Homefit All County Football League Division 1
St Brigids 3-15 Ahoghill 0-12
Paul Bradley’s rich goal scoring form continued at Musgrave Park on Wednesday evening as St Brigid’s saw off Ahoghill with twelve points to spare.
Bradley struck twice in the opening quarter and while a place in the top six failed to materialise, Anthony McGrath’s side can take solace from the fact that they have now won their last three fixtures.
St Brigid’s showed their intent from the first whistle and Noel Crossey denied Brigid’s full forward James Smyth a goal in the third minute after he saved smartly from close range, but he was left powerless a minute later when Bradley coolly side-stepped the Ahoghill netminder for the game’s opening score.
Bradley then added a point to his tally before two Smyth frees put the home side firmly in control.
Ahoghill battled gamely and two frees from James O’Connell kept them in the contest but in the 12th minute their difficult task became a whole lot harder.
Jack Dowling carried hard through the middle of the visitor’s defence and he picked out Bradley who in turn picked out the corner of the Ahoghill net with aplomb to open up a six-point lead.
PJ O’Connell and Ronan Graham carried the can for the visitors but St Brigids were able to pick them off on the break and further scores from Joe and Patrick Finnegan helped St Brigids to a five-point lead at the break, 2-7 to 0-8.
The Finnegan brothers kept the scoreboard ticking over for the South Belfast side with early scores in the second half as the looked to push further ahead on the scoreboard.
Donal Graham did have half a chance of a shot at goal for Ahoghill but he was quickly closed down by the St Brigids defence and had to settle for a point.
At the other end Bradley and Joe Finnegan added to their respective totals as the Biddies opened up a nine-point lead before claiming a third major in the last minute.
Smyth’s shot was kept out by Crossey and when the rebound found it’s way back to Smyth, the full forward broke the ball down to Joe Finnegan who made no mistake from close range.
It capped off a fine evening for the Malone Road men who look to be coming into a bit of form at just the right time of the season.
Teams & Scorers:
St Brigids: Declan Heery, Joe McCarney, Conor King, Reuben Carleton, John Morgan, Peter King, Ronan Boyle, Fergal Meenagh, Jack Dowling, Niall Lundy, Marcus Lynch, Paul Bradley (2-6 3f), Joe Finnegan (1-3 2Marks), James Smyth (0-4 2f), Patrick Finnegan (0-2).
Replacements: Sean McKernan for McCarney (41), Tom McCarney for Lundy (50), Dermot McLaughlin for C King (58), Ethan Carleton for Lynch (58), Peter Lundy for P King (59).
Ahoghill: Noel Crossey, Patrick Dougan, James Magee, Bernard Graham, Eoin Graham, Thomas McGlone, Eammonn Brady, Neil Jr O’Connell, Daniel O’Neill (0-2), James O’Connell (0-5 4f), Ronan Graham (0-1), Fionnbar O’Neill, PJ O’Connell (0-2 1f), Donal Graham (0-2), Conor Paul Crossey.
Replacements: Colla McDonnell for D Graham (49), Owen Neeson for Brady (55), Diarmaid Graham for R Graham (55).
Referee: Mr Conall Roberts (St Johns).