Naomh Brid produced a gutsy and somewhat improved performance under Casement’s lights on Friday night to pip fancied St Johns by a point and thereby clinch a third successive SFC semi final place. There was not much in the way of quality football to entertain the crowd but the welcome large St Brigids support were kept on the edge of their seats in a tense finale.
The first half was a dogged low scoring affair with St Brigids opening the scoring after almost 10 minutes. St Johns who had shown decent league form were surprisingly tentative, allowing the Malone side to take advantage, opening up a five points to two lead on 26 minutes. The Corrigan Park forward line was being well marshalled by a hard-working St Brigids defence in which Ryan Daly at corner back was superb, keeping danger man Nesson shackled. The Johnnies rallied late in the half though to close the gap to a point at the interval.
Half time: Naomh Eoin 0-4 Naomh Brid 0-5
St Johns promptly levelled on the restart and then hit the front for the first time after a dubious free award. Naomh Brid’s sense of injustice was increased as a frustrated Loughrey saw his goal chopped off by the referee who had blown prematurely for a foul, denying the county man a clear advantage. Undeterred MacSherry’s side continued to press and edged ahead from another free before O’Neill played safe, eschewing a goal chance, taking his point to double the lead.
The tension mounted as St Johns desperately came in search of scores as the clock ticked towards the hour mark. Despite wasting some good opportunities they pulled the game to a point as all eyes moved to the referee and his whistle. The Naomh Brid support had to endure a nail-biting four minutes of injury time but when St Johns missed a simple free for the equaliser, there was joy and relief all round at the finish.
Full time: Naomh Eoin 0-8 Naomh Brid 0-9
Team: W McSorley, R Daly, A Christie, C Mackle, B McMahon, D O’Hagan, J Loughrey, R Smyth, D Edwards, R O’Neill, M Sweeney, F Sherry, C McGrady, N Cunningham, M Ward
Man of the match: R Daly
My thanks to Brendan Mulgrew especially, and to Dermot, Anthony and Eunan for keeping me posted throughout.
