Congratulations to our u14 footballers on winning their championship semi-final vs Rossa at Musgrave Park this evening. The boys can now look forward to the big stage of Casement Park and the prospect of bringing home some silverware for the club.
U14 South Antrim Championship – Semi- Final – 18 September 2012
St Brigid’s 3-16 Rossa 4-3
St Brigid’s U14 footballers booked their place in the South Antrim championship final with a hard fought win over a very strong and sporting Rossa team.
Playing with a strong wind in the first half, St Brigid’s steadily built up a strong lead. This was built on a very impressive forward display where all 6 of the forwards scored from play. The best of these scores was a superb goal by Ethan Carleton. Fielding a high ball in the Rossa penalty box, Ethan shot on the turn and found the top corner of the net. With all 3 of St Brigid’s full forwards scoring a goal, St Brigid’s held a commanding lead, 3-6 to 0-2, at half time. However, it took an equally impressive display by the St Brigid’s defence to manage to keep Rossa to only 2 scores in this period. St Brigid’s corner backs Daire McGarvey and John Toner broke up numerous attacks and even more impressively set up as many counter-attacks with some great passes out of defence. Paul Storrs at full back was also excellent and showed great alertness in superbly reading the play.
However, the 2nd half would prove to be a tough battle as Rossa, now with the wind. showed great team spirit and were duly rewarded with 3 goals within the first 10 minutes. However, St Brigid’s defence regrouped and showed great character in shutting up shop thereafter. This was on the back of some brilliant man marking by Owen Winters and tenacious tackling by Patrick Finnegan and Frank McCormack at half back. With the backs having to work so hard it was important that the midfield and forwards lifted some of the pressure. This they did. Peter Webb at centre half forward lead by example scoring a further 3 points in the process. Joseph Finnegan and Brogan Austin at midfield worked tirelessly and supported the forwards at every opportunity. Building on this platform, St Brigid’s went on to score a further 10 points from play in the second half. This was a great testament to the team which showed great character and composure when tested. The St Brigid’s forwards looked very sharp and 5 of the 6 forwards again scored in the second half. At half forward, John Blaney and James Smith looked dangerous on very attack. James Smith scored an impressive 0-5.
St Brigid’s: Ruairi Lynch, Daire McGarvey, Paul Storrs, John Toner, Patrick Finnegan, Owen Winters, Frank McCormack, Joseph Finnegan, Brogan Austin (0-2), John Blaney (0-3), Peter Webb (0-4), James Smith (0-5), Peter Lavery (1-1), Matty Loane (1-1), Ethan Carleton (1-0), Malachy Beysatt, Oran Boyle, Tiarnan Cahill, Callum Copeland, Gerard Kervick, Phelim Lennon, Finbar Devlin, Steve Quinn
