St Brigid's return to final after surviving real war of attrition with Ferbane

ST Brigid's will be very much applying the philosophy that winning is everything after surviving a real war of attrition to return to the Offaly Intermediate Football Championship final with a dogfight of a win over Ferbane in Tubber on Friday evening.

Tullamore Court Hotel Intermediate Football Championship semi-final

St Brigid's 3-3

Ferbane 0-10

Beaten by Tullamore in last year's final, St Brigid's returned for a second bite of the cherry through pure graft and heart but not a whole lot of football.

Whatever about the support of the two teams, it was certainly a hard watch for the neutrals among the large crowd in Tubber and the scoreline doesn't tell any lies. St Brigid's won scoring as many points as goals, just six scores in all, only two points from play and that return just should not win any game of football.

Their decisive third goal was pure lucky and Ferbane will be bitterly disappointed at losing this. The only team with a 100% record in the championship prior to this, Ferbane have only themselves to blame and ten points was not a good return either.

It was definitely third tier with a lot of very scrappy play and very little open, attacking football. The game was rescued by the sheer hard work of both sides with a great work ethic and the man in possession closed down immediately.

However, it won't last in the memory with a lot of “hurling style rucks” developing and both sides guilty of some really average football. At times, it seemed if there was an option between taking on a clean shot, giving a simple ball or carrying the ball into a forest of players, the latter one was invariably taken.

It was enjoyable in a perverse sort of way but Brigid's will be absolutely thrilled with the win and at the end of the day, that is what matters.

2-2 to 0-6 up at half time, St Brigid's third goal in the 35th minute gave them enough of a cushion to scrape into the final. There was no danger whatsoever when Sean Briody delivered in a hopeful punt from midfield but unfortunate Ferbane goalie Eoin Coughlan got caught in that lethal dilemma, two minds, ended up in no man's land and the ball bounced in over his head into the net.

That gave St Brigid's a 3-2 to 0-6 lead but they very much fell into the final, surviving on their wits and Ferbane's attacking ineptitude. They made life so hard for themselves on an evening where the wind was not a factor. They didn't score again until three minutes into injury time and had nine wides, some of them pretty awful before James Lynch's point ruled extra time out as a possibility, leaving Ferbane needing a goal but time ran out on them.

Ferbane should have been able to win this but have absolutely no complaints at losing. They could only manage four points in the second half and just couldn't unlock a very resolute St Brigid's defence. They were guilty of over carrying the ball and taking the wrong option too often and it took them too long to get back into it.

It was in injury time when Ronan Flynn's free brought it down to the minimum and extra time looked almost inevitable but St Brigid's strong players did produce in terms of winning ball, they got their hands on it at a crucial stage and held on for a very welcome win.

The first half was as closely matched as they come. Ferbane started very well and were clearly the better side in the first few minutes as they got three points from their first three attacks.

At the other end, St Brigid's struggled with three poor wides from their first three attacks and it settled down to a real dogfight after this.

St Brigid's levelled it up with a 12th minute goal, Aaron McDermott scoring after calamitious defending by Ferbane, who over played the ball into trouble at the back, Michael Spillane stood waiting it - he wasn't the only player guilty of that over the hour - and they were over turned.

Alan Scally's free gave Brigid's the lead in the 14th minute and they were evenly matched from here to the interval with Ferbane the better side by a fraction. Ronan Flynn's two point lead gave Ferbane a 0-5 to 1-1 lead in the 23rd minute and it was 0-6 to 1-2 heading into injury time.

Six minutes was played because of an ankle injury to Ferbane midfielder Bernard Corcoran and St Brigid's got their second goal right at the end of it, Sean Briody riffling to the net for a 2-2 to 0-6 half time lead.

MATCH ANALYSIS

MAN OF THE MATCH

Cameron Egan (St Brigid's): While Sean Flynn did a lot of probing and ball carring for Ferbane, you certainly couldn't give man of the match to an attacker and have to go to midfield and back for the selection.

Sean Briody did a lot of very good work for St Brigid's at midfield, getting important scores and Dan Molloy and Alan Scally won their share of possession but you have to go with a defender.

St Brigid's only conceded four points from play and their work ethic and diligence was very high. Their full back line in particular created a no go zone for Ferbane and we go here to Cameron Egan for the choice. He did his primary duty very effectively, never putting a foot wrong while he got up field on occasion and for the most part, he found a man with the ball.

Odhran Briody and Ben Kennedy also caught the eye in the winning defence while Mark Wren had an excellent game for Ferbane and county panelist, Conor Dunican made a good impact when introduced.

THE SCORERS

St Brigid's: Sean Briody 2-1, Aaron McDermott 1-0, Alan Scally (f) and James Lynch 0-1 each.

Ferbane: Ronan Flynn 0-7 (1 x 2pf, 4f), John Dunican, Gavin Egan and Ronan McGuire 0-1 each.

THE TEAMS

ST BRIGID'S: Liam Fox; Ronan Swords, Cameron Egan, Odhran Briody; Ben Kennedy, Ronan Doyle, Ethan Hannon; Sean Briody, Dan Molloy; Evan Rigney, Alan Scally, Liam Cocoman; Aaron McDermott, Cian Donohoe, James Lynch. Subs – Thomas Mooney for Rigney (45m), Dillon Donoghue for Hannon, inj. (57m).

FERBANE: Eoin Coughlan; David Heffernan, Mark Wren, Adam Reams; John Dunican, Jack Egan, Michael Spillane; David Kelly, Bernard Corcoran; Lee Moore, Sean Flynn, Gavin Egan; Ronan Flynn, Rory Dunican, Ronan McGuire. Subs – Conor Dunican for Spillane (HT), Adam Egan for Gavin Egan (44m), Niall Flynn for Moore (54m).

Referee – Adam Kinahan, Clodiagh Gaels.

REFEREE WATCH

You really have to admire the football and hurling referees in Offaly. Seven days after being in the wars at an intermediate hurling game, Adam Kinahan was out refereeing this semi-final – having taken charge of the senior hurling relegation play off between Kinnitty and Lusmagh on Sunday.

Referees have tremendous strength of character, the ability to take criticism and abuse, decisions being over turned at committee level, and get on with things – no referee is infallible, decisions will be got wrong and there will be the odd bad day but they get a level of abuse that is never directed at players and very seldom at managers.

Yet they keeping turning up and performing and they deserve complete respect from everyone – they are absolutely indispensable and Offaly's pool of referees is small.

Kinahan is a busy man as he is also chairman of Clodiagh Gaels GAA club and he referees a few games each week. Known primarily as a hurling referee, he is also very competent in football and was very busy here. It wasn't an easy game to referee and if you blew every foul, it would have been much worse than it was. He let a lot of play run but applied it consistently and he regularly penalised players for over carrying but again, this very much went both ways.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

St Brigid's third goal was typical of this game, a long range delivery from Sean Briody finding it's way to the net and ultimately it separated the sides

VENUE WATCH

A well used venue, particularly for floodlit games, Tubber's ground was very well presented and they managed the fixture very well. Attending games in Tubber is always a very pleasant experience with a genuine warm welcome for visitors and their stewards are eager to please everyone.

WHAT'S NEXT

St Brigid's go into the final.

STATISTICS

Wides: Ferbane – 11 (5 in first half); St Brigid's – 14 (5 in first half).

Yellow cards: Ferbane – 1 (Bernard Corcoran); St Brigid's – 1 (Ethan Hannon).

Black cards: 0

Red cards: 0