O' Donnell Cup Match Report

Friday 28th September 2012 saw the St Brigids Under 12 footballers play the final of the O’Donnell Cup after playing local rivals St Galls and St Pauls in the previous rounds. The Club had won this competition in two out of the last three years, so there was a lot of pressure on the young lads to bring the Cup back to South Belfast. In their way was a strong O’Donovan Rossa side who had given the lads two good contests in the league earlier in the year.
The early evening sunshine gave way to a heavy downpour just before throw in, which made the conditions wet and the pitch heavy. This made the first few minutes of the game a bit of a lottery as both sides, found the ball very slippy and the bounce of the ball somewhat flat.
St Brigids however adjusted to the elements quicker than their opponents, and got some good early balls into the forward line of Brolly and Power, their first attempts on goal were well defended by Rossa.
However starting in the 7th minute, three scores in three minutes put the Malone lads in the driving seat. First a high ball in was caught well above his head by Ben Power, and he turned and rifled the ball into the net. Straight from the kick out Brolly pointed after being fouled around the 10 metre line, and he pointed again soon after, when some good work by Brown and Bradley drew a foul, Bradley being hauled down bearing when down on goal.
St Brigids were now 5 to the good, and the pressure on the Rossa goal continued, Peter King, and Cormac Barr seemed to have the better of their markers and continually were winning possession in the middle of the park, a clever through ball found Brown on the 20 metre line, who weaved his way through the Rossa defence and put the ball in the net for another goal.
Rossa were now finding it hard to clear their lines, as Cian McDonnell, John Morgan and Tom Dunford threw themselves into every tackle with tenacity. Tom found himself in the wars a couple of times, but picked himself up each time and got back into the game fully focused on his task.
Rossa needed something to take into the second half, and a rare breakaway saw them score a goal in the 17th minute, with their forward latching on to a long ball from midfield and sticking his toe to it ahead of the on rushing keeper. Peter Henvey could only watch, as the ball rolled slowly over the line into the net. St Brigids rallied well after this and worked the ball back into the opposition half, and in the lengthy injury time at the end of the first half Brolly pointed to give the St Brigids lads a 6 point cushion at the break.
Half Time St Brigids 2:3 Rossa 1:0
Whilst St Brigids controlled the first half, fortunes were reversed in the second, Rossa knew they needed a fast start to the second half to get back into the game, they the did just that with sustained pressure on the St Brigids goal right from the throw in.
Despite having little to do in the first half, Henvey was sharp and focused and made a stunning save early in the half, diving to his right to deny a certain goal from Rossa. This summed up the resolute defending of the whole defence, the likes of Peter Heaney and Callum Webb made Rossa work hard and kept them at bay out around the middle of the park.
Rossa however kept coming back at the Brigids lads and picked off six unanswered points, the momentum going into the last five minutes of the game was certainly with Rossa.
With game now tied, next score was crucial, could St Brigids who hadn’t scored so far in the half, dig deep and find one more score to win the game? Brian McCarthy the centre back who along with Shay Campbell and Ben Doherty, certainly thought so. These three who had seen a lot of the ball in the second half, between them broke up another Rossa attack and skilfully retained possession before releasing a long clearance to the middle of the park. There Barr and King combined to release Brolly. Rory who had been very disciplined in keeping his position in the half forward line, gathered the ball, turned and headed for the Rossa goal. He beat his man for pace and drew the final Rossa defender before playing in Power for a simple one on one with the keeper. As the net rippled a massive cheer went up from the sidelines, more in relief than celebration.
With two minutes to go, St Brigids had one hand on the trophy, keeping the ball in the Rossa half was the key thing to get the other hand on it. Try as they might Rossa couldn’t clear their lines and St Brigids made thinks safe with two more points, with Brolly feeding Power again, and John Morgan scoring from the right in the dying seconds.
As the ref blew the whistle to end the game, the lads knew they had been in a game, Rossa ran them very close, but in the end the better team won.
Final Score St Brigids 3:5 Rossa 1:6
Credit must go to the boys who played on the night, along with the substitutes (Patrick McCann, Eoin Mitchell, Conor Selvin, Zach Porter, Ruairi McDonnell,and Daniel Foster) and indeed the wider panel of Under 12 footballers. St Brigids are the only club in South Antrim that field in both Div 1 and 2, which is a testament to the hard work of the mentors and indeed parents of this bunch of lads.
Finally Thanks must go to the opposition Rossa and their mentors for a great sporting game of football, to the officials and not forgetting our host for the evening O’Donnells GAC.