St Brigid's take out Gracefield in second half tour-de-force
Brosna Press Division 5 Football League Final
A SERIOUS second half display saw St Brigid's capture the Offaly Division 5 Football League title with a come from behind win over Gracefield in a very well contested final in Bracknagh on Sunday.
Brosna Press Division 5 Football League Final
St Brigid’s: 1-13
Gracefield: 1-11
Playing a youthful Gracefield side, St Brigid's experience told in the end as they came back for a very hard earned two point win.
It was an entertaining, well contested game and Gracefield's composure went a bit in the second half following a David Egan goal.
Playing with the aid of the breeze Gracefield were the better of the sides in the opening half, but it was St Brigid’s who opened the scoring inside two minutes thanks to Aaron McDermott.
It wasn’t long however until Gracefield took the lead and with six minutes played they were 0-2 to no score to the good thanks to a free from Josh Kelly and a follow up score from Declan McGee.
Odhran Briody who had a fine game at wing back for St Brigid’s drew the sides deadlocked by the 8th minute, but with a moment of magic Eamon Kelly made a brilliantly diagonal run and turning his marker on a sixpence he drove the ball to the back of the net. Gracefield in front 1-2 to 0-2 with eleven played.
It was all going wrong for St Brigid’s and with Craig Weldon coming up from goals to punish them with a two pointer for a defensive breech, the gap was suddenly five, 1-4 to 0-2 with fifteen played.
Needing a score it was Odhran Briody who responded for St Brigid’s but with two frees in quick succession Josh Kelly, had the gap out to six 1-6 to 0-3 with nineteen gone.
Gracefield really should have pushed on from there, but St Brigid’s battled extremely hard for the reminder of the half and hitting the next three scores thanks to David Egan and a brace from Aaron Kennedy, they had the gap back to three 1-6 to 0-6 as half time loomed.
Gracefield had the final say of the half with a nice score from Jake Nichol, leaving them well in the driving seat at the interval, 1-7 to 0-6.
The scoring was hard to come by in the early exchanges of the second half, but the game changing moment came on the 37th minute.
Craig Weldon had initially pulled off a good save from the ever dangerous James Lynch, but instead of playing the ball out through his defence, he soloed his way out.
At that point he should have released the ball, but with a final solo took much he was intercepted brilliantly by David Egan, and with an open goal St Brigid’s drove forward with James Lynch firing home the goal, and suddenly there was one between the sides 1-7 to 1-6.
David Egan landed a free a minute later and when with another score from Eunan Lawlor, St Brigid’s were suddenly in front 1-8 to 1-7 in what was an amazing two minute spell for the Croghan men.
Gracefield were struggling to get any control on the game but finally with forty six minutes played, Adam O’Sullivan fired over a much needed score for them.
Odhran Briody hit over this third of the game, before a fine score from Eunan Lawlor hit St Brigid’s two clear 1-10 to 1-8 with forty nine played.
Jake Nichol was doing a lot of work for Gracefield and leading by example he hit over for them, but once again it was David Egan who was hot on his heels and the gap remained at two 1-11 to 1-9 with fifty three played.
Jake Nichol and Bobby Troy traded scores just before Gracefield looked to have got through for their second goal, but a magnificent save by Jamie Leavy from Shane Nealon saved the day for St Brigid’s.
All was not lost however for Gracefield and Craig Weldon did land the resulting ’45 to bring the game back to a single score 1-12 to 1-11 as we ticked into injury time.
With time still to play due to an injury sustained by David Boland, both sides had chances, but it was St Brigid’s who got the nod and with a fine score Aaron McDermott sealed the win, bringing the final scores to 1-13 to 1-11.
The Scorers
St Brigid’s: Odhran Briody 0-3, James Lynch 1-0, David Egan 0-3 (0-1 Free), Eunan Lawlor 0-2, Aaron Kennedy 0-2 (Frees), Aaron McDermott 0-2, Bobby Troy 0-1.
Gracefield: Eamon Kelly 1-0, Josh Kelly 0-3 (Frees), Jake Nichol 0-3 (0-1 Free), Craig Weldon 0-3 (0-2 TPF, 0-1 ‘45), Declan McGee 0-1, Adam O’Sullivan 0-1.
The Teams
St Brigid’s: Jamie Leavy; Sean Óg Cocoman, Shay Hannon; Odhran Briody, David Boland, Dillon Donoghue; Bobby Troy, Rob Hoey; Aaron Kennedy, James Lynch, Aaron McDermott; Eunan Lawlor, David Egan. Subs: Ethan Hannon for Aaron Kennedy (34 mins), Aaron Kennedy for David Boland (inj. 58 mins).
Gracefield: Craig Weldon; Donal McCann, Liam Cullen; Deaglan Allen, Shane Curley, Adam O’Sullivan; Josh Kelly, Conor Storey; Declan McGee, Jake Nichol, Ciaran Conroy; Darragh Lawrence, Eamon Kelly. Subs: Shane Nealon for Declan McGee (Half Time), Jake Nolan for Deaglan Allen (40 mins), Jason Knight for Ciaran Conroy (40 mins), Kailyn Flood for Donal McCann (47 mins).
Referee: Willie McNamee (Clonmore Harps).