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Junior 8 Footballers defeat Garda to reach Championship Semi-Final - Mon, 8 Aug 2005

St Brigids 3-9 Garda 1-8

Well done to the Junior 8 Footballers who defeated Na Garda in a hard fought Championship game in O'Toole Park. They now face St Vincents in the Championship Semi-Final.

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St Brigids 3-9 Garda 1-8

St Brigids fought back superbly in the second half of this hum dinger of a tie to defeat Na Garda and advance to the semi-final stages of the Junior Football Championship. Both teams enjoyed periods of domination but it was the St Brigids forwards who proved more clinical on the day. Their eye for goal proved the deciding factor in this thoroughly exciting contest. The game was played in true championship passion and the tackles were flying in left right and centre. The referee at times lacked the authority to stamp his mark on the game and several dubious decisions were made during the match, which angered St Brigids at critical times.

Midfield was a real battleground with both sides keenly contesting. The game started at lightning pace. St Brigids raced into an early lead thanks to Gerry Byrne calmly finishing the ball to the Garda net with just thirty seconds gone. Ian Craven floated a beautiful ball to the edge of the Garda square and Byrne plucked the ball from the air and fought off the challenge of the Garda fullback to finish clinically. The Garda Club responded almost immediately with a soccer like strike from corner forward John Tobin who stroked the ball past David Brooks from 20 yards out. Na Garda added a further point to lead after ten minutes. St Brigids responded in a ten-minute surge, tagging on three points. Gerry Byrne added to his tally with a beautifully taken point from the left wing. Keith Morris added another point after some neat work in midfield between Ian Craven and John Dunning who fed Keith Maurice who calmly slotted over from thirty metres. Declan Barron opened his account when lofting over from the right after some fine play from corner forward Enda Brady. Garda were not to be out done as they responded very well in the closing ten minutes of the half to level the game up with three finely taken points. The teams were level at 1-4 a piece at half time. St Brigids were playing well in patches and knew they could play a lot better in the second half.

Na Garda made several positional changes at half time and they had a sudden impact. They raced two points ahead with two finely taken points from wing forward Dick Lynch. St Brigids responded with two finely taken points from the ever-dangerous Neil Plunkett. Plunkett rifling over from over 40 yards, quite a score! The Garda fullback Tom Long was in real trouble. Plunkett was easily beating him to every ball. Garda fought back again tagging on another point with a finely taken score from midfielder Anthony Farrell to edge two points ahead. St Brigids again fought back superbly when midfielder Ian Craven calmly slotted over from 30 yards.
It was at this point that the St Brigids started to dominate the midfield sector and Na Garda seemed to lack the gears to go with them. St Brigids levelled the game up when Gerry Byrne pointed from 21 yards. St Brigids had their tails up and Na Garda where under pressure. The game was in the melting pot. St Brigids began to attack in waves with their half back line of Keith Fox, John Dunning & Brian Kelly launching attack after attack. St Brigids eventually took the lead when Neil Plunkett rifled the ball to the corner of the net after some fine interplay between Keith Morris and Gerry Byrne. St Brigids pushed further ahead when Plunkett slotted over another point from distance. St Brigids were punishing this hard-hitting Garda side with clinical finishing.

Enda Brady put the result out of doubt when superbly pouncing on a breaking ball to finish to the net. St Brigids led by seven points with five minutes remaining. They kept on going but the St Brigids defence responded with tenacious tackling especially full back Ian Sheedy who had a fine game on the Garda danger man, John Furlong, holding him scoreless.

David Smith added a further point with finely taken point off his left boot after fine play down the wing from Enda Brady. St Brigids now face St Vincents in the Championship Semi-Final.

St Brigid's: David Brooks, Kenny Reilly, Ian Sheedy, Paul Brady, Keith Fox, John Dunning, Brian Kelly, Stan Kevlehan, Ian Craven, Neil Plunkett, Tim Groake, Gerry Byrne, Enda Brady, Declan Barron, Keith Morris

Scorers: Neil Plunkett 1-3, Gerry Byrne 1-2, Enda Brady 1-0, Keith Morris 0-1, Tim Groake, Ian Craven and Declan Barron 0-1 each

Subs Used: Pat Lowry for Tim Groake, Keith O Neill for Stan Kevlehan and David Smith for Pat Lowry

Half Time: St Brigid's 1-4 Garda 1-4

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