ACFL Division 1
St. Brigid’s 2-17 Tir na nOg 2-7
Following Wednesday night’s round of games St. Brigid’s join Cargin and Portglenone as the only three sides in the division in maximum points.
Tír Na nÓg travelled to Musgrave Park in search of their fourth win whilst the hosts were going for their fifth.
Peter Lundy was the first to put his name on the score-sheet with a fine left footed effort before Conor Downey found the net with a shot from outside the box. It looked like it was going to be a long evening for the visitors as St Brigid’s dominated heavily in the first 15 minutes before the visitors recorded their first score.
St Brigid’s half back Shay Campbell was next to find the net after 20 minutes, coolly placing the ball into the bottom left hand corner. Randalstown started to find their way and were unlucky with a few efforts with Declan Heery coming to his sides rescue on a couple of occasions.
The visitors persistence finally paid off however as Emmett Murray found the net with a few minutes to spare in the first half. Two points from Matthew Downey, and points from Conan McNicholl and Niall Duffy saw St Brigid’s leading by 9 points at half time.
The second half started off much slower. Injuries forced the home side to make a few changes with Reuben Carlton being replaced by Sonny Doyle, Shay Campbell by Conor King.
Christy Sheerin came on midway through the second half and this seemed to boost Tír na nÓg’s confidence and they began to enjoy a bit of success.
Eamon Óg MacAllister fired home their second goal moments later to narrow the gap to 6, but it was too little too late.
The host side finished strongly with a flurry of scores with Rory McErlean, Shane Boyle and one particularly scintillating effort from corner back Joe McCarney who dummied on his left, then his right before curling it between the posts after a long solo run up the field.
A good win for the Musgrave Park side, their 5th in five games and they are joined by Cargin who beat Moneyglass and Portglenone who ended St. Gall’s unbeaten run on Wednesday night and we could be set for the tightest division 1 campaign for a number of years.
When the Randalstown management sit down to analyse this game they may rue their missed chances over the hour and on another day the result could have been much closer.