SFC RD3 2006

Tara edged out

Senior Football Championship Round 3

St. Brendans.........3-04

Tara......................1-08

St. Brendans edged out Tara in their latest championship match at Ruislip on Sunday in what was an entertaining and tight encounter.

A goal just before half-time from Brendans’ Killian Phair gave the men in white and green a three-point advantage, a deficit Tara never recovered from.

Three points were exchanged in the opening ten minutes as Brendans took an early 0-02 to 0-01 lead before Tara hit the first defining strike of the match.

Pat Finneran drifted in from the right wing and fired the ball under the diving body of Billy Molloy at the near post to give his side a two-point advantage.

Finneran could have extended that lead further a minute later but shot wide before Brendans had a goal chance themselves but Joe Corscadden’s shot hit the post and went out of play.

Chris Donnellan extended the Tara lead on 20 minutes when he floated over a point from the left before Brendans had another golden chance to hit the back of the net but Adrian Brett’s effort was saved by the legs of Tara goalkeeper David Foley.

However, five minutes later, Brendans levelled the scores at 1-02 apiece when they broke down the right in a well worked move. Brett found himself in front of goal and his shot was deflected into the net above the head of Foley.

Then a minute into added time Brett’s shot this time hit the Tara post but the rebound fell to Phair who made no mistake from close range to give his team the advantage at the interval.

Foley was again called into action just after the restart as Tara rode their luck when he saved Brett’s goalbound effort. From the resulting 45, Corscadden picked up the ball from Phair but was brought down close in. The latter duly dispatched the resulting free.

Brendans were again unlucky a minute later when Phair hit the inside of the post and three mintes later Paul Hehir cut the Brendans’ lead to three when he pointed from a free.

Corscadden then wasted a good opportunity to point from a free when he missed the target before Stuart McKenzie Smith fired over a good score to get Tara right back into contention.

Tara kept attacking and saw a shot hit the inside of Molloy’s post and bounce across the goalmouth and in essence, that proved to be the turning point.

Just a minute later, Phair scored a controversial goal, as there appeared to be a foul in the lead-up to the to the score but the decision stood to put Brendans back in firm command.

Donnellan immediately replied with a point 16 minutes into the half but Brett fired over a fine point after receiving a free from Phair. However, this would prove to be their last point of the match as Tara staged a late revival.

McKenzie Smith then thought he had pointed from the right but his effort was controversially waved wide when all those connected with Tara were convinced it had split the posts. They did raise the white flag a couple of minutes later though when the same player pointed.

Finneran then added another two points in the space of a minute as the men in green dominated the midfield areas to leave just two points between the teams.

Tara oushed forward but could not find the winning goal and Phair almost made it a three-point win but saw his shot from a free hit the top of the Tara post.

St. Brendans: B Molloy, G Cullen, P Malone, S O’Hare, L O’Connell, F Greenan, F McArdle, S McAlinden, L Fallon, P Tierney, J Corscadden, M Gillespie, K Phair, P Bowles, A Brett.

Tara: D Foley, A Canning, D Magee, M Lyon, C Byrne, S Hehir, B Dolan, D Gallagher, P Hehir, S O’Malley, P Finneran, S Enright, C Donnellan, S McKenzie Smith, M Hoey.