U-15 A Football Championship semi-final
St Brigid’s 5-11-5-08 St Pauls
Kevin Herron reports from Musgrave Park
St Brigid’s completed a second half comeback to book their place in the U-15 A Football Championship final after shading a 10-goal thriller over St Pauls at Musgrave Park on Thursday evening.
Having made a blistering start to proceedings, the hosts found themselves trailing 4-05-2-06 at the break and had work to do in order to book their place in the decider.
But the South-Belfast side were up for the challenge and retook the lead six-minutes from time and held off a late charge from St Pauls.
The semi-final meeting was an eagerly awaited tie between the sides that finished top two in the league – with St Brigid’s finishing a point clear of their Belfast rivals.
They made the brighter start on a fine Thursday evening, taking the lead though a converted James Higgins free inside of 60-seconds and then things got much better.
Another free from outfield was floated into the path of Isaac Robinson who slipped the ball off to Joseph Logan and he unselfishly fisted the ball to Ronan Taylor to dispatch a close-range shot to the net.
Logan then dropped a high shot between the posts to give his side a 1-02 lead before St Pauls responded – an angled free into a congested area was helped on by Oisin Gamble and his fisted effort clipped the crossbar on the way over.
St Brigid’s restored their five-point advantage through a second converted Higgins free, though the visitors clawed their way back into the game with a 12th minute strike.
Ciaran Rogers-Duffy intercepted a high ball into his path and drove forward before slotting his low shot into the net to make it 1-03-1-01.
Higgins converted two further frees in-between a fine Sean Og McLaren point from play for St Pauls.
On 21 minutes the hosts extended their lead when Joseph Logan was played through for a goal and his low strike appeared to bobble in the bumpy goalmouth and found its way to the net to give his side a 2-05-1-02 lead.
St Paul’s responded with back-to-back points from Ciaran Rogers-Duffy, the first after Oisin Gamble claimed a mark and quickly switched to Duffy who dropped a shot over, the second came from a converted free.
The bare minimum would soon separate the sides as Sean Og McLaren struggled to get his low shot away – but Niall Carmicheal was on-hand to apply the finish.
Rogers-Duffy restored parity and was involved in the move saw his side hit the front for the first time.
His free dropped short of the target and Niall Carmichael just about kept the ball in play and switched to Sean Og McLaren for a near-post finish to give his side a 3-05-2-05 lead.
James Higgins converted his fifth free of the half in response, but things got worse for the hosts before the interval.
Shea Kearns kick-out was won and a high ball into the visitors attack successfully picked out McLaren- who weaved his way across the by-line and steered a low effort in at the near-post to give St Pauls a 4-05-2-06 lead at half time.
St Brigid’s had the chance to reduce arrears early in the second half when referee Eamon Hamill awarded the hosts a penalty for a foot-block in the area.
But it was an opportunity that passed them by as James Higgins effort was repelled by Shea Kearns.
Higgins would drop a free over the bar in the aftermath of his penalty miss, but at the other end the warning signs were still there as Niall Carmichael bore down goal and saw his low crash off the post.
Ciaran Rogers-Duffy would restore his sides five-point lead from a free- though Ronan Taylor claimed a mark that the other end a directed a shot between the posts.
On 41 minutes St Brigid’s were right back in contention when Donncha McGurk turned over a kick-out and slipped the ball to James Higgins- he played a one-two with Joseph Logan and advanced before sliding a low shot past Kearns to atone for his earlier penalty miss and make it 4-06-3-08.
Oisin Gamble and James Higgins traded points respectively as the game entered the final ten minutes on a knife-edge.
It looked as though St Pauls had delievered a hammer blow to the hosts on 51 minutes when a free was dropped into the danger area where Oisin Gamble claimed, and he slipped the ball off Ciaran Rogers-Duffy whose low shot sneaked to the corner of the net past Jonah Power to give his side a 5-07-3-09 lead.
However, an instant response saw the bare minimum separate the sides again as Higgins charged forward and off-loaded to Ronan Taylor for a close-range finish.
With six-minutes remaining St Brigid’s completed the turnaround through a blistering low strike from wing-half back Joe Mulgrew that had them 5-09-5-07 ahead.
James Higgins added two further frees to his tally; in-between one from Rogers-Duffy at the other end as the hosts held out to claim their place in the final at the end of a truly thrilling contest in South-Belfast.
St Brigid’s: J Power, F Murtagh, C MacElhatton, D Oglesby, J Mulgrew (1-00), C O’Connell, J Heatherington, D McGurk, P Molloy, C McKavanagh, J Higgins (1-09, 0-08f), I Robinson, R Taylor (2-01), L Logue, J Logan (0-01). Subs: R Bray for C McKavanagh (HT), J Kennedy for F Murtagh (HT), C Flanagan for L Logue (39), C McKavanagh for C Flanagan (60), L Logue for R Bray (60+3).
St Pauls: S Kearns, O Donnelly, K Farrell, M Vallely, C McCann, C Ward, N O’Neill, C Trainor, C Burke, F Maxwell, O Gamble (0-02), O Cusack, C Rogers-Duffy (2-05, 0-05f), S Og McLaren (2-01), N Carmichael (1-00). Subs: T Mickleburgh for O Donnelly (33), J Toal for F Maxwell (37).
Referee: Eamon Hamill (St Teresa’s)
