St Brigids U12 footballers enjoyed a great day of football on Saturday 26th June at the 5th annual Glenavy Creaney Cup. There were 12 teams taking part from Antrim, Derry and Dublin – 180 children in all. The format was a group stage followed by a semi final and final. St Brigids group included St Patrick’s Lisburn, St Joseph’s Glenavy and Saul.
Playing St Patricks in their first match, St Brigids started very positively and steadily built up a strong lead. Paul Storrs, playing full back, was in commanding form and showed some superb high catching skills. Ethan Carleton and Daire McGarvey were also a constant threat, making great runs off the ball to help create space in the Lisburn defence. In midfield and defence, Owen Winters and Finbar Devlin were also rock solid.
In their second match, St Brigid’s faced the hosts Glenavy. This was a closely contested match but St Brigid’s accuracy in front of the posts was very telling – epitomised by a great longe range point from James Smith. Peter Lavery and Phelim Lennon were also in great form, kicking over fine individual scores.
The final match of the group stage saw St Brigid’s play Saul in a table top decider. This was a very tight match and for the first time, St Brigids found themselves behind. With only a minute left and one point behind, St Brigid’s showed great determination and composure. On the back of some superb and tenacious tackling by Oran Boyle, Patrick Finnegan burst through the Saul defence to score from an acute angle. This levelled the match, but St Brigids topped the group on a tieback.
However, the teams would meet again as Saul also qualified for the Cup. The semi-final vs Saul was arguably St Brigid’s finest performance. This time, they steadily built up an unassailable lead playing a very open and fast paced brand of football. Joseph Finnegan was a tower of strength in midfield – making sure the strong and tall Saul midfield did not win clean ball. Enda Kelly McCann had also a great game. A great tackle by Enda led to a key turnover from which Peter Lavery went on to finish with a fine score. In defence, Frank McCormack (Captain) led by example, sweeping up everything and using the ball very cleverly to set up countless St Brigid’s attacks.
In the final, St Brigid’s were paired against Aghagallon. This would prove to be another titantic tussle. St Brigid’s initially took the lead but Aghagallon responded well and went on to overtake St Brigid’s. With only a minute left, St Brigid’s were a point behind. However, great credit must go to the team who again showed great fighting spirit and composure. On the back of another good team move, Joseph Finnegan scored a great point from distance to level the match and send the final into extra time – to be decided by a ‘golden point’.
Nerves were taut – but within a minute of the restart, Peter Webb won a free in the middle of the park. Joseph Finnegan quickly played it short to his brother Patrick, who had made a clever run to lose his marker. Patrick played a great pass into Peter Webb who burst forward and from 30 yards out hit the winning ‘golden point’. This was a great score – fit to win any final. At the time it seemed to hang in the air indefinitely – before splitting the posts and triggering the celebrations.
Many thanks to Glenavy for hosting a very enjoyable and sporting day of football.
