ACHL Division 4
St. Brigid’s 1-24 All Saints 1-19
A fine display of point taking by ace marksman, James Kelly kept St. Brigid’s firmly fixed at the top of the table and possibly on their way to promotion to division 3 when they overcame the challenge of a depleted All Saints at Musgrave Park on Sunday evening.
Kelly struck an impressive 1-14 over the hour with 0-12 of his total coming from the placed ball and the visitors will surely reflect on the number of frees they conceded unnecessarily when they look back on today’s result.
Despite being without half a dozen regulars through injury and other commitments it was the Ballymena men who made the early running with Damian Gillan, Darach Bradley and Eoin McGuigan driving them on as they raced into a 0-6 to 0-2 lead at the end of the opening quarter.
McGuigan hit 0-4 during those opening exchanges with Gillan and Bradley also on target and Fintan Cleary and Niall Murtagh replying for the home side.
James Kelly became the catalyst of a St. Brigid’s comeback as he hit three of the next four points, all falling the way of the Musgrave Park men with Peter Middleton their other scorer to draw level with 19 minutes on the clock.
McGuigan briefly restored the All Saints lead with his 5th point of the afternoon but points from David Prenter, a ‘65’ from Michael Kerr and a goal from the excellent Kelly swung matters decisively in favour of the league leaders.
Damian Gillan from a long range free and James Kelly exchanged late points to put the home side 1-10 to 0-8 ahead and Oisin McDonnell and James Kelly from a massive long range free extended the St. Bigid’s lead to 7 before Damian Gillan replied for the visitors to leave seven between the sides at the break.
Darach Bradley reduced that lead to six within 30 seconds of the restart but All Saints continued to concede unnecessary frees with Kelly gratefully converting two and Michael Kerr and David Prenter adding two more from play.
The St. Brigid’s lead had been extended to 10 with only 4 minutes of the new half gone and it was looking ominous for the Slemish Park side but to their credit they kept battling with Perarse Martin, Eoin McGuigan, Darach Bradley and McGuigan again bringing their total to 0-14.
At the other end the imperious Kelly kept the score board ticking as he converted another three frees and two from play with McGuigan replying to leave 10 in it again with 11 minutes remaining.
All Saints threw everything at their opponents during the closing stages with Darach Bradley and Damian Gillan pointing and Bradley finishing to the net from close range in the 29th minute to close the gap to five.
It was as close as they got however and it was free taker supreme, James Kelly who concluded the scoring with his 12th of the game from the placed ball to leave the Musgrave park side 6 to the good at the final whistle.
This win moves St. Brigid’s two points clear of second place Rossa who they are set to meet at Rossa Park on Wednesday the 25th June and that result will go some way in deciding who will win division 4.
There are three rounds of games to play after that however and it could be the last day of the season before we know the eventual overall winners.
St. Brigid’s: 1 Brian McGurk, 2 Oliver Leggett, 3 Conor McElhatton, 4 Dara Sidebottom, 5 Jack Pardy, 6 Michael Burke, 7 Seamus Massingham, 8 Niall Murtagh, 9 Michael Kerr, 10 James Kelly 1-14, 11 Peter Middleton, 13 David Prenter, 14 Fintan Cleary, 15 Oisin McDonnell, 17Finlay Blockley, 18 Owen McCarney, 19 Cuan Polley
All Saints: 1 Ciaran Cassley, 2 Francis Casey, 3 Eoin McAllister, 4 Archie McGreevey, 5 Daniel Gray, 6 Harry Connon, 7 Niall Savage, 8 Damian Gillan, 9 Darach Bradley, 10 Pearse Martin, 11 Eoin McGuigan, 12 Vinny Esler, 13 Antoin Martin, 14 Daniel Kelly, 15 Fintan Brady, 16 Luke Walsh
TO VIEW MORE PICS FROM THE GAME CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW