LONDON SFC
2004
Brendans
win key battle
By
John Collins (Irish World)
St
Brendans 1-9
Kingdom
Kerry Gaels 1-7
Last
time these two teams met in Championship
battle, Kingdom Kerry Gaels applied a little
second half pressure to their opponents and St
Brendans crumbled.
That
was the semi-final of the 2003 competition and
many would have been forgiven for thinking
they were watching a continuation of the same
game over the first thirty minutes of this
contest.
St
Brendans opened the score with a point from
Dave O’Riordan in the first minute and
didn’t score again until the second half.
Yes, they did hit a few wides, but at the same
time, they were in no way convincing in the
way they were going about their forward
business.
Equally
unconvincing was their defence, especially in
the fourth minute when a long ball from
midfield was mis-judged by full back Gary
Cullen and the returning Colm Foody was on
hand to out-jump keeper Billy Molloy and flick
the ball into the empty net.
Kingdom
were once again applying pressure and three
more points in the following ten minutes left
them five points ahead on the quarter hour.
Then
the pressure stopped….as did the scoring as
well. For the following fifteen minutes, both
sets of players fumbled and lost the ball with
an annoying frequency and when the half-time
whistle sounded, the scores were still 1-3 to
0-1.
The
let off that the Brendans had received in that
inept first half display was appreciated.
Changes were made at the break with Joe
Corscadden coming into the full forward line
in place of Paddy Bowles.
Captain
Shane Manley pointed immediately after the
restart and then scored a brilliant individual
goal five minutes later. Suddenly it was the
Kingdom who were under pressure.
Kevin
Waldron pushed his side two points ahead again
but then Brendans started to dominate. Barry
Solan in particular was having an exceptional
second half and scored one point from the
sideline that was quite brilliant.
With
five minutes to go and the Brendans leading by
a point, the men in green were given an
opportunity to rescue a draw from the game and
also confirm their position as equals to the
2002 Champions.
A
fourteen yard free was awarded following a
technical foul by Solan and when Gordon Weldon
stepped up to take it, most expected the
free-taker to convert with ease. However,
inexplicably he missed from straight in front
of the post and moments later Kieran McCarthy
landed a great point for St Brendans to give
this team the comfort zone of a two point
advantage.
It
would be highly improbable that either of
these teams will fail to qualify for the
semi-finals and really, whether they come top
or second is of little consequence to either,
given the quality of the teams in the other
group. Any notion of an “easy” semi is
nonsense to say the least.
St
Brendans have failed to really find top gear
just yet and are struggling to get the right
mix up front at least. Certainly they are not
as yet displaying that sort of ruthlessness
that was their trademark in 2002.
Shane
Manley is of extreme importance to the team
and in truth, if they could clone him they
probably would, as he is of equal use to them
in the full forward line and in the half
forward division.
Their
defence looks average, but then given that in
London most of the attacks they face will also
be average, it is not a real issue. Finding
that decisive “X” factor for the attack is
the real conundrum.
The
Kingdom on the other hand look strong in
defence, on a paper at least, and while they
will not be overly pleased with their second
half display, one gets the feeling that if
they are to be successful, then they will
build that success upon that defensive unit.
Their
attack will of course be greatly helped by the
return of Foody to their colours, while Jacko
Murphy was also showing flashes of his old
form.
Eamon
Brennan missed two gilt edged chances for
points early in the second half and those
misses were every bit as crucial as Weldon’s
late missed free.
If
these teams do meet again in the final then
they are well matched.
Composure
and character were the key to St Brendans
getting back into this game and they were the
areas where the Kingdom failed in the second
half.
Certainly
the men in green and gold have the players to
lift the crown, it is just making sure they
can find those other key elements.
Scorers:
St
Brendans: S Manley 1-2, B Solan 0-4, D
Riordan 0-1, K McCarthy 0-1, J McShane 0-1.
Kingdom
Kerry Gaels: C Foody 1-1, J Murphy 0-3, M
Coppinger 0-1, K Waldron 0-1, S Sheehan 0-1.
Close window
|
