Bray Emmets see off An Tochar in entertaining clash
THE ability to punch holes in their opponent’s defence and grab vital goals was the key reason why the under-14 footballers of Bray Emmets got the better of their An Tochar rivals in the replay of the under-14 ‘B’ football final played in Aughrim last Sunday evening.
Played in front of a very small crowd after the county Senior hurling decider, this game was entertaining for the most part with fine performances from Sebastian Coleman, Charlie Dunne and Brian Nesbitt to name but a few.
An Tochar started the game really well and took an early lead after a Darragh Fee point. It took Bray until the 19th minute to level matters and that arrived through a point by Brian Nesbitt.
A lovely point from a tight angle from corner-forward Gavin Rochfort gave Bray a lead they would never relinquish and then they grabbed their first goal of the day, this one from the boot of Sam Kearney who drove hard up the field and buried the ball in the bottom corner past a helpless Dylan Cummins.
This was tough for An Tochar to take as they had worked really hard up to this point and were now suddenly 1-02 to 0-01 down. And things were about to get much worse.
Nesbitt grabbed his second point of the day from a free and then the very impressive Charlie Dunne fired over off his left for a wicked score as the first half neared a close.
But the whistle didn’t come soon enough for An Tochar. In the space of a few minutes Bray bagged another 1-01, the goal coming from Nesbitt thanks to a pass from Dunne who took it past Dylan Cummins and supplied his colleague with a dainty pass.
An Tochar did squeeze off two late points of their won, one from John Paul Nolan and the other from midfielder Jordan Brady and the sides took the half-time break with Bray leading by 2-05 to 0-03.
A positive start was key to an An Tochar revival but they were left reeling from a Luke Dunne goal after a lovely pass from Sam Kearney.
An Tochar, to their credit, battled back hard and pointed through Jordan Bray, with three, and Darragh Fee to make it 3-05 to 0-07 for the Bray men.
Alas, from an An tochar point of view it was the concession of goals that killed their challenge on the day.
Bray got in for more majors from Luke Dunne, Evan Barry, and Charlie Dunne and although Dale Brady did flick home a late goal to the back of Ben Gorman’s net it was too little to late and their impressive points tally of 11 meant little when weighed up alongside a 6-06 for the Bray men.
A worthy victory for Bray who look like a very decent team with plenty of skill and talent sprinkled throughout the squad.
Bray Emmets: Ben Gorman; Michael McCarthy, Donal Spaine, Jamie Ryan; Art Whittle, Sebastian Coleman, Phillip Jakob; Ben Robinson, Sam Kearney; Brian Nesbitt, Jack Treacy, Evan Barry; Charlie Dunne, Luke Dunne, Gavin Rochfort. Subs: Eoin Holmes, Tadghe McCarthy, Oscar Harty, Quintin Lawlor, Luan Roddy, Aaron Ó Rourke.
An Tochar: Dylan Cummins; Roan Hayes, Andrew McDonnell, Luke Kenny; Matthew Nolan, Bobby Brady, Kian Brady; Jordan Brady, Darragh Tierney; Darragh Fee, Niall Sheahan, John Paul Nolan; Niall Byrne, Dale Brady, Ciaran Murphy. Subs:
Referee: Eddie Leonard (St Patrick’s)