Naomh Brid battled all the way to earn a four point victory over their old adversaries Rasharkin on Sunday and thereby secure their place in Antrim’s top flight for next season. In his pre-match pep talk, assistant manager Eunan Conway demanded a fighting performance from the team to repay the debt of service to Conor MacSherry who was bowing out after five splendid years at the helm. The vocal response that reverberated around the dressing room suggested that the players were not about to let him down.
Rasharkin too meant business in their desperate fight to stave off relegation and it was the home side that made the early running. They opened their account from a free on two minutes which Brolly promptly cancelled from a dubious award. Rasharkin though had a firm grip in midfield as the traffic flowed to the scoreboard end. But their profligacy in attack — five successive wides in the first 10 minutes — would not go unpunished in what were low scoring conditions. Cunningham was proving a handful up front and converted his own free on 12 minutes for the lead. Naomh Brid’s defence was now getting to grips as the home side’s attacking options appeared limited outwith the aerial threat of Hasson at full forward. McGuckian and MacAuley were grafting well in the centre as possession began to even out. In a spell of domination O’Neill narrowly failed to connect a rebound from Sweeney’s effort for a point. Then Cunningham followed up smartly on a second rebound from a Brolly free to extend the lead to two. At the other end Hasson sent a reminder of the threat he posed with a knock-down on 22 minutes that provided Rasharkin with only their second score of the half. A minute later the visitors struck decisively when Donnelly won an improbable ball on the sideline to link with Edwards whose lofted effort into the square broke for MacAuley and he lashed the ball into the roof of the net. Then McGrady took his now customary score after good work by Edwards to widen the gap to five. However, it took an outstanding save from Mackle low to his right on 29 minutes to preserve that lead at the break.
Half time: Rasharkin 0-2 Naomh Brid 1-4
As expected, Rasharkin came out fighting in the second period. However, for all their efforts they were limited to two points in the opening 10 minutes during which Naomh Brid were gifted a converted free after the home keeper was harshly penalized for overcarrrying the ball. On 45 minutes Brolly restored the gap to five after hard work by MacAuley. Rasharkin were finding little change from Naomh Brid’s uncompromising defence with Donnelly and O’Hagan in mean mood. With eight minutes left Synott linked with O’Neill to set up McGrady for an excellent score. But Rasharkin were not done for yet and three successive points had the away support anxiously checking their watches as the clock ticked towards 60 minutes. Their worries were dispelled as, in a rare midfield cameo, Brolly leapt from a cluster of players to fetch expertly overhead and feed O’Neill for the insurance point. Game over. Cue emotional scenes as manager MacSherry bowed out with no little pride and satisfaction.
Full time Rasharkin 0-7 Naomh Brid 1-8
Team: J Mackle, B Synott, A Christie, B Reilly, M Donnelly, D O’Hagan, J Loughrey, J McGuckian, D MacAuley, R O’Neill, M Sweeny, C McGrady, J Brolly, N Cunningham, D Edwards
Man of the match: M Donnelly
