ACFL Division 1 Final
St Brigid’s 2-10 Erin’s Own Cargin 0-11
Goals wins prizes is the old adage and indeed such rang true at Dunsilly on Friday evening past as a couple of majors in the Division One league decider from Niall Duffy and Jack Dowing proved decisive as St Brigid’s took delivery of the Eddie Fitzsimmons memorial trophy for the first time in their history.
Both teams took a time to settle to the task on hand with the sides exchanging early scores with Tomas Cann’s opening point finding reply in kind from Conor Mc Aleer.
Both sides were guilty of missed opportunities but after Cargin net minder John Mc Nabb despatched a 13th minute ‘45’ between the posts the reply from the city lads was quick and decisive.
James Smith pointed to bring St Brigid’s back on terms and in the next few minutes they took the lead.
A Conan Mc Nicholl point gave them a two point advantage and a mix up in the Cargin defence opened the way for Jack Duffy to find the net before corner forward Mc Nicholl followed with a point to put St. Brigid’s a 1-04 to O-02 ahead.
St Brigid’s were now dictating matters and finished the half strongly with Paddy Finnegan and Rory Mc Erlean raising further white flags with an Enda Mc Grogan’s point at the other end for the Toome men their only reply and at the short whistle St Brigid’s led 1-06 to 0-03 and were good value for their lead.
Th second half saw the South Belfast men nip smartly out of the start traps with a Conan Mc Aleer point in the 33rd minute but a foul on Jamie Gribbin was punished when Tomas Mc Cann delivered the resultant free kick between the posts.
McCann added another following another foul on the lively Gribbin and the South West sidewere starting to look more up for the fight.
Jamie Gribbin added another in the 38th minute as Cargin enjoyed a spell of dominance but St Brigid’s responded with a second major when corner forward Conan Mc Nicholl fired to the back of the net after fielding a cross from Reuben Carelton and the game had swung back in favour of the Musgrave Park side.
St Brigid’s now led 2-09 to 0-06 and looked to have secured their first league title unless Cargin could pull something out of the fire.
Another point from the accurate boot of net minder John McNabb offered some hope but St. Brigid’s replied with a point from Conor McAleer before being reduced in number when centre back Shea Downey picked up a second yellow card.
Tomas McCann added a point from a placed effort following a foul on Ronan Devlin and Callum Gribbin followed with another and when his brother Jamie made it three on the bounce the Toome men had posted notice they were not about to quietly leave the stage.
Cargin, who were missing quite a number of regulars looked to the their bench in the latter stages with Gerard Mc Corley, Diarmuid Quinn and Michael Clarke entering the fray and a foul on Jamie Gribbin saw John McNabb deliver between the posts.
That was as close as they got as St Brigid’s stood firm despite losing Conor Downey to a red card but by this stage the league title was on its way to Musgrave Park for the first time.
St Brigid’s: Declan Heery, John Toner, Joe Finnegan, R Boyle, Reuben Carelton, Shea Downey (0-01), Shay Campbell, Jack Dowling (1-00), Michael Cummings, Niall Duffy (0-01), Patrick Finnegan, James Smith (0-01), Conan Mc Nicholl (1-03), Conor Mc Aleer (0-02), Rory Mc Erlean (0-01)
Subs
Ben Doherty for Ronan Boyle
Brian Mc Gurk for Reuben Carleton
Conor Downey for R McErlean
FGergal Sherry for Patrick Finnegan
Cargin: John Mc Nabb (0-03) Paudie Mc Laughlin, Kevin Mc Shane, Ronan Gribbin, Ronan Devlin, James Laverty, Jack Harney, Gerard Mc Cann, John Carron, Callum Gribbin (0-01), Jamie Gribbin (0-02), Enda Mc Groggan (0-01), Tomas Mc Cann (0-04),
Referee: Paddy Tumelty (Lamh Dhearg)
For more of Bert and Paddy’s photos from the game click on the link below
https://myalbum.com/album/LE7E7jzFWcuJrk/?invite=adb4e1be-eb47-4da3-bce0-da54c0a252ff