Following a facile 3-14 0-2 victory over St Monica’s last Tuesday June 6th, The St Brendan’s Football 1st XV, Sponsored by Dynamic Safety Solutions, continued their bid for AFL5 promotion with a fixture against Raheny, played in a sweltering hot evening in Longmeadows.

Before all that, here is another weekly roundup involving other St Brendan’s teams.

On Wednesday June 7th the spotlight turned to the Ladies Football 2nd XV, The 1sts weren’t playing this evening, Like the Mens 1st’s the Ladies 2nds were also playing St Monicas this time in Edenmore and ran out comfortable 2-12 to 0-4 winners with Karen Sheehan and Sheila Moore the two goalscorers.

Like the Mens Football 1sts, The Hurlers are also bidding for promotion out of AHL7 and give their promotion bid a massive boost with a 5-12 to 3-8 victory over St Brigid’s on Sunday Morning June 11th and now have one game to go at home to Castleknock on June 25th, but need to depend on the results of Kilmacud Crokes and Lucan Sarsfield if St Brendan’s are you win promotion automatically.

So back to this evening, and The Dark Force got off to a good start with a point from The Return of The Mack Cillian Morrison from an advanced mark thanks to a pass from Michael ‘The DJ’ Cahill. Morrison would make it a race of points with a free in after drawing the foul himself.

Raheny then scored four points on the spin, the fourth of which saw an intended pass from Franklin ‘Kepa’ O Reilly to James O’Reilly, pinched by Raheny player and his shot went over the bar.

A Raheny player was penalised for over carrying, Stephen Durkin played great goal towards Conell Morgan who came up from cornerback and found John Burns and the Longford leader made no mistake when taking this shot from 30 metres over the bar to make it 4 points to 3

Raheny’s 5th Point was a carbon copy of the first point with a fisted effort. The referee was getting peeved with the St Brendan’s sideline constantly shouting ‘Steps’ and even warned Justin McCormack that he has abandoned a game before and would do it again. Conell Morgan was involved in St Brendan’s 4th point when supplying the final pass to Donal Clarke for the shot over the bar. Morgan once again made the excursion to the forward line but his citeog shot sailed wide.

Raheny really played a fast high octane game turning defence into attack with ease which contributed to their sixth point. Morrison was pushed in the back after being swarmed around by five Raheny players, Morrison made the most of the shaded trees to point his free in 0-5 to 0-6.

Morrison had an excellent chance of levelling matters before half time but his fist pass to Niall McManus was pinched near the end line. Raheny really produced their high energy running game that 30 seconds later, Mr Twitter Eoghan Clogher produced a super save off his chest but Raheny scored a goal from the rebound, a sickening blow before half time. A goal bound shot by Raheny sailed across the face of goal and wide which could have made things difficult for St Brendan's in the second half

The Hungry Boba Pizzeria Half Time Score: St Brendan's 0-5 Raheny 1-6.

The Dark Force started the second half positively with a John Burns point after only 10 seconds after Gerard Bannon won the throw in. Raheny replied with a point from play. At half time, Justin McCormack brought on Lorcan ‘Not Nicknamed’ Allen, who would make a massive contribution over the next few minutes. Firstly he received Ger Bannons pass after a turnover and then supplied a pass to Diarmuid Cooney for the 7th point of the evening.

Raheny returned the four point lead with a free in. Liam ‘Oisin Mullin’ Atkinson won possession from the 13 meter line and passes to Cillian Morrison who again was swarmed around by 4 Raheny players but did give the ball out to Lorcan Allen for his first point of the evening 1-8 to 0-8.

Raheny won a free in, but then threw the ball when high on adrenaline. However, Allen’s ostentatious shot looked like it sailed between the uprights but the referee decided otherwise and waved wide.

Allen wasn't to disappointed and a minute later he did secure a brace this time a simple straight forward shot from 20 meters after good work from Cian ‘The 1500 meter man’ Ó Lionaird and Niall McManus.

The disappointment of Allen's wide in-between his points was soon forgotten about when Diarmuid Cooney buried the ball into the net following good work from Allen and Darragh ‘Takenits’ Toal, who came back onto the field for Allen replaced him at half time and one must sense that the pendulum was swinging towards St Brendan’s as several Raheny players kept cramping up, such was the high energy produced in sweltering heat. 

But Raheny retook the lead after a shot rattled Clogher's crossbar and over. Cooney could have got a second goal but found his patch blocked abut found Cillian Morrison to put the all over the bar and a level game again 1-10 to 1-10.

In the 47th minute, for the first time since the 3rd minute, St Brendan’s retook the lead, thanks to a good quality point from Donal Clarke after a Lorcan Allen sideline ball found Diarmuid Cooney, Toal and Morrison also involved in the build-up to Clarkes point.

The lead lasted a minute with a Raheny point and then prized open the Brendan’s defence with a goal which could be crucial in Raheny’s fight against relegation, who then restored the four point lead with seven minutes to go.

St Brendan’s in fairness, never gave up their fight for the two League points and Cillian Morrison made it 2-12 to 1-12 after a timely interception from the Castlebar Mitchell Colm Harte, Morrison’s shot was delicate but still went over, Both teams traded points with Morrison again get the score from play.

Raheny got the four-point buffer they needed four minutes into injury time, but there was still time for St Brendan's to pull off a miracle, and it almost happened when a low John Burns shot narrowly went wide.

That turned out to be the last realistic shot as Raheny held on to the win and dent St Brendan’s hope’s of automatic promotion with fixtures against top of the table Fingal Ravens on June 27th and second placed Geraldine P Morans on July 9th. No more slip ups now starting next Sunday the 18th with an away fixture against St Maurs of Rush.

Final Score from Longmeadows: St Brendan’s 1-13 Raheny 2-14