You are Here: Home>Match Reports>2005

Printer Friendly Version of this Page   Contact Us   SiteMap

Junior 8 Footballers advance to Championship Quarter-Finals - Mon, 27 Jun 2005

St Brigids 2-12 Ranelagh Gaels 0-7

St Brigids 2-12 Ranelagh Gaels 0-7

Goals in each half from Keith Morris and Keith O'Neill were enough to ease St. Brigid's to a comprehensive eleven-point victory over Ranelagh Gaels in this Junior Football Championship clash at Longmeadows. Morris brilliantly netted with eight minutes remaining in the first half, while O'Neill virtually sealed the win for the hosts ten minutes after the restart by rolling home following a goalmouth scramble.

From the outset, Ranelagh started very well, leading the hosts by 2 points with corner forward John Hartley proving a very live threat. The St Brigid's management team of Chris Lynam & Keith O'Neill soon moved to blunt out the Hartley threat by moving the hard-hitting & tight marking Ciaran Byrne to Hartley's corner. Byrne soon limited Hartley's space & scoring threat. Ranelagh enjoyed a bright opening to the game, leading by 0-4 to 0-2 after fifteen minutes but St Brigids eventually found the gears to match the Ranelagh threat and soon outclassed them. There was little or no doubt over which team would emerge victorious after Keith Morris bravely won the ball and shipped several hard tackles to blast the ball to the net.

Wing back Brian Kelly then rifled the ball over the bar to edge the host?s four points ahead. Substitute Cillian McCann began to dominate affairs on the edge of the square and soon opened his account when lofting over from 21 yards. Brigids began to play real free flowing football with quick diagonal balls splitting the Ranelagh defence. The writing was on the wall for Ranelagh as St Brigids confidence soared and Neil Plunkett edged St Brigids further ahead when pointing from distance. St Brigids led by five points at the break on a scoreline of 1-6 to 0-4 but knew they would have to further improve to contain this Ranelagh side.

St Brigids opened the second half with scores flying over from all angles. St Brigid's looked the classier outfit throughout the second half and comfortably put the game out of the reach of Ranelagh without ever hitting top gear. McCann opened the scoring in the second with an impressive point in the second minute. Neil Plunkett, Keith Morris & David Smith added further scores to cement the St Brigids lead. Ranelagh came more into the contest in the following exchanges adding a point, but Brigid's looked in control throughout and led by 1-9 to 0-5 after ten minutes in the second half. St Brigids introduced several substitutes at this stage and substitute Keith O'Neill found the net almost immediately after his introduction. That effectively ended Ranelagh's resistance, and Keith Fox and Cillian McCann both dissected the uprights to leave the St Brigids boys 2-11 to 0-5 clear with ten minutes remaining.

The Brigid's midfield pairing of Kevlehan and Craven were now well on top, whilst others such as John Dunning at centre-half back and Ian Sheedy at full-back prevented the Ranelagh attack from finding any joy. And the hosts pulled further clear in the dying stages, full forward Neil Plunkett capped a fine performace with a fine point to leave the hosts 2-12 to 0-6. Try as they did, Raneleagh now had little or nothing to offer, and the Saints played out time to record a comfortable eleven-point victory.
 
St Brigid's: David Brooks, Declan Hanley, Ciaran Byrne, Stephen Dunning, Pearse O'Connor, John Dunning, Brian Kelly, Stan Kevlehan, Ian Craven, David Smith, Keith Fox, Enda Brady, Kenny Reilly, Neil Plunkett, Keith Morris

Scorers: Neil Plunkett 0-4, Keith Morris 1-1, Cillian McCann 0-3, Keith O'Neill 1-0, David Smith 0-2, Brian Kelly 0-1 and Keith Fox 0-1 each

Subs Used: Cillian McCann for Enda Brady, Ian Sheedy for Dec Hanley, Tim Groake for Stan Kevlehan, Keith O'Neill for David Smith, Brendan Farrell for Kenny O'Reilly

Half Time: St Brigid's 1-6 Ranelagh Gaels 0-4

Return To Previous Page