Brigid’s finish with a flourish

ST BRIGID’S manager Mark Byrne conceded he thought his team were dead and buried at half-time of this Dublin SFC semi-final on Saturday.

Philly Ryan’s goal in the second period of extra-time completed a remarkable comeback over 13-man Ballymun Kickhams at Parnell Park after his side overturned a six-point interval deficit to book an enticing final berth with near neighbours St Oliver Plunkett’s/Eoghan Ruadh.

“If you had have told me at half-time that we’d be looking forward to a final, I’d have thought you were mad,” said Ryan.

“When you want to win and don’t want to let your team down, you find extra gears from somewhere. Maybe our lads just wanted it a little bit more today. We went in as favourites and maybe that got to some of our younger lads. I’m not sure that sort of tag suits us.”

Despite conceding two points within the opening 90 seconds of the extra-time necessitated by Ken Darcy’s free five minutes into injury time, Brigid’s completely dominated, holding their opponents scoreless for the ensuing 18 minutes.

That such a conclusion was required seemed unlikely given the way Kichkams assumed dominance in the first half, opening up a five-point lead by the eighth minute and leading at the break by 1-8 to 0-5 thanks to Derek Byrne’s goal in injury time.

However, Brigid’s tightened up immeasurably upon the restart with Barry Cahill and John O’Loughlin coming to the fore.

Conversely, Ballymun took 28 minutes to open their second-half account but looked to have taken a decisive lead when Dean Rock converted a close-in free in the third minute of injury time, only for Darcy to reply in kind at the opposite end in a heart-stopping finale.

Kickhams efforts were undermined in extra-time following the needless dismissals of Ted Furman and Davey Byrne, allowing Brigid’s to cruise home in a facile manner.

Manager Byrne, along with co-manager Gerry McEntee, can now look forward to a local derby against a star-studded Plunkett’s.

“The clubs are only a stone’s throw away from each other and a lot of the lads went to school together and socialise with each other so there should be a good bit of craic in Blanchardstown in the coming week.”

Scorers for St Brigid’s: K Darcy 0-6 (5f), P Ryan 1-2, Mark Cahill (3f), P Andrews 0-3, B Cahill 0-2, J O’Loughlin, L McCarthy 0-1 each.

Scorers for Ballymun Kickhams: Derek Byrne 1-3, K Leahy, D Rock (1f, 1’45’) 0-3, B McCullagh, E Reilly, J Burke (f), 0-1.

ST BRIGID’S: S Supple; G Norton, S Murray, Martin Cahill; C Moran, A Daly, G Kane; B Cahill, J O’Loughlin; Mark Cahill, G McIntyre, O McCann; P Andrews, K Darcy, P Ryan.

Subs: L McCarthy for McIntyre and C Mullins for McCann (ht), C Doyle for Moran (73).

BALLYMUN KICKHAMS: S Currie; Enda Dolan, P McMahon, Eoin Dolan; A Hubbard, K Connolly, J Small; B McCullagh, Davey Byrne; E Reilly, D Rock, J Burke; T Furman, K Leahy, Derek Byrne.

Subs: S Lawlor for Eoin Dolan (ht), C Weir for Reilly (44), E Christie for Leahy (51), C Moore for McCullagh (56), Reilly for Burke (75).

Referee: R Malone (St Mary’s Saggart).