St Brigid’s continue Dubs’ run

St Brigid’s became the fifth Dublin team in a row to win the Féile Peil Division 1 final after a comprehensive 1-6 to 0-0 victory over Portlaoise in O’Moore Park yesterday.

In what was the most one-sided final of the ten played in Portlaoise yesterday, the home side struggled to deal with not only the pace of the Dublin outfit, but also their physicality.

St Brigid’s wing forward Tiernan McGlynn was the most effective player in the opening half as he accounted for all three of his side’s points to leave the score in their favour at the break.

Portlaoise were guilty of some bad wides when they did get into scoring areas and they were duly punished in the cruellest of fashions on the restart. Portlaoise corner back Brian Sheehy spectacularly cleared Michael Courtney’s goal bound effort off the line but St Brigid’s recycled and centre-forward Mark Donnelly was on hand to drive the ball to the net.

This seemed a bridge too far for Portlaoise with time against them and so it proved as Donnelly, Courtney and Kevin Callaghan all raised white flags before the full time whistle.

Elsewhere, there was a strong international presence at the tournament with three of the 10 finals going to teams from abroad. New York boys had midfielder Rory Allen to thank as his second-half tally of 1-2 inspired his team to a 1-7 to 0-4 win over Burren, Down in the Division 2 final.

The New York girls matched their male comrades by winning the Division 4 title 0-3 to 0-1 against Bredagh, who, coincidentally, are also a Down club. Liam Keating’s stunning individual tally of 2-3 was the driving force behind Gloucestershire 3-3 to 0-5 victory over Delaware Co Gaels of Philadelphia in the all international Division 6 final.

The Division 1 girls final and the Division 3 boys final also had strong local interest with St Ciarán’s of Offaly and Ballyroan Abbey of Laois qualifying to face Claregalway of Galway and Naomh Eanna of Wexford respectively.

Claregalway were looking to make it three in a row of Féile titles but the Offaly girls, led by full-forward Ellie McEvoy, proved too strong to emerge 0-6 to 0-3 winners.

Ballyroan Abbey would not enjoy home advantage to the same degree as they went down 1-4 to 0-3 to the Gorey outfit with Óisín Hobbs first half goal proving crucial.

In the remaining girls finals, Kilkenny and Meath were victors as Kilkenny City ran out 1-5 to 1-1 winners over Westmeath’s The Downs in the Division 3 decider while Kelsey Nesbitt notched all of Simonstown’s total as they outscored Lurgan of Cavan 1-2 to 0-4 in a nail-biting Division 2 final..

Meanwhile, the two remaining boys finals had winners from Munster and Leinster.

A fiery Division 5 clash between Ennistymon and Warwickshire saw the Clare lads emerge with the crown by the absolute minimum on a final score of 1-5 to 1-4. The all Leinster Division 4 decider was a little less competitive as Longford’s Killoe Óg had too much for Louth’s Newtown Blues winning 2-3 to 0-5.