‘They're going to take some stopping’

We’ve been here before, eulogising a St. Brigid’s performance on the provincial stage where their style of football was a sight to behold.

For manager Anthony Cunningham and joint-captain, Paul McGrath, they had already changed the dial and were honing in on Maigh Cuilinn on Sunday week. With the memory of the late Don Connellan still very much prevalent, it will be an emotional occasion.

But hearing Ballina Stephenites boss, Niall Heffernan, referring to St. Brigid’s as All-Ireland contenders was a fresh voice to confirm what we already knew, acknowledging that the Roscommon champions are a serious outfit when they play with the attacking intent they demonstrated on Sunday afternoon.

“They were excellent, the better team throughout the game. They’re at another level. It’s the level we were striving to get to. Today, we didn’t get to it. I’m not going to make excuses, we failed.

“Their movement was excellent. They seemed to always have an extra player coming through, got guys into space.

“We got a dream start, but sometimes those dream starts can give you a false sense of achievement. Today it didn’t do us any harm, but it didn’t do us any good either. But, look, they were well deserving of the lead they had at half-time,” was the Ballina manager’s take on his side’s disappointment.

With that encouragement, it was time to put the cart before the horse and ask Heffernan if Brigid’s were All-Ireland contenders, never mind the favourites to take Moycullen's scalp on Sunday week?

“Absolutely, they certainly are. They have everything going for them. They have pace, power, they can score, they have a really good understanding of themselves. They have good communication on the pitch and a good management structure. They’re going to take some stopping,” felt Heffernan.

Not surprisingly, St. Brigid’s manager Anthony Cunningham wasn’t looking ahead to possible riches after Christmas. His overall take was more along the lines of ‘a lot done, more to do’.

“There were so many brilliant passages of play, but there are loads of areas we can improve on for the final.

“You’d always be disappointed to concede three goals. We’ll look at that, and we’ll have to be better in that regard the next day. But you’d have to acknowledge that some of the play from the guys was outstanding. I felt we really kicked on from the two great matches against Pearses.

“For us, we’re delighted to be coming back here to the Hyde for a final. You can’t beat matches. At this time of year, conditions are tough. It’s hard to train.

“Moycullen are a formidable side. They’ve been brilliant over the last number of years, so we’ll have to be as sharp and generally better than we were today,” he suggested.

Joint captain, Paul McGrath, felt that the two games against Pádraig Pearses had set up his side perfectly for last Sunday’s Connacht semi-final.

“It didn’t feel like a comfortable win. They’re a dangerous team. We always felt they could come back. They did their best at the end but, thankfully, we held out. We’ll have to look at the source of those goals and try to clean that up for the final.

“I thought we were really good at times. When we won the breaks, we just broke off them. The subs coming in were class, which was a huge boost.

“Pearses would have said the same thing last year, that when you get out of Roscommon, you play teams that you don’t really know, and they don’t know you. It’s really open, and you can go out there and express yourself a bit more.

“But Moycullen are another serious outfit. That will be another massive challenge. Still, we’re really looking forward to it,” he concluded.