St. Brigid’s secured a first-round proper appearance in the under 21 championship after defeating a very young and inexperienced Patrick Sarsfield’s team on Friday last at St Agnes’s ground at the Woodlands complex.
The game turned out to be a one-sided affair and when the Sarsfield’s fomer county minor Sweeney got a red card midway through the first half, with the score at 1-6 to 3 points, any resisitance was quickly put to the sword by a string of points from Rory O’Neill.
A stong opening quarter from the Malone Road boys saw a string of goal opportunities squandered, but Rory O’Neill kept the scoreboard ticking over. Deaghlan O’Hagan was a rock at centre half back and was the launchpad for a series of long balls into the danger area, where Mark Sweeney popped up to augment the in-form O’Neill in the scoring stakes by scoring a goal to take the Naomh Brid score to 1-6.
After the sending off, James Loughrey continued his excellent fielding to dominate the midfield sector, and with the benefit of an extra man St Brigids tagged on a series of points. Just before half time two goals – one from Chris Donnelly
and the other from Rory O’Neill, who should have had a hat-trick by this time – meant that the game was over as a contest.
Half Time Naomh Brid 3-11 Sarsfields 0-3
The second half saw a series of subs introduced who all contributed to a good all round team effort. Chris Donnelly scored a fourth goal and Sarsfields could only summon up a point from their young team that was largely a minor one.
The final score of 4-18 to 0-4 was a tribute to a large over-18 panel augmented by a strong assortment of minors who did not look out of place in this enviroment.
Best for St Brigid’s were Deaglan O’Hagan, Chris Mooney, and in the second half Chris Tanney in defence. Futher upfield, Loughrey, Sweeney and O’Neill all showed their senior experience.
