time following a lovely interchange between half backs and half forwards down the right side they scored a beautiful long range point. This encouraged the visitors who were now winning more in midfield and it was only the determined tackling by Frank McCormack and Finbarr Devlin and the quick thinking of Tiernan Cahill between the posts prevented any further St Gall’s scores that half. The final action of the first period saw clever play between Joseph Finnegan and Michael Cummings who played through to Daire McGarvey whose deflected shot spun past a helpless St Gall’s goal keeper.
The second half saw the introduction of Peter Lavery, Henry Dornan, Andrew McDowell, Jack Green, Callum Power and Ciaran Diamond adding new perspective to the attacking play. Having obviously listened to the constructive criticism at half time, the St Brigids team now started to take their points at every opportunity with fine scores from Peter Webb, James Smith, Shane Moran and Ciaran Diamond. Now with little to lose, St Gall’s pushed forward leaving large gaps in the heart of their defence which was eagerly exploited with further goals from Neil O’Reilly and Shane Moran.
As St Brigid’s made a number of further changes they lost their defensive shape and allowed St Gall’s to show what they were capable of. A number of strong runs from the defence and quick passing movements ensured St Gall’s were rewarded with two goals in quick succession. However fine play from Ruiri Lavery, Finbar Devlin and Andrew McDowell ensured these were to be their only scores for the remainder of the game. For the final stages of the game St Brigid’s were in complete control and their strong levels of fitness showed through.
