Venue: Saint Joseph’s College Coleraine
Brid Og’s reward for their heroics in the preliminary round was Division 2 grading (out of seven divisions) in the North Antrim League. This meant that the team was drawn against teams of the highest pedigree in Ulster hurling Bredagh, Eoghan Rua, Loughile Shamrocks, St Enda’s and Rossa. Unfortunately Ruairi Og’s could not field and the original group of seven teams was reduced to six.
The Brid Og got off to a flier in their first game against Rossa, with a 2-1 victory although the margin of victory should have been much greater. After a short break Brid Og’s next opponents were North Antrim side Loughguile Shamrock’s. Brid Og began well but our opponents started to dominate the midfield and created the majority of the chances. The sustained pressure around our goal resulted in several goals and the Shramrock’s came away easy victors even though we did get a couple of consolation goals. Our third game against Bredagh, continued in a similar manner with our opponents playing the better hurling and they scored some excellent goals for their victory. John and Oliver brought the players together into a huddle and reminded how well they had played the previous week and stressed the need to close down the space and be first to the ball. In their next game against Saint Enda’s the Brid Og began to play good hurling and got an early lead and were unlucky not to doubled their lead when the sliotar came off the upright. Unfortunately this escape woke up our opponents and they got a couple of quick goals and ultimately the victory by the narrowest of margins. Our final game was against the host club Eoghan Rua Coleraine. This was another tense and exciting game with the sliotar movements resembling a pin ball game. Our opponents got an early 2 goal lead but Brid Og fought back to earn a well-deserved draw.
After all the games were completed Bredagh and Loughguile progressed to the final. Good luck to both teams. Although the Brid Og record on the day shows 1 win, 1 draw and 3 losses it could easily have shown another 2 victories. It must also be mentioned that the team playing yesterday were very young and the majority of them will be able to have another crack at this league next year.
Thanks to Owen and the North Antrim Board for organising the games and Coleraine for hosting. As usual our parental support was large and vocal which helped the players during the tight games. Finally a big thankyou to the players who over the two week-end of games have enhanced the name of Brid Og hurling. Roll on 2014!!!.
Brid Og Panel
Andrew, Brendan, Ciara, Connla, David, Diarmaid, Joseph, Sean, Thomas
