ACFL Division 1
St. Brigid’s 1-12 Moneyglass 3-16
St. Ergnat’s Moneyglass collected their first win in division 1 when they travelled to Musgrave Park on Sunday and recorded a resounding victory over St. Brigid’s. The Marian Hill side pushed Aghagallon all the way last week before losing narrowly and on this performance they will give plenty of teams their fill of it as the season progresses.
Goals from Patrick McCormick after 13 minutes and Conall Prenter, three minutes from the break had Hugh Carey’s side in cruise control at the break when they led 2-8 to 0-5 and when Tiernan McCormick struck the visitors third in the opening minute of the second it was as good as over.
The visitors were quickly off the mark as Colm Duffin and Paul Duffin pointed them into a two point lead after six minutes and Dermot McErlain struck a third before Toirealach Brolly pulled one back for St. Brigid’s.
Patrick McCormick fired home the game’s opening goal with 13 minutes gone to move his side five ahead before James Smith closed the gap to four with St. Brigid’s second point of the game after 15 minutes but the momentum was very much with St. Ergnat’s.
They responded with points from Tiernan McCormick, Dermott McErlain and Conor Boyd before James Smith got his second and his side’s third for a St. Brigid’s side who were struggling to contain a rampant Moneyglass.
It provided only temporary respite as the visitors came roaring back and a couple of Colm Duffin points sandwiching a second goal from Conall Prenter with Smith hitting a late point for the visitors but even at this stage it was hard to see the home side coming back.
McCormick’s goal on the restart made the mountain facing the home side impossible to climb and while they did fare better during the second period they never really looked like getting back into contention.
Indeed by the time they got their opening score of the half through their best player, James Smith in the 39th minute, Moneyglass had extended their advantage further through Conleith McCann (0-2) and two more from mid-field dynamo Colm Duffin (0-2) and it was now an exercise on damage limitation.
James Smith, Fergal Meenagh and Smith again struck three unanswered points in St. Brigid’s best spell of the game but any notion of Moneyglass taking their foot of the pedal were quickly dismissed as the ‘Blues’ came back with points from Paul Duffin and Tiernan McCormick.
James Smith, who was St. Brigid’s bright spark in an otherwise outclassed side brought his personal tally to 0-9 with three late points but it was Moneyglass who finished as they had started with Patrick McCormick, Colm Duffin and Tyler Cassidy adding points.
The Musgrave Park men were missing quite a number of key players but this should not take anything away from this Moneyglass performance and it will provide the newly promoted side with the confidence and the momentum they need as they face what will surely be tougher days ahead in their league campaign.
St. Brigid’s: 1 Declan Heery, 2 Finn McKernan, 3 Conor King, 4 Joseph McCarney, 5 Sean McKernan, 6 Reduben Carleton, 7 Toirealach Brolly, 8 Jack Dowling, 9 Fergal Meenagh, 10 Peter Lundy, 11 James Smith, 12 Conor Slevin, 13 Marcus Lynch, 14 Donal Bradley, 15 Rory McErlean
Moneyglass: Gary Murray, 2. Callum McStocker, 3. Fearghal Duffin, 4. James McCormick, 5. Paul Duffin, 6. Peter McCormick, 7. Paddy McCormick, 8. Colum Duffin, 9. Dermot McErlain, 10. Kevin McCann, 11. Conor Boyd, 12. Tiernan McCormack, 13. Jack McCoy 14. Conaill Prenter, 15. Connlaodh McCann, 16. Danny McErlain, 17. Frank Duffin, 18. Connor O’Kane, 19. Tyler Cassidy, 20. Aidan McErlain, 21. Sean Boyd, 22. Ronan Campbell, 23. Charlie McCloskey Subs: Aidan McErlain for Conall Prenter, Conor O’Kane for Kevin McCann, Tyler Cassidy for Conor Boyd, Frank Duffin for Jack McCoy
Referee: Brendan Toland (Lamh Dhearg)
