Sharing the spoils
Broderick grabs super equaliser for Bray against St Mary’s
ST MARY’S BRAY EMMETS 2-5 2-5
THE under-13 footballers of St Mary’s and Bray Emmets put on a thoroughly entertaining league battle in Ballinakill on Monday evening last with both sides deservedly heading home with a share of the spoils.
There was some fine football on display in this cracker with a late, dramatic goal from Bray’s Conor Broderick salvaging a draw at the death when St Mary’s were looking home and hosed at 2-5 to 1-5.
But this Bray side had shown one thing above and beyond all else in this game and that was that they refuse to accept defeat. A hammer-blow of conceding 2-1 in the opening five minutes didn’t knock the stuffing out of the north Wicklow side as they struggled to come to terms with the attacking football on the St Mary’s side. Instead they gathered their thoughts and set about reducing the deficit and found themselves trailing by 2-2 to 0-3 at the break with everything to play for in the second.
There were excellent players on both sides in this game, but it was the pair of number fours who really impressed, Conor Broderick for Bray and Lee Dagge for St Mary’s. Broderick bagged an impressive 2-3 in this game while Dagge, although arriving late, really imposed himself and thwarted numerous attacks and helped to launch plenty of St Mary’s attacks.
Both keepers were called into action early on. Ciaran Kelly saved for Bray from Lorcan Fitzsimons while Broderick forced Dylan Doyle to be at his best when saving from the Bray man early on.
Conor Mernagh/Bowes opened the scoring with a lovely score before going wide from a free moments later just ahead of Lee Dagge and Darren Fogarty entering the fray.
The first goal of the game arrived after five minutes. Ciaran Kelly saved superbly from the boot of the hugely impressive Ciaran Lambert for St Mary’s, but Alex Meehan was on hand to rifle home to the back of the net to the delight of the St Mary’s players and supporters.
Things got better quickly for the Coolkenno/Shillelagh combination when Lambert collected a Rua Defaoite ball and slotted home to make it 2-1 to no score in favour of the St Mary’s side.
Conor Broderick pointed a free after 11 minutes to get Bray off the mark before going wide from play with Patrick O’Byrne was really catching the eye for St Mary’s around this time.
Another St Mary’s man to grab the attention in this game was the athletic Jamie Schoeb who sent over a fine point after heavy St Mary’s pressure on the Bray defence saw them block and clearance and Schoeb reacted quickest to fire over.
Bray were growing more and more into this game with everything positive involving Conor Broderick and he collected a short 45 to swing over a fine score to make it 2-2 to 0-2.
Jack Byrne then picked up an injury and he switched with goalkeeper Ciaran Kelly. Treacy added a point from a free to leave the score at the break 2-2 to 0-3 in favour of St Mary’s.
Bray enjoyed an excellent start to the second half with points from Oisin Denver and Tadhg Treacy who would have had a goal but for the excellent reflex save of Dylan Doyle on the St Mary’s line who pushed a fierce shot over the crossbar.
Doyle was being kept busy at this stage. Broderick forced him into another super save after 10 minutes and then the St Mary’s netminder watched as 24B’s shot blazed wide.
Alex Meehan profited from great work out the field from Jamie Schoeb and Rua Defaoite to point and make it 2-3 to 0-5 but you always got the impression that if Bray could get Broderick on the ball there were going to be more scores in this game.
And so it was.Broderick gathered the ball out the field and rampaged down on the St Mary’s goal before pulling the trigger and launching a missile to the bottom corner of Dylan Doyle’s net. Unstoppable shot.
Ciaran Lambert continued his excellent performance with a point after 21 minutes before Conor Mernagh/Bowes looked to have given St Mary’s victory with a pointed free after 24 minutes (25 minutes a side).
Bray attacked knowing they needed a goal. Dylan Doyle stood tall for their first attack and cleared the danger, but the ball found its way to Broderick and off he set on his journey into St Mary’s territory and he lashed home a wicked shot to the back of Dylan Doyle’s net to secure a late, late draw and send both sides home happy at 2-5 to 2-5 after 50 minutes of thoroughly enjoyable football.
Plenty of fine footballers on both sides. For Bray, Broderick was outstanding but he was ably assisted by the likes of Tadhg Treacy, Liam Egan, Tristan O’Doherty, Oisin Denver and the really impressive Joshua Mahon who defended like a demon in this game.
St Mary’s had a wealth of talent on display despite missing numerous players for this game. Ciaran Lambert and Jamie Schoeb were excellent.
Alex Meehan impressed throughout and finished with 1-1, Rua Defaoite ran himself into the ground, Dylan Doyle has the makings of a fine goalkeeper while Lee Dagge oozes class.
Scorers – St Mary’s: Alex Meehan 1-1, Ciaran Lambert 1-1, Conor Mernagh/Bowes 0-2 (1f), Jamie Schoeb 0-1.
Bray Emmets: Conor Broderick 2-3 (2f), Oisin Denver 0-1, Tadhg Treacy 0-1.
Dylan Doyle, Lee Dagge, Patrick O’Byrne, Cathal O’Toole, Ciaran Lambert, Harry Knight, Jamie Schoeb, Rua Defaoite, Adam Doyle, Conor Mernagh/Bowes, Lorcan Fitzsimons, Alex Meehan, Darren Fogarty.
Ciaran Kelly, Joshua Mahon, Dylan McDermot, Lee Williams, Oisin Denver, Tadhg Treacy, Jack Byrne, Conor Broderick, Tristan O’Doherty, Luke Allen, Jack Cooper, Liam Egan, Donnacha Mac Maoláin, Fionn Morrissey, Euan Doyle.
Philip Bracken