Northern Switchgear SFC Group 2
St. Brigid’s 2-17 St. Ergnats 0-14
A Niall Lundy goal in the opening minute and another from Joseph Finnegan in the 25th minute paved the way for an impressive St. Brigid’s victory over visitors St. Ergnat’s Moneyglass in this Northern Switchgear SFC Group 2 clash at Musgrave Park yesterday.
The visitors looked to have recovered from Lundy’s early strike and hit back with points from Colm Duffin, Shay Madden, Dermot McErlain and Conaill Prenter to lead by one after 8 exciting opening minutes but were unable to build on this good opening spell.
Points from Fergal Meehan and Joseph Finnegan saw the Musgrave Park side retake the lead at the end of the opening quarter but when |Dermot McErlain levelled matters for the third time with 20 minutes gone there was little indication of the turnaround that was about to transpire.
St. Brigid’s found another gear in the closing ten minutes of the half with Paul Bradley and Patrick Finnegan splitting the posts before Joseph Finnegan struck for his side’s second goal with 25 minutes on the clock.
St. Ergnat’s looked rattled and the home side pressed home their advantage in the closing stages with points from Conor McAleer (f), Ronan Boyle and McAleer again to lead 2-7 to 0-5 at the break.
The Marian Hill men fought hard to get back into contention as matters got underway again and Colum Duffin fired over two points in quick succession but St. Brigid’s replied with points from Patrick Finnegan 0-2 and Joseph Finnegan 0-2 to extend their lead to 10 with only 7 minutes of the new half gone.
Conor McAleer added another before Colum Duffin replied with his third of the half for the visitors but the visitors were living of scraps as St. Brigid’s continued to call the shots.
McAleer and Peter Webb for St. Brigid’s and Seanchann and Colum Duffin for Moneyglass exchanged further points as the game moved into the final quarter but it was clear at this stage that the visitors would need goals if they were to have any chance of turning this one around.
In truth those goals never looked like materialising as St. Brigid’s controlled possession going down the home straight with St. Ergnat’s best player, Colum Duffin doing everything in his power to resurrect his side’s challenge and adding three points to bring his personal tally to 0-7 but it was all over at this stage.
Points from Conor McAleer, Pewter Lundy and Patrick Finnegan in response to a couple from Shea Madden ensured that the Musgrave Park side move into second place in the group, above Moneyglass on score difference but matters will not be decided until the final round of games on Sunday the 28th August when St. Ergnat’s entertain Leaders Portglenone and St. Brigid’s travel to Ahoghill.
St. Brigid’s: 1 Declan Heery, 2 John Toner, 3 Conor King, 4 John Morgan, 5 Patrick Finnegan, 6 Peter King, 7 Niall Lundy, 8 Michael Cummings, 9 James Smith, 11 Conor McAleer, 12 Paul Bradley, 13 Ronan Boyle, 14 Peter Wedd, 15 Joseph Finnegan, 19 Fergal Meehan, 25 Peter Lundy
St. Ergnat’s: 1 Gary Murray, 2 Callum McStocker, 3 Peter McCormick, 4 James McCormick, 5 Jack McCoy, 6 Conor Boyd, 7 Patrick McCormick, 8 Tiernan Duffin, 9 Colum Duffin, 10 Seanchann Duffin, 11 Dermot McErlain, 12 Fearghal Duffin, 13 Shay Madden, 14 Conaill Prenter, 15 Conleth McCann
Referee: Kevin Parke (St. Enda’s)
