Conway Cup Final 2005
Brendans
face up to the facts of life. (Courtesy
of the Irish World. )
St
Brendans 2-15
Round
Towers 1-3
Among
those of us who are paid to sit and wonder
about these things, the feeling within the
fraternity is that St Brendans are the out and
out clear favourites for the 2005 Senior
Football Championship in London.
St
Brendans themselves do not, publicly at least,
want to contemplate such talk, but at the same
time, if they continue to deliver performances
of this quality, then they will sooner or
later have to face up to the facts of their
life for 2005.
Plain
and simply, on what has been seen so far this
year, when they are on their game, they are
head and shoulders above all-comers in London
football.
The
first three points they scored on Sunday were
perfect testimony to their range and depth of
skill.
First
up was Barry Solan with a typically well
executed point from a free, next came corner
back Aiden McLernon, who as early as the
fourth minute had started a rampaging theme to
his game that was to last the entire match and
then finally, there was Shane Manley, who
started and finished a move that saw him pick
up the ball outside the forty-five, solo
twenty metres, play a one-two with Danny
O’Connor and bury the ball past Niall Dillon
in the Towers goal. Simple, effective and
unstoppable football from the Offaly man.
Ten
minutes gone, game over.
The
winners had 1-7 on the board before Towers
managed a single score, that from a Noel Roche
free, which was quickly added to by a point
from Michael Murtagh thah at least took the
bad look off the scoreline before the
interval.
However,
when you have the sort of class that the
Brendans have at their disposal at the moment,
they were always going to get a second wind
and they did so in some style.
With
man of the match Andrew Brett causing all
sorts of difficulties for the Towers’
defence, St Brendans had soon added six
unanswered points to their tally and that with
only fourteen players, after Niall Clinton had
been dismissed just before the break as a
result of an incident between himself and
Christopher McCarthy.
Following
another point from Noel Roche for the losers,
that after 17mins of play in the second half,
the south Londoners had further insult added
to their considerable injury with a second
goal for the Brendans, although who claims it
will have to be decided between Manley and
substitute Simon Cullen, after Manley’s high
ball bounced in between Dillon and Cullen and
somehow ended up in the back of the Towers’
net. As I say, who touched what will be left
to the players’ consciences (or egos), but
from where I was standing, it looked like
Cullen was claiming the credit with Manley
having to satisfy himself with an assist.
A
good run from midfield by Michael Murtagh set
up a great goal for Noel Roche, who buried the
ball past a helpless Billy Molloy to at least
restore some pride in the Towers’ effort but
from that point all the Towers could think of
were goals and really with the massed ranks of
the Brendans’ defence barring the way, they
were pretty much wasting their time.
Two
final points from Brett and Cullen sealed a
very impressive 2-15 to 1-3 victory for Pat
McNabb’s team and landed them the first
piece of major silverware for the year.
By
the look of them, it won’t be their last.
St
Brendan's:
A
Brett 0-4 (0-1f); B Solan 0-4 (0-3f); S Cullen
1-2; S Manley 1-0; A McLernon 0-1; S McInerney
0-1; E Trench 0-1; N Clinton 0-1 (‘45’); D
O’Connor 0-1.
Round
Towers:
N
Roche 1-2 (0-1f); M Murtagh 0-1.
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