Brosna learn the lessons

MCMUNN’S NORTH KERRY SFC SEMI-FINAL (replay) Brosna 0-12 Ballyduff 0-9

DID it live up to the drawn game? No, not quite. Nor was it ever likely to. That, however, doesn’t mean this wasn’t a really entertaining and high-quality game. In the balance until practically the last kick of the game, there was drama, there was tension, there was fight, there was spirit.

Most crucially of all there was quality. Some of the scores we saw from both the tangerine army and the green and white were absolutely top drawer. Down one end Pádraig Boyle was banging them over from distance. Down the other Paul Walsh was doing his thing. Left foot, right foot, over the bar. People got their money’s worth for the second week on the bounce that’s for sure.

The competitive balance of the game was subtlety different this time around, however. Brosna led by their manager Liam Brosnan had their homework done during the week, attacking Ballyduff’s strengths and doing a lot to nullify them.

The principal one amongst them being Mikey Boyle. Six days beforehand Brosna didn’t know how to handle the Ballyduff live-wire. This time around with Shane Fitzmaurice leading the line at full-back they did a lot to close Boyle down.

He still had his moments. He was still influential here and there, picking a pass, going on a run, but there was never that same sense of danger or panic in the Brosna ranks when Boyle was on the ball. This time around they had him covered.

So too did they have the measure of Ballyduff in the middle of the park. Brosna weren’t dominant or anything like it, but they weren’t under the cosh like they were in the drawn game and the longer the game went on the more confident and assertive Dave Curtin seemed to become for them in the number eight shirt.

Ballyduff to give them their dues started the game strongly and for the first twelve or thirteen minutes were clearly the better side. What they didn’t do was make their purple patch count in a major way.

As a matter of fact it was pretty much nip and tuck on the scoreboard. It was still level after nineteen minutes, but you could practically feel Brosna grow into the game. When Walsh fired Brosna into the lead on twenty one minutes – taking an assist from the ever-classy Éamonn Kiely and striking beautifully off his left – they never again lost it. From there on out, Ballyduff were chasing the game.

Fair enough Brosna’s two point lead at the break – Moriarty firing over the final point of the half to make it 0-7 to 0-5 – was far from insurmountable, but one got the sense that this was going to be their day even then.

A sense further reinforced when they opened out a four point lead early in the second half following a pair of points by Moriarty and Walsh after Ballyduff had started the half with a free dropped short and a ‘45 not taken advantage of. A four point swing they could scarcely afford.

Of course Ballyduff being Ballyduff they didn’t give up. Not with Pádraig Boyle firing over two wonder scores on forty two and forty four minutes. A one point game again. All to play for. Walsh though replied straight away to ease Brosna nerves.

BROSNA: Conor Kiely, Gerard Nash, Shane Fitzmaurice, Flor McAuliffe (0-1), Mike Finnegan, Éamonn Kiely, Maurice O’Keeffe, Dave Curtin, Shane Curtin, Adam Barry (0-1f), Kieran O’Donnell, Paul Walsh (0-6, 3f), Patrick Moriarty (0-3), Timmy Finnegan (0-1), Daniel Fitzgerald Subs: Tom McGoldrick for K O’Donnell, 43, Killian Fitzmaurice for M Finnegan, 53

BALLYDUFF: Michael Hussey, John Hussey, Paul O’Carroll, Darren O’Connor, Pádraig Walsh, Daniel O’Carroll, Anthony O’Carroll, Paud Costello, Seán Costello, Jack O’Sullivan, Pádraig Boyle (0-3), Eoin Ross (0-1), Philip Lucid, Jack Goulding (0-2), Mikey Boyle (0-3f) Subs: Johnny Regan for P Walsh, half-time, Mikey O’Halloran for P Lucid, half-time, Aidan Boyle for S Costello, 41, Barry O’Grady for E Ross, 57

REFEREE: Dermot Hughes (Listowel Emmets)