The future’s bright! Congratulations to our u12s who stormed to a final spot in the O’Donell Cup after a resounding 8-4 to 1-1 win over St Paul’s at Shaws Road on Friday evening. Naomh Brid will now contest both the u12 and u14 South Antrim football finals and, based on their respective performances to date, both squads will be a formidable opposition for their counterparts. This achievement is a testament to the excellent coaching that they receive and our thanks goes to their dedicated mentors and supportive parents. Please turn out in numbers to support the boys on their big days.
Final Friday 28th September, O’Donnell Park, Throw in 6.15pm
Semi Final Match Report
Friday 22nd September 2012
It was a mild night at Rossa Park, as the Naomh Brid Under 12 Footballers took to the field in the Semi Final of the O’ Donnell Cup. The Malone Road lads won the toss and elected to play “down the hill”,
Straight from the throw in St Brigids went on the offensive, and although their first venture into the St Pauls square resulted in a wide, they made sure they kept the ball in the St Pauls half and kept them under pressure.
Despite the St Brigids territorial advantage the game was fairly evenly contested for the next couple of minutes, however in the third minute the St Brigids lads broke the deadlock. After some good build up play around the half forward line, Rory Brolly played in Ben Power, who fired home a goal for the first score of the evening for the boys in blue, However the lead was to be short lived as the St Pauls lads took the game to St Brigids and promptly went down the other end and fired in an equaliser.
The prompt reply by the Hoops stirred the St Brigids team into some action, Brolly again won a breaking ball in the St Pauls half and held off two men while bearing down on goal, as he rifled a shot into the roof of the net. The young St Pauls keeper stood no chance with the well directed shot, however in following minute he pulled off a stunning save to deny Power his second score of the night. St Pauls were now finding it hard to clear their lines, and Cormac Barr came up from the middle of the park to register another three pointer. With five minutes gone St Brigids looked like they were in control.
All credit to St Pauls they regrouped and kept St Brigids to a single score, over the next fourteen minutes, a well taken one from Peter King who sensibly took his score from distance after a skillful bit of build up play from the Malone lads. King’s score seem to spur the St Brigids lads back into life as they ended the half with three late scores. Another Brolly goal after some god interplay from King and Eoin Brown, a well taken point from Paul Bradley with his left foot, and a point from Power just before the half time whistle,
Half time St Brigids 4:3 St Pauls 1:0
The half time score looked good for St Brigids and with the flurry of scores towards the end of the first half, all the signs pointed to more St Brigids scores in the second half.
However that wasn’t the way it turned out, St Pauls half team talk seemed to fire the Hoops up, and they came out determined to get back in the game. Indeed it was they who registered the first score in the second period, with a point after winning a 45. The Shaws Road lads then had a period of dominance for the follwing ten minutes playing some good possession football and narrowly shooting wide on a couple of occasions, The resolute defence of McCarthy, Webb, Heaney, Campbell and Doherty kept them at bay for all of this period. It wasn’t until the 11th minute of the second half that the Naomh Brid boys got their first score of the period, good work by Dunsford and a neat to play in Power resulted in the St Pauls centre back handling the ball on the ground inside the small square. This was an unfortunate error by the young lad and the referee was almost apologetic when awarding the penalty to St Brigids. St Brigids’ Keeper Peter Henvey stepped up “Stephen Cluxton style” and despatched the ball into the net for another St Brigids goal.
This seem to wake up St Brigids, Brolly hit the post soon after, and and Power added to his goal tally with another in the 15th minute, this time following strong fielding from Brolly and Brown in the half forward line, the St Pauls keeper made a fantastic save from the intial shot was was beaten by the rebound.
Brolly made amends for his miss, with another goal, after being fed from the right with a great ball in from the right from Paddy McCann who had taken field, as St Brigids rang the changes with some fresh legs. As the half came to an end, John Morgan who had been working tirelessly on the right wing got his name on the scoresheet as he clipped a lovely point from wide on the right, then the final score of the game came from Bradley who finally got his goal after Conor Selvin cleverly anticipated a kick out from the keeper.
The refereree blew for full time and the South Belfast lads were true to the final, whilst the final score was somewhat comprehensive in favor of St Brigids, in reality it was a closer game than the scoreline suggested. Next up is the final against a strong Rossa side, where the lads will have tough battle to win back the O’ Donnell Cup.
Final Score St Brigids 8:3 St Pauls 1:1.
