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Junior 1 Footballers defeat Naomh Olaf with ease to reach Playoffs - Mon, 21 Nov 2005

St Brigids 1-11 Naomh Olaf 0-7

A convincing victory for the Junior 1 footballers of St. Brigid's over Naomh Olaf on Sunday morning leaves Violet Muldoon's team with every chance of securing promotion to Adult League Division Four. Brigid's rarely looked troubled throughout the contest at Russell Park, and now have an excellent opportunity of making the play-offs after their seven-point win.

The hosts assumed control from the outset of the contest, and should have been clear after twenty minutes, but were level with Olafs at 0-3 apiece after a Michael Walsh point and a brace of frees from Kevin O'Donavan. Only some wayward shooting from their forwards prevented the Russell Park crew from holding the lead at that stage, although a superb score from O'Donavan deservedly put Brigid's ahead with five minutes of the first half remaining.

Olafs briefly got back on level terms by pointing moments later, but Walsh finally gave the hosts some breathing space by blasting to the net with seconds of the half remaining (1-4 to 0-4). The second half resumed in a score-for-score nature as the sides claimed 0-2 apiece in the opening ten minutes with Walsh registering a brace of scores for the hosts.

But, as the likes of Enda Kane and Conor Clavin began to dominate in the middle of the park, it seemed to be simply a matter of time before Brigid's put clear daylight between the teams, which they did when replacement Stephen Kelly and O'Donavan pointed to leave five points separating the sides (1-8 to 0-6).

An Olafs point reduced the gap to four, before a foot-block in the Sandyford defence handed Brigid's a penalty and an opportunity to end the game as a contest. O'Donavan, who'd looked assured throughout the entire contest, then sensibly took the safe option by pointing from the spot, leaving his team 1-9 to 0-7 up with ten minutes remaining.

Olafs now looked a beaten side, and the impressive 16 added two further points as Brigid's cruised home in the dying stages to record a seven-point win. Round Towers may be virtually assured of claiming the league title and automatic promotion, but Brigid's can still follow the Clondalkin boys upwards via a play-off.

Scorers: M Walsh 1-3, K O'Donavan 0-5 (3f, 0-1 pen), S Kelly 0-3.

St Brigids: D Smith; M McGovern, V Bruin, C Dorney; E Lynch, M Gilson, T Broderick; E Kane, C Clavin; M Walsh, K O?Donavan, C Greene; L McCarthy, P Mulgrew, B Fogarty.

Subs: S Kelly, T Hughes.

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