AIB Connacht Club SFC: Brigid's cruise to victory

AIB Connacht Club SFC Quarter-final

St Brigid's 2-24 St Mary's 0-9

By Kevin Egan at King & Moffatt Dr. Hyde Park

Last year’s beaten AIB All-Ireland finalists are up and running in style, after making light work of the challenge posed by St. Mary’s in the Hyde this afternoon.

A late arm injury to full-back and county panelist Pearse Frost will be the main concern for Damien Mulligan and his selectors in advance of a Connacht semi-final next weekend against either Salthill-Knocknacarra or Seán O’Heslins, but in terms of form, the Crossmolina native will be delighted with what his players produced.

On a perfect afternoon for football and on a pristine playing surface, St. Mary’s looked every bit as sharp in attack as their hosts for the opening 12 minutes, after which the game was finely poised at 0-3 apiece.

Eli Rooney landed a superb free from the left-hand sideline and he also came up with a delightfully creative assist for a Ronan Niland point, though there were early warning signs as both Brian Stack and Conor Hand cut through the centre of the Sligo town side’s defence for scores.

Those cracks grew more prominent as St. Brigid’s created some early goal chances as St. Mary’s were bailed out of trouble by a double save from James Cronin and floated handpass from Ciarán Sugrue that was a mere inch or two too high for Ben O’Carroll to get a sufficiently strong touch on the ball.

O’Carroll wasn’t long in showing his quality, however, as he used an advantage from Christopher Ryan to retreat outside the arc and whip over the game’s first two-pointer, then he showed great composure and footwork to roll the ball into the net, finishing off a move that was set up by Ruaidhrí Fallon’s clinical strip tackle and pass at midfield.

Bobby Nugent added the second goal with Fallon again centrally involved as St. Brigid’s scored 2-5 unanswered, a run ended by Rooney’s 45 just before half-time.

There was no breeze favouring either team and no change in momentum with the change of ends either. Conor Hand split the posts for one of his four points within 20 seconds of the game’s resumption and another two-pointer from Ben O’Carroll, as well as singles from Brian Derwin and Robbie Dolan, meant it was more of the same.

Brian Stack marshalled the defence superbly while Pearse Frost and Ruairi Smith were excellent in their one-on-one battles with Kyle Cawley and Nathan Rooney.

A two-point free from Eli Rooney was a minor blip as St. Brigid’s continued to pile on the scores, adding four from the bench as plenty of hands went up for increased playing minutes next weekend.

Scorers for St Brigid's: Ben O’Carroll 1-7 (2tp), Bobby Nugent 1-4 (0-2f), Conor Hand 0-4, Conor Carroll 0-2 (tpf), Charlie O’Carroll 0-2, Brian Stack 0-1, Brian Derwin 0-1, Robbie Dolan 0-1, Paul McGrath 0-1, Adam Lennon 0-1.

Scorers for St Mary's: Eli Rooney 0-5 (0-1f, 0-1 45, 1tpf), Nathan Rooney 0-2f, Ronan Niland 0-1, Paul Kilcoyne 0-1.

St Brigid's: Conor Carroll; Ruairí Smith, Pearse Frost, Micheál Sugrue; Ronan Stack, Brian Stack, Robbie Dolan; Mark Daly, Conor Hand; Brian O’Hara Duggan, Ruaidhrí Fallon, Bobby Nugent; Ben O’Carroll, Ciarán Sugrue, Brian Derwin.

Subs: Paul McGrath for R Stack (5-17, temp), Paul McGrath for M Sugrue (40), Charlie O’Carroll for Derwin (40), Ciarán Quinn for R Stack (49), Adam Lennon for Hand (49), Senan Kilbride for B O’Carroll (53), Alan Daly for McGrath (60+2).

St Mary's: James Cronin; Fionn O’Hehir, Patrick Brady, Ryan Feehily; Scott Lynch, Finn Young, Paul Kilcoyne; Gerard O’Kelly Lynch, David McGovern; Fintan Campbell, Ronan Niland, Conor Davey; Eli Rooney, Kyle Cawley, Nathan Rooney.

Subs: Emlyn Mulligan for Niland (36), Niall McDermott for O’Kelly Lynch, Brian Meehan for Davey (48), Marc Clifford for Young (53), Stephen Coen for Cawley (59), Conor Murray for Feehily (60+2).

RefereE: Christopher Ryan (Killannin, Galway).