With the storm clouds gathering in South Belfast the St Brigids u10 football squad assembled at the YMCA on Saturday morning, 6th June, for the annual pilgrimage to the “u10 All Irelands” – otherwise know as the Newry Mitchells tournament. With a panel of 20 players assembled and under darkening skies “a convoy” of coaches and parents set out for Newry. Just under an hour latter we had reached our destination, and the weather had lived up to the pessimistic forecast with the heavy rainfall set to remain a permanent fixture for the day.
With forty teams in attendance the clubs were divided into groups of five, with St Brigids matched against opposition from Burren, Newry Shamrocks, Oliver Plunkett’s Drogheda and Clann Eireann Lurgan.
Match 1: St Brigids v Clann Eireann
First game in the group for St Brigids got underway at 11am against Clann Eireann from Lurgan. The game started with some good passages of play from both teams. Phelim Lennon, operating at full forward, opened the scoring with two fine points to give St Brigids an early lead. With the team in full flow in the opening period, wing half forward Paddy Cunnane added a further point before the Armagh side opened their account with a point. St Brigids were playing some fine football with Ethan Carleton and Ben Power dominating the midfield exchanges and providing a steady supply to the forward line. It wasn’t long before St Brigids domination of the ball resulted with a fine goal from Phelim Lennon after an inch perfect pass from John Toner. The St Brigids defence, ably marshalled by Oran Boyle, were sniffing out any attacks from Clann Eireann and providing a great platform for the forwards. John Toner added a further two points, one after a great interchange with Ethan Carleton from a short “45”, to extend the lead for the boys from Belfast. With St Brigids in full control at this stage Paddy Cunnane finished of the first half scoring with a great goal from distance to leave the half-time score 2-5 to 0-1 in favour of St Brigids. The second half got underway in much the same fashion as the first half had finished with Stephen Quinn crashing the ball to the Clann Eireann net. With St Brigids in control in all sectors of the pitch and playing great football the result was assured. Callum Herity at full back, ably assisted by Peter Heaney, were quick to eliminate any attacking threat. Eunan Carlin and James Ferguson entered the fray in the second half and immediately slotted into the team and ensured St Brigids kept a stranglehold on the possession. Ethan Carleton completed a fine performance at midfield with a fine point, while Phelim Lennon added to his total with three fine points from the left hand side. Clann Eireann to their credit never gave up and registered a second point, before John Toner finished off the game with a well taken point. With the game over St Brigids had started the day in fine form with a 3-10 to 0-2 victory.
Match 2: St Brigids v Burren
After a 50 minute break, in wet and cold conditions, second up in the group stage was the local challenge of Burren. Right from the outset it was clear this would be a very different challenge for the boys from Belfast against the physically stronger lads from the renowned Down club. The game got underway with Burren dominating the early possession and registering the first three scores with points. Despite being physically out muscled the St Brigids lads didn’t demur from the challenge with Callum Copeland and Luke O’Sullivan putting in some great work in defence. Ethan Carleton continued to drive forward and scored a great point to open the account for St Brigids. Just before the break Burren found the net to leave the half time score 1-3 to 0-1. With the second half underway St Brigids continued to find themselves under significant pressure, but continued to fight hard with Ben Power at midfield now starting to “hold his own” and win some great ball. Up front Rory Brolly, Stephen Quinn and Tom Dunford were working hard to gain possession while also preventing Burren from establishing many attacking options. Burren added a further two points in the second half – and only for some heroic defending by Ruairi Lynch at half back and fantastic goal keeping and kick outs by Peter Henvey in goals, the score line would have read a lot worse for St Brigids. With the final whistle sounded, a disappointed, yet unbowed St Brigids left the field defeated by a score line of 1-5 to 0-1. While disappointed the lads could hold their heads high having been defeated by an excellent Burren team, who would remain undefeated in the group stages.
Match 3: St Brigids v Oliver Plunkett’s Drogheda
With one win and one defeat and with the incessant rain continuing St Brigids took the field for a third time against Oliver Plunkett’s in what turned out to be a very tight and exciting game. The Drogheda side started the stronger with St Brigids still suffering the hang-over of defeat from the Burren game. Oliver Plunkett’s opened a two point lead before St Brigids eventually got themselves into the game with a fine score from Ethan Carleton at midfield. St Brigids were being outfought in most sectors and were struggling to find the form they had shown in the opening game and the opposition extended their lead with a further point before Phelim Lennon recorded a second point for St Brigids to leave the score 0-3 to 0-2 at half-time. After a strong half-time team talk from the coaches the team took to the field in the second half with renewed vigour. With Oran Boyle now dominating proceedings from centre-half back and Callum Herity making some fine catches and clearances at full-back St Brigids drove forward in search of scores. Ben Power was beginning to gain a real stranglehold in midfield and capped a fine performance by crashing the ball to the net to put St Brigids into the lead. Phelim Lennon added another point to give St Brigids with a 3 point margin as the time ticked by. Up front Rory Brolly was responsible for some great tackling and ensured that the Drogheda side were not allowed to establish a sustained attacking platform. However, Oliver Plunkett’s we not about to concede the game without a fight. With less than five minutes remaining they launched a sustained assault on the St Brigids goal. The St Brigids defence was up to the challenge and with Conor Kelly proving to be a real rock in one corner, while Peter Heaney was equally resolute in the other corner. As the game entered the final minutes Oliver Plunkett’s registered another point to leave two between the sides and they continued to apply significant pressure to the St Brigids defence who were now fighting a rear guard action. With only seconds remaining another wave of attack was launched with a goal required – and once again Peter Henvey came to the rescue with a sublime save to prevent what looked like an odds on goal. As the referee blew the final whistle the lads from St Brigids had realised they had withstood the final onslaught and set themselves up with a “winner takes all” deciding group match against Newry Shamrocks. After the defeat against Burren the lads had shown real character to bounce back and record a great victory against a strong Oliver Plunkett’s side.
Match 4: St Brigids v Newry Shamrocks
The last of the group matches saw St Brigids pitted against the local side from Shamrocks to determine who would qualify from the group. With each team recording two victories in their previous three games, this was set-up for a close fought and intense encounter. Shamrocks started the stronger and registered a goal and a point before St Brigids realised they were in a game. As the half progressed John Toner, now operating at midfield alongside Ethan Carleton began to control possession. After some great interchange play the ball was moved into Phelim Lennon who turned and struck a great point. St Brigids continued to grow in confidence with Oran Boyle now dominating pla
y at half back. Eunan Carlin was a real live wire in attack and kept the Shamrocks defence on their toes at all times. Shane Nolan, also in the St Brigids attack, was also proving to be a constant threat for the Shamrocks defence. Just before the break Phelim Lennon found himself in the clear and crashed the ball to the Shamrocks net to level the game and setup a thrilling second period. St Brigids started the second half in the same vain they had finished the first, with Luke O’Sullivan and Conor Kelly in fine form at the back. Ben Power had reverted to full-back as Callum Herity had to leave the action at half time due to a shoulder injury. Tom Maguire was covering a lot of ground and ensuring that the Shamrocks were unable to establish any level of sustained pressure. At this stage St Brigids were in control and this was emphasised when Phelim Lennon, who was now a real handful for the Shamrocks defence, added to his growing score tally by flicking the ball to the net to give the Belfast boys a three point lead. Back came Shamrocks with a sustained spell of pressure, which cumulated in a goal to once again level the scores – the two teams looked inseparable as extra time loomed. As the game entered the final minute the Shamrocks launched another attack and after a “scrap” in the square the ball found its way to the net to give the Newry side a three point lead. St Brigids, however refused to bow and fought their way up the pitch again for the final attack of the game. Shane Nolan fielded a great ball in front of the Shamrocks goal, he passed it out to Phelim Lennon who slammed the ball to the net for what we thought was the equalising score. However the joy was short-lived as the referee had correctly blown for a foul pass. Alas time had run out and despite a valiant attempt the lads from St Brigids bowed out of the tournament as the referee blew the final whistle.
Throughout the course of the day the lads had shown great determination playing against quality opposition in very inclement weather conditions. At all stages the squad showed great determination, skill and most importantly respect for their opposition, the referee and the team coaches. With a great squad spirit and high level of skill the team have plenty to be proud of, and will provide a bright future for St Brigids. Well done to the full squad for a great performance.
A special thanks to the coaches – Damian Power, Craig Dunford, Niall Herity & Oliver Lennon – and to the parents who travelled to Newry to support the team. Despite the very wet and windy conditions the team was well supported and put in some fine performances thought-out the day.
The squad and scorers on the day were: Peter Henvey, Peter Heaney, Callum Herity, Luke O’Sullivan, Ruairi Lynch, Oran Boyle, Callum Copeland, Ben Power (1-0), Ethan Carleton (0-3), Paddy Cunnane (1-1), John Toner (0-3), Tom Dunford, Stephen Quinn (1-0), Phelim Lennon (3-8), Rory Brolly, Shane Nolan, Conor Kelly, James Ferguson, Tom Maguire
