Two weeks after the disappointment of losing to Kilmacud Crokes, the St Brendan’s Hurlers, sponsored by Bodibro, put in a huge amount of work going into this evening’s fixture against Round Towers Lusk, in the first fixture between the sides since the Junior D final last October.
Cian Walsh had named his starting XV however Round Towers Lusk could only muster up 14 players so Jack McCarron was the one to miss out on the now starting XIV.
The 14 men of Lusk opened the scoring with a point after 10 seconds and that would be the only time they would lead, Michael Harte was chopped down, Harte was on free taking duties for the evening and duly converted his first free in.
Three minutes in and Harte was again chopped down when in a good position, the referee moved the free and extra 10 meters and for even more dissent, an extra 10 meters, Harte converted the free nonetheless.
After a 2nd Lusk point, Harte got his hat trick of points this time from a 65 after some brilliant Liam Kennedy pressure forced the 65. Mark Kinsella won a turnover on the 20 meter line, to Rob Hanrahan and onto Declan Lee to score The Dark Forces first point from open play and 4th point overall.
Sean Whyte then won possession in midfield and played a diagonal ball to Declan Lee, who brilliantly kept the slioter in play with an unorthodox pick up and puc from a tight angle to make it a personal brace 0-5 to 0-2. Liam Kennedy thought he had a point but the shot was saved for a 65, but Harte sent the 65 wide.
Declan Lee made it a hat trick of points for himself with Rob Hanrahan with the final pass. Michael Harte then increased his tally to four points with another free this time on a jersey pull on Patrick Lambe. 17:50 gone and Sean Whyte became the third different St Brendan’s player on the score sheet when ploughing through the Lusk defence to puck over the bat from 30 meters.
The home side hit a mini purple patch with three points on the spin. Liam Kennedy stopped the rot with a good point to make it 0-9 to 0-6. The Longford Slasher Noel Lane then made it 0-10 after Hanrahan whipped in a diagonal ball after winning Ritchie Barry’s puck out.
Michael Harte made it 0-5 personally with a free in after a foul on Shane Nolan and 0-11 overall. Declan Lee made it 0-4 after winning the Lusk puck out after Whyte hit a Hollywood ball, however Whyte did make amends when winning the puck out following Lee’s point, played the ball to Shane Nolan who produced a nice pick up and puc to Patrick Lambe who produced an even nicer pick up and puc over the bar for point 13.
Harte made it 0-6 personally and his first from open play following good play from substitute Conor Madden and Liam Kennedy. Hanrahan produced a great catch from the puc out but unfortunately his shot went wide. A free in from Lusk which went wide was the last action of the first half.
The Happy Days Coffee Van Half Time score: St Brendan’s 0-14 Round Towers Lusk 0-7.
Cian Walsh was not happy with some of the loose marking at half time and despite the 7 point lead there were some long faces, however Ritchie Barry was having none of it and ordered his side to smile, smile baby, smile.
The smiles on the St Brendan’s players were soon wiped off their faces when Lusk took advantage of the aforementioned loose marking to hit the opening score of the second half and then two Michael Harte shots from the 65 meter line, but the second of which was a free in, both went wide.
The smiles on the Round Towers Lusk players were soon wiped off their faces when, after a goal bound Noel Lane shot was deflated for a 65. Rob Hanrahan stepped up and his shot dipped under the crossbar at the last second for a goal and some breathing space for The Dark Force, 1-14 to 0-8.
Disappointed to be the one to lose out on a starting berth, Jack 'The Relegater' McCarron came on in place of Liam Kennedy and his impact was imminent when supplying the final pass to Shane Nolan for the second St Brendan’s goal of the evening.
We thought the floodlights would come on in Grangegorman but that didn’t materialised, that however didn’t stop Declan Lee from hitting 5th point following good play from Eanna Larkin and Alan Walsh in the backs.
A Michael Harte free in fell short but Nolan was there to pick up the slioter and for the second time, rattled the ball into the Lusk net to make it 3-15 to 0-8. Lusk then hit a long aimless ball that hit the upright of the mini goalmouth in the corner of the pitch!
Lee’s last contribution of the match when Harte hit a ball which missed everyone except Lee and his 7th point, then he was taken off in place of Gavin ‘The Goal Getter’ Muldoon.
Both Lee and Harte would end up with 7 points with the latter scoring from play. Ritchie Barry’s bid for a clean sheet ended when a Lusk shot hit the upright but got a connection from a Lusk hurl and into the back of the net. Barry wasn’t smiling then but the referee whistled up for full time shortly afterwards and a 5th win for St Brendan’s with a huge game coming up this Sunday against Lucan Sarsfields
Final score from Grangegorman: St Brendan’s 3-17 Round Towers Lusk 1-9
24 hours later both St Brendan’s Ladies Football teams were in action, the 1sts were in Longmeadows to face St Peregrines in a bid to maintain their unbeaten start to Ladies Division 4 and duly did so on a scoreline of 1-9 to 0-3 with The Mullingar Dynamo Sinead Morrissey scoring three points, Tiarna with the goal, Jane and Ailbhe with 2 points, Christine with 1 point and the recently married Sophie Freeman started wedded bliss in style when scoring a point
St Brendan’s GAA Club would like to congratulate Sophie Freeman and her new husband Denis Wickstone on their wedding and wish them good health and happiness in their new lives together.
In Greentrees Park in Walkinstown, The St Brendan’s Ladies 2nd XV, also scored 1-9 in their Ladies Division 8 fixture against Robert Emmets. Unfortunately, the home side scored 3-9 and the 2nds quest for a first victory of the season will have to wait another week.
