Bredagh suffer disappointing semi-final loss

Bredagh suffer disappointing semi-final loss

23 September 2015

AN Riocht blasted Bredagh’s championship aspirations to kingdom come at Pairc Esler on Saturday night.

Bredagh were unable to get their A game going as Ross Carr’s side bottled up the dangerous Alan Davidson and to a lesser extent Donal Hughes, to set up a mouth-watering final showdown with Loughinisland.

The game started in a hurry and Declan Doyle pointed An Riocht into a second minute lead before Donal Hughes brought the sides level in the eighth minute. Doyle and Davidson swapped points before Chris Killen and Donal Hughes did likewise as the tit for tat nature of the game continued.

Conail Toland edged Bredagh in front for the first time in the 20th minute with a superb score from play, but Marty Clarke finally found his range and converted a 30m free to make it 0-4 apiece after 21 minutes.

Clarke then converted another free to put An Riocht back in the driving seat, but Davidson escaped the clutches of his marker to bring the sides level yet again. Chris Killen and Donal Hughes exchanged points as half-time approached, but Bredagh had a sting in their tail and the adventurous Tommy McElroy bombed forward to give his side a 0-7 to 0-6 lead with the last kick of the first half.

If Bredagh finished the first half on top them it was An Riocht who countered that with a scintillating start to the second half and a goal and two points inside the first four minutes had them 1-7 to 0-7 clear.

Noel McArdle started the ball rolling with a point from play before Sean Clarke gave An Riocht a 0-8 to 0-7 lead. The best was yet to come and with 34 minutes gone Declan Doyle finished brilliantly to the net after a period of sustained presssure, 1-8 to 0-7.

Back came Bredagh and unanswered points from Donal Hughes (3) and Cormac Hughes brought the sides level by the 45th minute.

An Riocht then sent for the cavalry and brought on Paul Allen and Damian Sherry for Kory Colgan and John O’Rourke in a bid to regain the initiative.  

These switches didn’t bring immediate results as McElroy pointed Bredagh into a 0-12 to 1-8 lead in the 51st minute, but An Riocht were far from finished.

Marty Clarke brought the sides level in the 53rd minute with a converted 45 and four minutes later took a quick free that ended up with Paddy Gartland drilling the ball past a helpless Jack Duffin.

Donal Hughes narrowed the gap to two points in the 58th minute, but An Riocht were having none of it and Killen killed off Bredagh’s challenge with his side’s 10th point in the 60th minute to send the Mourne outfit through to their first ever Intermediate final.

An Riocht: B McVeigh, J O’Rourke, L McVeigh, M Clarke, C Doyle, P Sherry, S Clarke (0-1), R Cunningham, K Colgan, D Doyle (1-2), D Morgan, C Cole, C Killen (0-3), N McArdle (0-1), M Clarke (0-3). Subs:P Allen for Colgan, D Sherry for O’Rourke, D O’Reilly for P Sherry, P Gartland (1-0) for Cole.

Bredagh: J Duffin, M Magee, K Harte, O Costello, D O’Hara, E Costello, T McElroy (0-2), C Hughes (0-1), Mark Robinson, C Toland (0-1), N Mulholland, Michael Robinson, A Davidson (0-2), D Hughes ((0-7), H Deazley. Subs: C Francis for Michael Robinson, B Rice for Deazley