Roscommon SFC Final: St Brigid's finish strongly

Roscommon SFC Final

St Brigid's 1-25 Pádraig Pearses 2-16

By Kevin Egan at King & Moffatt Dr Hyde Park

What the Roscommon senior football final lacked in novelty, it more than made up for in quality – but when the dust settled it was last year’s AIB All-Ireland club finalists St. Brigid’s who were still standing, having been pushed to the wire by Pádraig Pearses across 80 pulsating minutes of action.

The Kiltoom club were rampant in extra-time, taking control of the game through Conor Hand’s goal and pushing on to win well, but there was nothing to call between the sides through the first hour, where Pearses looked arguably the more cohesive and well-balanced side.

Moments of true quality from Ben O’Carroll, Conor Hand and Brian Stack gave St. Brigid’s an 0-9 to 0-8 half-time lead, but Pearses looked more capable of carving out high percentage chances, with Eoin Colleran exploding into the game with two early two-pointers.

St. Brigid’s looked to be in trouble when falling 0-6 to 0-2 behind but a stunning full-length diving block from Pearse Frost to block a Paul Carey goal attempt proved to be a momentum changer, and the champions went on an 0-7 to 0-0 run that featured three in a row from Ben O’Carroll.

Pearses had the better of the start of the second half with a two-point free from Carey helping them to briefly lead by two, but after reaching this final on the back of incredible efficiency, with just three wides registered across a semi-final and quarter-final in which they scored 8-39, a couple of bad wides prevented them from pushing further clear.

Brian Stack, Conor Hand and substitute Eddie Nolan (on his return from an injury that meant he played just three minutes of championship football all year) all stepped up to the mark with huge performances as St. Brigids’ worked their way back into the lead, conceded a scrappy goal to David Murray, then again moved two clear going into stoppage time.

With 20 seconds left, Stack won a kickout on the right wing and fed Ruaidhrí Fallon, but at a time when one more pass completion would have seen out the win, Fallon overshot Nolan and Pearses won the turnover, moved the ball quickly down the field and drew level through a sensational kick from Tom Butler.

After playing 80 minutes in each of the previous two rounds, extra-time could have been seen as ‘home turf’ for Pearses, but instead it was Brigid’s who were rampant in overtime.

Charlie O’Carroll had kicked two points in the final quarter after coming off the bench and he added a two pointer, while Frost and Stack each struck points in extra-time to ensure that Declan Kenny’s goal from a penalty proved academic.

Scorers for St Brigid's: Conor Hand 1-5 (2tp), Ben O’Carroll 0-4 (1f), Shane Cunnane 0-4 (1tpf, 1tp), Charlie O’Carroll 0-4 (1tp), Bobby Nugent 0-2 (tp), Brian Derwin 0-1, Ruaidhrí Fallon 0-1, Eddie Nolan 0-1, Senan Kilbride 0-1, Pearse Frost 0-1, Brian Stack 0-1.

Scorers for Pádraig Pearses: Eoin Colleran 0-5 (2tp), Paul Carey 0-4 (1tpf, 2fs), Declan Kenny 1-1 (1-0 pen), David Murray 1-0, Lorcán Daly 0-2, Tom Butler 0-2 (tp), Jack Tumulty 0-1, Hubert Darcy 0-1.

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

Subs: Eddie Nolan for O’Hara Duggan (35), Ronan Stack for McGrath (42), Charlie O’Carroll for Derwin (46), Senan Kilbride for Daly (58); O’Hara Duggan for C Sugrue (ft), C Sugrue for Nugent (67), Ruairí Smith for M Sugrue (et ht), McGrath for Hand (80),

Pádraig Pearses: Paul Whelan; Mark Richardson, Caelim Keogh, Jack Downey; Jack Nevin, Ronan Daly, David Murray; Conor Harley, Declan Kenny; Keelan Kelly, Lorcán Daly, Adam McGreal; Eoin Colleran, Jack Tumulty, Paul Carey.

Subs: Conor Lohan for Nevin (53), John Price for L Daly (58), Hubert Darcy for McGreal (58), Tom Butler for Kelly (59), Niall Daly for Harley (59); Kelly for Richardson (67), Nevin for Keogh (69), L Daly for Carey (80).

Referee: Dermot Lyons (Castlerea St. Kevin’s).