Pulsating Roscommon senior football final ends all square
Ronan Daly and Eddie Nolan will have to meet again as Sunday's county senior football final between Pádraig Pearses and St. Brigid's ended in a draw. Picture: INPHO/Tom Maher
St. Brigid's and Pádraig Pearses have played out a thrilling draw in one of the great Roscommon senior football county finals at King and Moffatt Dr. Hyde Park.
It is the first draw in a county senior final since Castlerea St. Kevin's and Pádraig Pearses in 2008.
Declan Kenny looked to have made history for Pearses by landing a point in the second minute of injury time as the defending champions were set to go back-to-back for the first time in the club’s history.
But a terrific Brigid’s move resulted in Brian Stack splitting the posts as Brigid’s got back on level terms against a strong wind.
The drama didn’t end there as Paul Carey had a chance to win it for Pearses with a free that was brought forward by referee Jimmy Donoghue.
But Carey pulled his effort wide from 45 metres and both teams lived to fight another day ahead of the replay next Saturday at 2.30 p.m..
St. Brigid’s wasted little time making use of the strong breeze at their backs in the opening half.
O’Carroll got his side up and running with a free before midfielder Eddie Nolan found the space to land the game’s first two-pointer.
Eoin Colleran grabbed Pádraig Pearses’ first score from an acute angle but another booming two-pointer, this time from Ruaidhrí Fallon, left Brigid’s 0-05 to 0-01 to the good after eight minutes.
With Brian Stack showing immense leadership in the middle third, the St. Brigid’s juggernaut kept coming forward, and O’Carroll (free), Brian Nugent and Eoghan Derwin added further points to stretch their side’s advantage to seven points after only 11 minutes.
But Pearses kept in touch after that, helped by a terrific two-point free into the teeth of the wind by midfielder Conor Ryan.
Caelim Keogh and Brian Derwin swapped scores before St. Brigid’s midfielder, Shane Cunnane, found the space out on the right wing to execute an excellent score.
Jack Tumulty worked his way in along the left wing to fist a point to underline that Pearses weren’t out of the contest, but Brian Derwin responded by clipping over a good score to leave Anthony Cunningham’s men 0-11 to 0-05 ahead.
In injury-time, both teams swapped frees courtesy of Paul Carey and O’Carroll to maintain Brigid’s six-point lead at the break.
A shemozzle involving players from both teams on the half time whistle led to St. Brigid’s joint captain Paul McGrath being shown a black card at the start of the second half.
Pearses subsequently had Brigid’s lead back to a point within four minutes of the restart with a couple of two-point efforts from Ryan and Kenny setting the tone.
But a brilliant goal from Robbie Dolan, who lashed the ball to the net after taking possession at full tilt off Ben O’Carroll, in the 36th minute gave Brigid’s some breathing space, although they were seeing far less possession around the middle third.
Seán Canning’s strong running was doing serious damage and when Adam McGreal fisted the ball to the net with nine minutes remaining, Pearses had all the momentum.
A superb two-pointer from Ronan Daly saw Pearses hit the front for the first time but Brigid’s refused to buckle, although Pearses had the better chances to win it as the game finished in a welter of excitement.
Scorers for St. Brigid’s: B. O’Carroll 0-4 (4f), R. Dolan 1-0, E. Nolan 0-2 (one tp), R. Fallon 0-2 (one tp), B. Nugent 0-2, B. Derwin 0-2, E. Derwin 0-1, S. Cunnane 0-1, B. Stack 0-1.
Scorers for Pádraig Pearses: C. Ryan 0-4 (one tpf, one tp), A. McGreal 1-0, D. Kenny 0-3 (one tp), R. Daly 0-2 (one tp), E. Colleran 0-2, C. Keogh 0-1, J. Tumulty 0-1, S. Canning, P. Carey 0-1 (1f).
