U-16 Round off Qualifiers in Style

Sunday saw the U-16 squad emerge unbeaten in the Division 1 qualifier competition with a convincing win over an under strength Ardoyne team at Cherryvale. Naomh Brid went in the attack from the throw-in as Salters distributed well to set up forward Ronan Mc Grady who bulged the net with the first of his individual goal fest. Playing with the breeze on their back the Malone men camped in the Ardoyne half with quality forward play from Baillie, Lundy and Mooney. The St Brigid’s defence coped well with Ardoyne attacks originating in mid–field with Boque marshalling the back line with his usual calm confidence. Keeper Campbell and Chesser and Cullen combined well to snuff out two consecutive goal attempts from the Ardoyne full forward, and Flanagan, playing unusually deep, fielded most of the blue and amber kick outs and used the launch pad for quality supply to the half forward line. Using forward as the first line of defence is a ploy coaches Macklin and Dowling have been stressing and half forwards Mackle and Dowling took the advice to heart with a range of well timed tackles to set up simple scores for the St Brigid’s attack. Sweeney covered acres in a well rounded performance although he was the focal point of relentless tackling from Ardoyne throughout. The first half whistle saw St Brigid’s comfortably in the lead and provided mentors with an opportunity to ring the substitute changes and experiment with some positional switches. Webb adapted well to his move to half back and was instrumental in initiating many of the steaming moves forward, all helping to add to an impressive tally. Winters gave an exemplary display of tackling to further frustrate the Ardoyne attack and showed remarkable boxing skills as he avoided a few wayward swings dished out in frustration by the opposition. Josh Lee and Mark Stewart rang the changes in the forward line and both were unlucky not to find the net but again both contributed well to set up the half forward line for continuity on the scoring front. Benny Lee came on to shore up the backline and put in a great display of high fielding to ensure Ardoyne forwards were foiled in attack. On the whistle St Brigids had racked up an impressive 6-8 tally to a 2 pt reply. This was a well rounded team performance which sees the team comfortably into Division 1 proper. Finally worthy of note is the individual performance of Ronan Mc Grady. Obviously relishing his move to corner forward, McGrady secured a personal tally of 5-2 (We Think !) coupled with a sprinkling of narrow wides and woodwork denials. Every dog has his day–well done on a man of the match performance. Final Score St Brigids 6-8 Ardoyne 0-2. Man of the Match: Ronan Mc Grady