Northern Switchgear Senior Football Championship – Quarter Final
Dunloy 0-14 St Brigid’s 0-13
Saturday 13 September
Brendan McTaggart reports from Toome
Dunloy laid to rest the ghost of championships past on Saturday evening as they defeated St Brigid’s to seal their place in the semi-finals. The Cuchullains had to hold off a strong second half comeback from the Musgrave Park side who trailed by six points at the halfway mark but the Cuchullains game management and ability to keep ahead of St Brigid’s on the scoreboard proved to be decisive.
This was a contest filled with intensity, goal chances at either end and a dramatic ending that could have gone either way. On the balance of play over the 60 minutes, Dunloy were deserving winners. They played with flare in attack with speed and power on the counter while mixing the point of their attack at differing times. Their game management in the final quarter gave them the upperhand against a St Brigid’s side who were throwing everything in their artillery to try and claw them back into the tie.
Keelan Molloy was top scorer with five white flags and one orange over the hour while the returning Deaglan Smith was pivotal for his side. His presence in the middle third, his free taking and ability to break lines was sorely missed against Cargin but Smith showed no ill effects of the injury that had hampered him last month.
Defensively, the Cuchullains were led suprerbly by Aaron Crawford. ‘Snoozer’ held their defence together with his organisation while Conor Kinsella, Reece Cunning and Ryan McGarry were also pivotal.
St Brigid’s will look at the first half of this game and rue the missed opportunities. While they rarely penetrated the Dunloy defence in the opening half, they rolled the dice on a number of occasions for two point scores. They managed just one of those through Ronan Boyle while missing a further five. The Musgrave Park side scored on just two occasions in the first half with 14 minutes between the scores, it did little to give any fluency to the St Brigid’s play.
They fought back in the second half however with Reuben Carleton, Boyle and the Finnegan brothers all taking centre stage. They dominated the middle third for a period of time that saw them turn the screw but they got little joy from an excellent Dunloy defence.
It was the Cuchullains who made the brighter start to the game with Smith pointing a free in the second minute before Molloy split the uprights to raise the orange flag two minutes later.
Boyle responded with a two pointer for St Brigid’s in the sixth minute but it would be their last score until the 20th minute as Dunloy dominated.
The Cuchullains showed their ability to mix their attack with Nigel Elliott scoring after a counter attack while Smith scored his second of the game as they patiently looked for the yard of space in an organised St Brigid’s defence to put three between the sides.
It was Dunloy who became wasteful in front of the target with Seaan Elliott going close with a couple of long range efforts while Nigel Elliott had a half chance for goal only to see his effort deflect wide.
Luke McFerran raised the white flag in the 16th minute with Dunloy in the ascendancy and when Molloy scored his second two pointer of the evening, the Cuchullains had opened a six point lead with a little over 11 minutes of the half remaining.
Paul Bradley stopped the rot for St Brigid’s when he scored in the 20th minute. It would be their last score of the half and while a free from Smith was the only score Dunloy could manage in the time that remained, the south Belfast side saw three efforts for two pointers go to the wrong side of the posts to leave the half time score 0-9 to 0-3 in Dunloy’s favour.
With next to no wind blowing at the Cargin club grounds, it was very much advantage Dunloy at the half way mark. St Brigid’s reduced the deficit to five with a point from Joseph Finnegan but Dunloy managed to keep the six points between the sides in the opening quarter of the second half. Points from Smith (three frees) and Molloy came in response to frees from Bradley and Carleton.
St Brigid’s hit a purple patch as the clock went in to the 50th minute as Carleton and substitute Niall Duffy landed two pointers in the space of three minutes after a Higgins point to leave the minimum between the sides. Duffy’s effort coming with the outside of his boot and looked to give his side a boost at the perfect time.
Dunloy’s game management and ability to create chances at the other end of the pitch proved to be decisive however. They managed to keep two points ahead of the Musgrave Park men with Molloy’s free taking to the fore.
Substitute Calum Downey and Higgins split the posts, JJ Higgins with a half chance of goal before electing to fist the ball over the bar.
St Brigid’s looked for an opportunity to equalise in the time that remained but some disciplined Dunloy defending kept them at bay as the Cuchullains added their name in to the hat for the last four.
TEAMS
DUNLOY: Chrissy McMahon; Reece Cunning, Aaron Crawford, James Scally; Aodhan McGarry, Ryan McGarry, Conor Kinsella; Eoin McFerran, Deaglan Smith; Eoin O’Neill, Seaan Elliott, Tom McFerran; Luke McFerran, Keelan Molloy, Nigel Elliott
Scorers: K Molloy 0-7 (2TP’s, 2F’s); D Smith 0-5 (4F’s); L McFerran 0-1; N Elliott 0-1
ST BRIGID’S: Declan Heery; Peter King, Conor King, John Morgan; Shay Campbell, Shea Downey, Reuben Carleton; Patrick Finnegan, Jack Dowling; Ronan Boyle, James Smith, Paul Bradley; Ryan Tweedy, Joseph Finnegan, JJ Higgins
Subs: Niall Duffy for R Tweedy (16); John Toner for C King (HT); Calum Downey for P King (40); Mikey Cummings for J Dowling (51); Conor McAleer for J Smith (59)
Scorers: R Carleton 0-3 (1TPF, 1F); R Boyle 0-2 (1TP); P Bradley 0-2 (1F); JJ Higgins 0-2; N Duffy 0-2 (1TP); J Finnegan 0-1; C Downey 0-1
Referee: Mark O’Neill (Armoy)
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