St Finbarr's beat Bishopstown to seal Rebel Óg P1 Minor Football semi-final place
St Finbarr's Jack Brady shoots past Bishopstown's Jerry O'Mahony and Charlie Vaughan during the Rebel Óg Premier 1 MFC at Bishopstown. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
ST Finbarr’s are through to the Premier 1 Minor Football semi-finals after they beat local rivals Bishopstown and came runners-up in their group to Douglas.
This was a derby in every sense, scoring chances were low but there were big battles in every line. No one understood the assignment more than Daniel Burke as he read the game perfectly and that helped win the Barrs a number of first-half turnovers.
The best Bishopstown could do in the opening half-hour was three frees that Bill Cahill sent over, with another attempt from a placed ball going narrowly wide.
As for the Barrs, their first score was put over by Jack Brady, and he followed that up by hitting the back of the net in the 27th minute. In between those two moments Mark Hetherington and Cian O’Sullivan raised white flags: 1-3 to 0-3 at half-time.
What made this more impressive from a Barrs' point of view was that all of their scores were from play, with their two attempts from placed balls going wide.
The Barr’s came out from the break and put over two frees, with O’Sullivan converting these opportunities from close range. Hetherington then kicked over a point and that made it 1-6 to 0-3, and St Finbarr’s had a firm cushion with just five minutes played in the second half.
O’Sullivan put over two more frees after this, and that was followed by Hetherington tapping the ball over the bar.
Brady got his third of the game from distance, and that extended his side’s lead to eight points. That was a deserving moment for a player who rose to prominence earlier this year in Coláiste an Spioraid Naoimh's run to glory in the Simcox Cup.
Gary Holland finished the game with two scores for Bishopstown, and that was too little too late.
Bishopstown: B Cahill 0-4 f, G Holland 0-2 f, H Grant, D Murphy 0-1 each.
J Brady 1-3, C O’Sullivan 0-5 (0-4 f), M Hetherington 0-3, R Barrett 0-1.
S Murray; J O’Mahony, C Vaughan, H Wixted; D Murphy, D Murphy, H Grant; O Foley, D O’Rourke; G Holland, C Murray, B O’Callaghan; J Tompkins, N Crowley, B Cahill.
C Galvin for Tompkins (40), D Griffin for O’Rourke (42), R Clinton for Murray (45), S Weisman for Crowley (45).
J O’Leary; E Hurley, D O’Kelly, D Burke; T Howe, M Aherne, N Crowley; T Egan, M Hetherington; J Brady, R Barrett, S Kirby; C O’Donoghue, J Miller, C O’Sullivan.
D O’Keeffe for Brady (55), A Kennedy for O’Donoghue (55), S Doolan for Barrett (57).
John Ryan (Macroom).
App?
