Saints quality tells as they lay claim to back-to-back titles

NORTH KERRY SFC FINAL

St Senans 2-6 Brosna 0-6

WE said it before the match and we’ll say it again here: when St Senans are good, they’re good. No, scratch that, let’s not underplay it here, when they’re good, they’re very good indeed.

The Mountcoal men brought their A-game to Ballylongford on Sunday afternoon and left a brave and valiant Brosna side trialling in their wake. The six point margin in the end didn’t flatter them. It may even have marginally underplayed their superiority.

Yes Brosna roared back into the game in the second half, Senans though could have been a bit further ahead by the time Brosna did, had they taken more of their chances. Brosna, of course, could make the case that they too missed large number of chances – and they did – but even so Senans were just that cut above them on this occasion.

When Mark Bourke’s men had to turn it on they could or rather they could dig deep into the reserves of strength they have out Mountcoal way at the moment. Out of everything that’s possibly the most impressive thing about the Senans at the moment.

To lose the number of starters that they have in the seven months since May – through injury, suspension, retirement and emigration – and to keep the standards they have is hugely impressive. As a matter of fact St Senans didn’t break stride at all, not in that first half when they were everything we’ve come to expect from them over the last eighteen months.

They were slick, they were quick, they were ravenously hungry and when the mood took them they were quite devastating. It speaks to the quality of their performance that their four point lead at the break wasn’t all it could be. As we’ve said it could have been more.

From practically their first attack Senans could well have found the back of the net, with Seán T Dillon ranging far from base camp to assist David Behan for a shot at goal – blocked heroically by Shane Curtin.

Brosna did manage to take the lead with the game’s opening score – a free from Paul Walsh for a foul by Dillon – on five minutes, but they didn’t at all look themselves. The tangerine army were a little flat and a touch nervous looking, while the decision to play Walsh inside probably didn’t pay the dividends they would have hoped for.

Senans, while missing a few early chances, were by comparison quite vibrant, bringing an aggression and an edge to proceedings – an approach vindicated by their dominance at kick-out time, especially under the breaks.

It really didn’t help Brosna’s cause that they lost David Curtin to injury thirteen minutes in. Yes Shane Curtin and Timmy Finnegan stepped up tot the mark in the second half, but in the twenty minutes remaining to the half-time break Senans took near total control in that sector.

Barry Mahony was, yet again, the main man for

Senans and fashioned a second chance at goal on sixteen minutes. The rebound made its way to Paudie Quille who fired Senans into the lead for the first time.

A Mahony assist for Quille’s second less than sixty seconds later – from a Brosna kick-out – was yet more evidence that Brosna were in real trouble at this stage in the game, especially when they failed to find the back of the net when Tom McGoldrick assisted Patrick Moriarty and James Barry did the needful.

Brosna badly need the boost a goal would have provided at that stage in the game. Further points from Seán O’Connell – maintaining his form from the semi-final – and Mahony made it a four point game at the break – 0-5 to 0-1.

It was far from a hopeless situation for Brosna at that stage, but they found themselves in a fairly deep hole and would need a brilliant second half to dig themselves out of it. To give Liam Brosnan and his men credit they gave it one hell of a rattle.

Senans could have extended their lead to five (or even seven) had Jason Browne tapped over on thirty one minutes instead of shooting wide in an attempt to get the game’s opening goal. The fact he didn’t convert seemed to give Brosna the hope they needed.

There was a fresh energy and purpose to Brosna in the second half with Finnegan and Curtin coming into it, with Paul Walsh coming a little deeper (at kickout time at least) and with Tom McGoldrick finding form and finding his range.

When he pointed a free on thirty four minutes it was Brosna’s first score in about half an hour. A small step, albeit an important one. Alas the missed chances kept adding up for Brosna. They could have broken the deadlock with a goal after Curtin assisted Walsh, but Walsh struck wide.

A further two points from McGoldrick – on thirty nine and forty one minutes – made it a one point game again and a frisson of excitement buzzed around O’Rahilly Park after a fairly staid first half.

Senans though always had another gear in them and when Brosna failed to make further inroads (Moriarty unlucky for a goal chance), Barry Mahony began to make his influence felt once again and helped wrest the tide from Brosna around the middle. It also helped that Senans were able to bring on two subs of real quality – Conor Kennelly and David Foran – both of whom would have an impact on the end game. Foran assisted Seán O’Connell for the game’s decisive goal on forty six minutes and, while Brosna fought back again with a pair of McGoldrick points, the goal was always likely to prove decisive.

A Kennelly point on fifty nine minutes seemed to have done just about enough to ensure victory – 1-6 to 0-6 – leaving Brosna on the hunt for goals, but Foran’s goal on the stroke of sixty minutes made absolutely certain of it.

A fully deserved victory. A tough one for Brosna to take nevertheless as Senans make it back-to-back titles. For a club who hadn’t a title to their name before this time last year that’ll do very nicely indeed as an early Christmas present.

ST SENANS: James Barry, Eamon Shanahan, Seán T Dillon, Kieran Lyons, Darragh Behan, Bill Keane, Mark Behan, Barry Mahony (0-1), Jason Browne, Eoin O’Connell, Paudie Dillon, Paudie Quille (0-2), Donal Hunt, David Beehan, Seán O’Connell (1-2) Subs: Conor Kennelly (0-1) for David Behan, 42, David Foran (1-0) for Darragh Behan, 45, Breandán Whelan for P Dillon, 55, Con O’Keeffe for D Hunt, 60, Cillian Trant for K Lyons, 60, Donnacha Brosnan for E Shanahan, 62

BROSNA: Conor Kiely, Gerard Nash, Shane Fitzmaurice, Flor McAuliffe, Mike Finnegan, Éamonn Kiely, Maurice O’Keeffe, Dave Curtin, Shane Curtin, Timmy Finnegan, Adam Barry, Kieran O’Donnell, Patrick Moriarty, Paul Walsh (0-1f), Daniel Fitzgerald Subs: Tom McGoldrick (0-5, 2f) for D Curtin (inj), 13, Josh Innes for F McAuliffe, 45, Thomas Fitzgerald for P Moriarty (inj), 55, Killian Fitzmaurice for D Fitzgerald, 55

REFEREE: Brendan Griffin (Clounmacon)