Junior B Hurling Championship semi-final
St Brigid’s 2-23 Loch Mor Dal gCais 0-19
James Kelly won the battle of the number 10’s as St. Brigid’s out-scored Loch Mor dal gCais in an excellent Junior B Hurling semi-final at Mallusk on Saturday.
The St. Brigid’s number 10 was matched all the way by his opposite number, Darragh Turley, the Loch Mor man equalling his final tally on the score board as both men finished with 0-12 to their name over the hour.
It was the greater spread of scores from the Musgrave Park side that would prove the difference in the end and a great goal from Fintan Cleary after 17 minutes and another scrambled effort from Jack Pardy with 23 minutes gone saw the Musgrave side 10 in front at the break.
With the wind in their favour, Loch Mor did much better after the break and matched St. Brigid’s score for score but by that stage the damage had already been done and they were never able to get the goal that they needed to launch a comeback.
James Kelly led the way for the Belfast side and had 0-5 on the score board before Cleary rattled the Loch Mor net with 17 minutes gone. Cleary had opened the scoring with the game’s first point and David Prtenter and Jack Pardy also registered for the Musgrave side.
The excellent Darragh Turley did all in his power to keep his side in touch with their opening four points and Declan Phillips and Matthew Jones added points to keep the South West side in touch prior to Cleary’s goal.
Another point from Kelly and one from John McGuckian preceded Pardy’s kicked goal from close range and put a distance between the sides that Loch Mor were unable to close.
Kelly and Niall Murtagh added late St. Brigid’s points with Turley adding three for Loch Mor Dal gCais to leave the half time score 2-13 to 0-9 in favour of Naomh Brid and even at this stage they looked to have one foot in the final.
Half Time St. Brigid’s 2-13 Loch Mor Dal gCais 0-9
If Loch Mor were to get back into contention they needed a good start to the second half but it was Naom Brid who were first off the mark as James Kelly and John McGuckian extended their lead with early points.
Darragh Turley finally got the Lough shore side going from a pointed free in the 5th minute but James Kelly from a long range free replied for St. Brigid’s before he Musgrave Park side lost a man to a straight Red.
The shoot-out between Kelly and Turley continued with Kelly adding another three for Naomh Brid and David Prenter 0-2 and Fintan Cleary concluding the scoring for the Musgrave men.
Turley continued his scoring duel with Kelly for Loch Mor as he added a further 0-4 while Cormac Dwyer, Cathal McGreevey, Matthew Jones and Conor Jones brought their total to 0-19 for the evening.
A strong performance from St. Brigid’s who were tighter in defence and more productive in attack than their opponents and in James Kelly they had an excellent free taker with the right half forward also contributing from play.
His opposite number Darragh Turley gave it everything for a Loch Mor side who battled hard but never really recovered from those two first half goals.
St. Brigid’s now face Belfast Saints in the final after the West Belfast side travelled to Brustin Braes and recorded a good win over Latharna Og in the other semi-final.
St. Brigid’s: 1 Brian McGurk, 2 Michael Burke, 27 Chris Lundy, 4 Oliver Leggett, 5 Dara Sidebottom, 6 Peter Heaney, 7 Michael Kerr, 8 Cathal Conway, 9 Niall Murtagh, 10 James Kelly, 11 Jack Pardy, 12 Fintan Cleary, 13 David Prenter, 14 John McGuckian, 15 Oisin McDonnell.
Subs: 21 Cathal McGreevey
Loch Mor Dal cGais: 1 Cathan O’hEireamhoin, 2 Aaron Monaghan, 3 Bailey Graham, 4 Sean Burke, 5 Ruairi Bannon, 6 Conor Jones, 7 Jack Conway, 8 Martin Braniff, 9 Ruairi Moran, 10 Darragh Turley, 11 Cormac Dwyer, 12 Matthew Jones, 13 Declan Phillips, 14 Martin Robb, 15 Ferdia Carson
Referee: Colin Thompson (St John’s)
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