A week earlier than usual, The St Brendan’s Football 2nd XV, in partnership with Stoneybatter pride of place, travelled to Dolphin Park in Crumlin for the Final of the Go Ahead Junior 6 All County South Championship Final against Templeogue Synge Street who have five time All Ireland winner, Denis Bastick in their squad. The match was due to take place on November 17th , however both teams agreed to move the fixture seven days to the 10th. 

The Darkest Force got off to an encouraging start with a free in from The Charity Worker Ferdia Donohoe, after the referee gave advantage following a foul on The Landlord Andy Moran. The Syngers equalised with a free in following a third man tackle. After seeing a goal bound shot fall short, Brian Hobbins gave his side the lead with a free in after being taken down 22 meters from goal. 

St Brendan’s were the better team in the opening 10 meters and took the lead 0-3 to 0-1 with another point this time from Donohoe from play after Cathal O’Donnell took a free in, which was moved up an extra 10 meters, and played the ball to Donohoe. 

The home side were clearly the better team for the rest of the half with the lead score 19:17 in the first half with a point form play. Andy Moran had a short which fell short. 

The significant moment of the half came with 5 minutes to go and despite blocks from Jack ‘The Relegator’ Mc Carron and Double J John Joyce, and a shot hitting the upright, TSS got the goal when Denis Bastick was there to retrieve the ball from the upright and beat Conor ‘Cowley’ Hallissey for goal. All this whilst St Brendan’s were down to 14 men with Conor ‘Bodie’ Harris black carded.  

TSS were 1-6 to 0-3 going into the first half injury time but some good work from Hobbins, Donohoe and O’Donnell helped Moran hit a crucial point going into the half time interval with the score St Brendan’s 0-4 Templeogue Synge Street 1-6. 

The second half begun with a point for TSS after a turnover and could have opened a seven point lead but for a turnover from Jack ‘the Relegator’ Mc Carron who won a free out. 

McCarron deflected a Syngers shot for a 45 and the 45 was whipped in but straight into Hallissey’s breadbasket who started the move which resulted in Cathal O’Donnell guiding his shot over the bar and back to a five point deficit 1-7 to 0-5. 

That deficit became four when The Dream Maker Sean Dardis supplied the final pass to the Landlord Andy Moran for a 35 meter shot over the bar. That was Dardis’ last action of the Final as John ‘Tesla’ Tuffy replaced him with Dylan ‘Not The Galwayman’ McHugh. 

And that substitution had the desired effect as McHugh supplied the final pass to Cathal O’Donnell for a shot over the bar and three points between the sides 1-7 to 0-7 with 20 minutes to go. 

Soon as St Brendan’s had a foothold on the match, Templeogue Synge Street came right back in and had a 5 point lead after 42 minutes, Ferdia Donohoe and Malachi Doyle went for the same ball, but got turned over and resulted in the 2nd point of that brace. 

The Syngers went down to 14 men for the remainder of the match and 7 points up. With the finish line in sight, The Syngers froze like rabbits in the headlights as St Brendan’s mounted a comeback, The Plaque on the Wall Micheal Bruen hit a good shot following a final pass from substitute David ‘Kevin’ McCallister. 

Andy Moran chipped back the deficit to five points with a point after a pass from Brian Hobbins. The Darkest Force kept the pressure on with a point from Eoin O’Connor in which he went on the solo run and a path opened up for him to allow to swing the boot over that bar. 

Conor ‘Bodie’ Harris drew a foul 25 meters from goal for another free in, converted by Hobbins. One suggested that the pendulum was swinging St Brendan’s favor with Bruen, with a rather unorthodox solo run, hit a tremendous shot from 40 meters and put 2 between the sides 1-11 to 0-12, but a bid for a sixth point on the spin ended with Bruen tried to repeat the trick from a minute ago, but the wind took the shot wide. 

Going into injury time, Templeogue Synge Street had a chance to kill the game off with a shot from open goal, but the Syngers forward fluffed the ball over the bar and a three point game. St Brendan’s needed a goal to force extra time, Both McCallister and Micheal Bruen had goal bound shots blocked as The Syngers back were alert by everything The Darkest Force could throw at them. 

One final attempt to force extra time, Brian Hobbins dropped a free in into the square, Templeogue Synge Street cleared it and the referee blew the final whistle and Denis Bastick has added another medal to his five All Irelands and 2008 Intermediate Championship. 

Heartbroken and devastated, the supporters of St Brendan’s gave a side a minutes long applause for the almighty effort today, but Denis Bastick and his experience was the big difference as the 2024 GAA Season came to a close. 

Final score from Dolphin Park, St Brendan’s 0-12 Templeogue Synge Street 1-12. 

See Also:

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/128fcmCMrWG/?mibextid=WC7FNe

https://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/43-year-old-ireland-winning-34089707