Bredagh beaten in Ulster thriller

Bredagh beaten in Ulster thriller

2 November 2016

HEARTBREAK for Bredagh after 80 minutes of end to end action as they bowed out to a hugely entertaining Donaghmoyne side from Monaghan.

Bredagh went toe to toe with their Farney counterparts for most of the game, but the Monaghan champs seemed to have that little bit extra in the second half of extra time as they marched to victory by three points.

The Belfast men were unfortunate not to secure the win in the dying embers of normal time.

They conceded a free in the last minute in which Donaghmoyne star David Garland made no mistake in converting. It was harsh for Bredagh, but such is football.

An early free from Ronan McDonald got the battle up and running but Bredagh’s reply was instant as Conor Francis teed up Alan Davidson for a three pointer.

Garland and McDonald brought it back to a stalemate but a Donal Hughes free had Bredagh 1-2 to 0-3 ahead.

The next period of play saw Donaghmoyne outscore Jody Gormley’s outfit 0-4 to 0-2 as the game went level pegging.

Davidson and Hughes were causing all sorts of problems for Donaghmoyne and both bagged a score apiece to push Bredagh clear by two.

Donaghmoyne stepped up to the plate as half-time approached.

Padraig Donaghy minored and then set up Stephen Finnegan for a goal.

Finnegan’s blistering pace took him by a few Bredagh defenders and he rocketed the ball low and hard past Jack Duffin.

Bredagh managed to restore parity through a Davidson double as the short whistle blew.

Defences got on top for most of the second half. Donaghmoyne had David Garland to thank as he posted 0-3 to Bredagh’s 0-2 to establish a one-point lead with ten minutes of the game remaining.

Two minors from Brian Rice and midfielder Joe Shields in a two-minute period swung momentum back into Bredagh’s favour.

That man Garland was on hand again to level the affair but with just minutes remaining the sublime Davidson looked to have got what quite possibly was the winner.

Then Garland struck late on with the equalising free to send the tussle to extra time.

Donal Hughes came into his own in the first period of extra time with a quickfire double with Niall Keenan keeping Donaghmoyne in contention.

The real damage was done to the Down men at the start of the second period. Darren McElroy got the all important goal and his team mates Markey, McDonald and Garland all scored points to demoralise the Bredagh challenge.

Davidson and Hughes managed a late swan song, but three points remained the difference as a brave Bredagh slumped to an exit.

Bredagh: J Duffin, O Costello, D O’Hara, C Savage, M Magee, E Costello, K Dornan, N Kelly, J Shields (0-1), C Francis, A Davidson (1-6), C Toland, D Hughes (0-8, 4f), N Mulholland (0-1), P McLaughlin. Subs: M Robinson, B Rice (0-1), K Devlin, S Blaney.

Donaghmoyne: S Garland, S Markey, M Murnaghan, S Cunningham, C Coleman, S Kelly, F Keenan, N Keenan (0-1), F Markey (0-2), N Garland, P Donaghy (0-2), R McDonald (0-3, 2f), D.Garland (0-9, 4f), S McElroy, S Finnegan (1-0). Subs: A Courtney, D McElroy (1-0), J Comiskey.