St. Brigid’s lay down marker as Western Gaels survive once more

St. Brigid’s made light of their recent hiccup against Michael Glaveys to become the first team to reach the Hodson Bay Hotel Group SFC semi-finals after a dominant second-half display floored Roscommon Gaels under the Ballyforan lights.

Ben O’Carroll hit 1-8 and Bobby Nugent added 0-6 as Anthony Cunningham’s charges romped to a 1-18 to 1-7 triumph against last year’s beaten finalists.

The 2023 Roscommon and Connacht champions led by 0-4 to 0-1 after eight minutes — O’Carroll and Nugent opening their account with a double apiece.

But they wouldn’t score again for another 18 minutes as Roscommon Gaels steadied the ship, thanks to John McGuinness’ goal after a precise pass from Ryan Dowling.

However, a black card for Mark Purcell in the 28th minute shifted the momentum, and Brigid’s, despite hitting eight wides in the opening half, quickly went about building on their 0-6 to 1-2 interval lead with a necklace of delightful points on the restart.

O’Carroll and Nugent continued to run amok as Brigid’s tagged on six points on the bounce.

Then, in injury time, O’Carroll found the net to leave his side back on track and a semi-final meeting against either Clann na nGael or Elphin to look forward to.

The other big story of the evening was Western Gaels retaining their senior football championship status for the fifth year in a row with a thoroughly deserved 1-10 to 0-9 victory against St. Dominic’s in Kilbride.

Led by a superb performance from Kevin Higgins in the middle of the park, the winners were 0-6 to 0-4 ahead at the break, although it should have been more as Gerard Nolan’s side hit nine first-half wides.

Dominic’s evening went from bad to worse when James Miley was shown a red card early in the second half.

But they responded with four points on the bounce through Karol Feerick, Cian Duggan (2) and Jamie Tiernan to leave themselves 0-9 to 0-8 behind with the finishing line appearing on the horizon.

But Western Gaels found their second wind, and a fisted point from Cathal Cregg was followed by a goal from his brother Finbarr to ensure their side’s place in the senior football championship will extend into a 22nd year in 2026.

For St. Dominic’s, they drop back to intermediate level after just three seasons in the top flight.

*Reports from all this weekend's games in the Roscommon Senior, Intermediate and Junior A Football Championships in Tuesday's Roscommon Herald