Naomh Brid built on the momentum from Sunday’s performance in Creggan with a whopping 15 point win over Moneyglass on Wednesday evening. The south west men breezed into this Round 3 league match on the back of two home victories but they were thoroughly dismantled by the Malone side as their poor record at Musgrave continued.
There were a surprising number of changes from Sunday’s starting 15 with a youthful nod to the new personnel. But the new look side roared straight into action as they imposed themselves in the early stages. Points from Loughrey, Cormac McGrady and Cunningham were just the entrée for a brace of goals from Cunningham and Dowling in the space of two minutes, which left Moneyglass reeling with a solitary point in reply on 12 minutes. However, Kevin Marron, who was by far St Ergnat’s best player on the evening, pinged over three impressive scores to start a mini revival. And when Sweeney and McGrady added to the home tally, it was Marron again to craft a further trio of long range points and almost single-handedly keep his side in contention by the interval.
Half time: Naomh Brid 2-5 Moneyglass 0-7
Moneyglass closed the gap to a single score on the restart but that would be as close as they would get. Naomh Brid continued to make the running and were lively and fluid in attack with Edwards augmenting the midfield from his position on the 40. The Moneyglass defence was once again breached twice in as many minutes with first Edwards sending Sweeney through for a goal and then Dowling crashing home his second goal on 40 minutes after a nifty interchange with Ronan McGrady, to cap a fine performance by the young half forward. The home side were rampant and Edwards and Gallagher hardened the advantage with further points as the game became a virtual procession. With the heat long gone from the battle, Dermot Dowling used his full quota of changes as everyone clamoured for a piece of the action. By the finish Naomh Brid had added a further six points to their tally and with nine different scorers on the sheet, the only surprise was that a certain Joe Brolly did not make it double figures as he made a welcome return to duty in the final moments.
Full time: Naomh Brid 4-14 Moneyglass 0-11
Team: W McSorley, C Mackle, R Smyth (G Bogue), H Daly, J Loughrey (0-1), B McMahon, K Gallagher (0-1)(B Kelly), M Malone, M Sweeney (1-2), R McGrady (0-2), D Edwards (0-1), J Dowling (2-0) (P Lundy), R O’Neill (A Morrow(0-1)) , N Cunningham (1-1) (J Brolly), C McGrady (0-5)
Man of the match: D Edwards
Next Wednesday it’s a trip to Hannahstown to face Lamh Dhearg and the boot of Paddy Cunningham.
