It was a case of another lesson in the hard knock life for Naomh Brid at Corrigan Park on Wednesday as they fell to a last gasp punched goal deep in injury time that denied them both league points. The narrow defeat was somewhat harsh on stand-in manager Aidan Short’s makeshift side which had overhauled St John’s in the second period with two excellent goals in an engrossing finale that threatened to, and eventually did, spill over into a short contretemps. With two league defeats to the Johnnies, the incentive now must be to reverse the fortunes in their championship joust in August, when the stakes will be considerably higher.
The visitors were minus the services of Loughrey and Christie, which forced a reshuffle of a lean 19-man squad. In an evenly contested but mainly uneventful first half that saw little to inspire the attendance, St John’s corner forward McFaul was the pick of the bunch as he was instrumental in the home attack, firing over two excellent points. Naomh Brid had enjoyed a decent opening, leading on double scores after 10 minutes with three Cunningham frees and a Ward point to their credit. But despite a lot of puffing and blowing, they failed to add to their tally in the half. St John’s meanwhile were hardly much better and, despite having the better of things at midfield , conspired to hit more than their fair share of wides. They did however finish the half more strongly thanks to some naive tackling and poor distribution that gifted two simple scoring frees.
Half time: Naomh Eoin 0-6 Naomh Brid 0-4
The early second half exchanges were even with both sides finding their scoring range again. Three points were swapped as Cunningham (free), Ward and Sweeney made their mark. But the St John’s slender lead suddenly evaporated on 44 minutes as Sweeney from a quick breakaway angled a perfect through ball to O’Neill who squeezed the ball into the side of the net. Sherry followed up with an immediate score on the run and suddenly the match was alight. The Johnnies replied with a point but were stunned again on 51 minutes when the visitors broke smartly as O’Hagan and Sweeney combined and O’Neil broke the ball to Ward who shaved the inside of the post with an excellent finish. But as with the first period, the visitors’ scoring was done early and the question was whether enough was in the bank. The minutes ticked on and with an heroic defensive effort, particularly from the full back line, Naomh Brid held a precious two point lead as the meter went to red. The game was suspended briefly for a minor set-to, which may have been a distraction. Whatever the excuse, possession in defence was needlessly gifted in the dying seconds and the punishment seemed cruel in the circumstances.
Full time: Naomh Eoin 1-12 Naomh Brid 2-8
Team: W McSorley, D MacAuley, R Daly, M Gallagher, C McLaughlin, B McMahon, D O’Hagan, R Smyth, M Malone, M Sweeney (0-1), F Sherry (0-1), D Edwards, R O’Neill (1-0), N Cunningham (0-4), M Ward (1-2) Subs used: R McGrady, J McKeever
