Second Half Sortie by Saints Wins the Semi
U16 ‘A' Shield – Semi Final
St Brendan's 3:11 Ruairi Ogs 2:06
A week after knocking St Endas out of the Shield in the Quarter Finals the Ruairi Ogs came to town to derail the St Brendans steam train and this they did in the first half. A low scoring affair in the first thirty minute period was in some part down to the ground conditions where some of the smaller boys were hard to find among the long grass. St Brendans registered the first score an acute angled shot from near the left hand sideline saw Conleth's effort nipped inside the uprights with only 45 seconds of the game gone. By the third minute he had added a thirty yard placed ball point to the score board. Cushendall hit back with a point in the fifth minute to leave the minimum between the two sides. Four minutes later an Aidan Corbett free from some eighty yards out dropped short of the target, Eoin raced out gathered the ball and fired over his shoulder to raise the white flag. The Cushendall boys then struck a rich vain of form and between the twelfth and fifteenth minute a single green and three white flags were raised in their favour. St Brendans looked bemused and unsure of what to do at this stage but a 35 yard sideline cut from Conleth sailed over the Cushendall bar to reduce the lead to manageable three points. However just before halftime Ruairi Ogs were awarded a free and it was duly converted by Cormac McAllister. A number of great saves by Michael was the only reason Cushendall were not out of sight at halftime. HT St Brendans 0:04 Ruairi Ogs 1:05
Like in the last encounter between these two great rivals the second half belonged to St Brendans and within the first three minutes of the restart Conleth and Declan both netted to put the home team ahead, Cushendall's response was immediate and in a blink of an eye a major was scored at the other end to restore Cushendall's superiority, all be it by a single point. The Benny backs were now coming in to the game a lot more and with the speed and skill of Andy, Donn, Torr, Aidan, Ruairi and Peter all getting out in front of their markers the sliothar was not getting to the Ruairi Og forward line to cause Michael any serious problem. This allowed the forwards to be more adventurous and pass the ball about in order to make good scoring chances. Conleth chipped over a 65 before Eoin with his trademark style ‘over the shoulder' fired over. A penetrating solo run by Conleth and a deft hand pass to Declan resulted in another point. Cushendall tried to revive their fortunes when a converted free was registered in the sixteenth minute of the second half but this was to be their last score of the evening. St Brendans pressed on and a marvellous point from Connor lowered the heads of the boys from the heart of the glens. Conleth slotted over a 65 in the twenty seventh minute and from the puc out Declan returned the sliothar back over young Colm McClafferty's crossbar. Eoin had another good evening at top of the right and finished the point scoring while Declan did similar with goal scoring when in the twenty ninth minute he rounded off with a major from a ground stroke.
A great performance on the field by everyone and especially Pearce at midfield as it was a big ask of him to play in this position against Cushendall. The lads have to be totally focused - strong, hard and brave with no lip and this they were on the night and thanks to the Cushendall team who played a big part in the testing of our young men. These are the kind of matches we need to prove our ability to be focused when under pressure.
On a lighter note it was good to see an old face return to the squad, you are very welcome back Paddy now get down that road and start training.
Team:- Michael McHugh, Andy McLarnon, Aidan Corbett, Torr Kinney, Donn Whelan, Ruairi Laverty, Peter Mulholland, Mathew McCartan, Pearce Bannon, Connor McNeill, Declan Traynor, James Duffin, Eoin Magee, Conleth McNeill, Michael Dunne, Conor McKeown, Paddy Magee, Daniel McConvery.