U-14 League.
St Brigids 1:3 St John 1:5
Still running on a very reduced panel the 16-man squad of St Brigids travelled to Woodlands to meet St Johns. A good crowd watched a very entertaining and close match between these physically well matched teams. St Johns opened the scoring with a well taken point from distance and went 4 ahead as their mid-field pairing combined to slice through St Brigids defence to find the back of the net. Thereafter the St Brigids half back line of Mc Grady, Bailley and Ferguson got to grips (literally in some cases) with the opposition and St Johns free scoring was brought to a halt.
Good fielding by Dowling released Lundy along the right wing who landed a pass to full forward Sweeney to volley home a reply goal for St Brigids. St Johns were then held within their own 45 for a further 10 minutes but scores for the St Brigids side proved hard to convert with only one further point to show for a long period of dominance. The half time whistle went with the score 1:2 to 1:1 in favour of St Johns.
With the wind at their backs in the second half St Brigids were hopeful of overtaking St Johns but as minutes crept by we were unable to convert possession to scores as five wides were carded from very scoreable positions. St Brigids back trio of Winters, Bogue and Webb coped with most of the St Johns counter attacks but unlike the men in blue and amber they were able to pick out three points from 30m out to give a cushion with 5 minutes remaining.
A fight back then ensued. Mackle held on gamely to win a free which he converted in style. Dowling cut through to convert from a seemingly impossible angle. Time was not on our side however and the whistle sounded dead on time to leave us trailing by two.
A good performance overall –I foresee a lecture on shooting and scoring zones at training on Sunday.
Man of the Match:- Gerry Bogue
Notable performances: – Bailley, Mc Grady, Salters
