Experience steadied the
THE GAME IN 60 SECONDS
MAIN MAN
The St Brendans full forward line contributed 3-13 between them, while the Kearney’s, Eoghan and Padraig were effective in terms of the support and supply they provided to their inside line. In terms of leadership Shane Griffin was very much to the fore, but, the silken skills and scoring returns of Brendan O Connor, marked him out as the games most influential and effective performer.
KEY MOMENT
St Brendans first goal in the fifteenth minute, might only have provided a marginal scoring advantage at that particular juncture, but, it ultimately proved to be the platform on which they built their match winning challenge. It was the spark which ignited a scoring flourish, and, which, ultimately put the issue beyond doubt by the half time break.
TALKING POINT
The match programme listed thirty four players in the St Brendans squad, while, by contrast Kilgarvan had just nineteen from which to choose. In effect St Brendans had another team available to them. It illustrates the challenge which Kilgarvan faces continually to keep the code alive down South, but, the spirit shown last Saturday by them confirms that they will always be challenging and contenders for Championship titles.
ST Brendans selector Jeremiah Clifford expressed the view that a mixture of young and old, the level of their goalscoring, the overall strength of the squad, the significance of their semi final win over Causeway and, the impact made by some key individuals were vital factors with some of these players maybe featuring in the Senior semi-final against Lixnaw on Sunday September 24.
“They got off to an explosive start, they caught us a bit on the hop. We were slow out of the blocks but, look, we have been scoring goals all of the year, the inside forward line, Gearoid (Sheehan), Brendan (O’Connor) and Shane (Griffin) are all goal getters, and I suppose goals win matches, so we got them at the right times. Shane (Griffin) came on board this year. We were struggling and in fairness to him he put his weight behind the wheel. Conor Flaherty came back, Eamonn Corridan came back down to us, and they steadied up the ship. It was great for the young fellows to be playing with these guys. They were heroes to them, they were watching them in Croke Park winning matches, they were only young lads, so it was great to see them playing together.
“We were out of it a couple of years, this year we were lucky, everybody stayed around. We lost nobody to America, and I suppose in fairness to the Senior panel, we lost a couple at the start of the year, and we lost no more after that. We were very lucky the Senior panel were good to us now in fairness, I have to compliment them for that.
“Causeway were always a kind of a bogey team for us, a monkey on our back for a lot of years, and we couldn’t get over the line with them. But this year we managed it, and we knew after beating Causeway we said it would take a good team to beat us. We were just delighted to get over the line. It’s a long time, twenty-one years waiting. The likes of Brendan (O’Connor) you would think will (step up to the Senior squad), absolutely outstanding today. Eoghan Kearney as well, Padraig Kearney, they all played very well. (Jack) McCarthy played well, these are young players who are willing to step up to the mark, just to drive on for the Lixnaw match in two weeks time. Some of these fel-