SFC: 'Cilles' too strong for 'Bracks'
August 16, 2021
Ballinabrackey's Damien Carroll
St. Colmcilles 4-17 Ballinabrackey 2-10
Saturday the 14th of August, a day of history for Ballinabrackey, as it marked their first ever game at Senior club football in Meath.
The Bracks were hopeful as they entered Paírc Tailteann to get their first win at Senior Level and the first half saw them making an impressive debut, as things looked promising for the Intermediate champions. This game started with a fine point from play from Ben Brennan from St Colmcilles. A missed opportunity free from Brennan to bounce off the post led to a 45 being rewarded to Colmcilles, but this was well overturned by Ballinabrackey with good defending from Judge and Kearney. James Conlon slotted the Cilles second point on the board with a well taken free as Ballinabrackey were still looking to find their feet. The Bracks quickly settled with a great ball in from Juicy O’Connor setting Damien Carroll up for goal. The Bracks pushed on from here carrying a lot of possession and some great scores coming from Damien Carroll and Danny Quinn strengthened the Bracks lead. Biggy Reilly nipped one in for the Cilles too leaving the score for the Water Break as Bracks 1-04 to the Cilles 0-03. Points from Damo and Quinner kept the Bracks tally rising, but a Conor O Byrne free ensured the Cilles weren’t slipping too far behind. Another two from Quinner and scores from Colmcilles main men Brennan and Conlon left the game in the. Bracks favour at half time with a lead of 4 points.
Colmcilles came out in the second half and quickly got the ball rolling with a goal from Adam Daly seconds after the restart. Unfortunately for the Bracks, things took a turn for the worse as Danny Quinn was then issued a red card, putting the Bracks down to 14 men. Stafford got the draw score for the Cilles and momentum was now with them as they drove on from here. Curry got a much need free for the Bracks to stick them one ahead again 7 minutes into the second half, but an Andrew Beakey 45 drew the teams again soon after. Beakey really should be commended on his performance, three unreal 45s to help his team at crucial times and he never failed under pressure. Colmcilles went one ahead in the 11th minute of the second half and from then on the Bracks just couldn’t get them, we managed to stay with them until the water break, but Jeff Kavanagh’s 52nd minute goal rattled the Bracks again, but a great response from David Carroll as he pinged the back of the net for the Bracks bringing it back to a 4 point game again in the last 7 minutes. It wasn’t to be though, Ballinabrackey were to get one more score on the board from Curry and the Cilles just ploughed on in the remaining minutes adding 2-4 to their tally in the final 5 minutes. Unfortunately for Ballinabrackey, the loss of Danny Quinn really impacted the game and the Cilles pulled ahead as deserving winners in Rnd 1 of the SFC.
Scorers: St Colmcille's - Adam Daly 2-2 (f); James Conlon 0-5 (2fs); Graham Reilly 1-2; Jeff Kavanagh 1-0; Ben Brennan 0-3 (1f); Andrew Beakey 0-3 (45s); Conor O'Byrne 0-1, Liam Stafford 0-1.
Ballinabrackey - Damien Carroll 1-4 (3fs); Danny Quinn 0-4 (3fs); David Carroll 1-0; Seamus Curry 0-2 (1f).
St Colmcille's - Andrew Beakey; Adam Lynch, Hugo Collins, Tomas O Hoistin; Carl Mullan, Cathal Hilliard (C), Stephen Breen; Conor O'Byrne, Jeff Kavanagh; Liam Stafford, David O'Byrne, Graham Reilly; Ben Brennan, James Conlon, Matthew Breen. Subs - Adam Daly for O'Byrne (ht), Danny McMahon for O Hoistin (42), Godfrey Echoya for Breen (42), Ruairi O'Grady for Kavanagh (55).
Ballinabrackey - Dean Pluck; Adam O'Brien, Nicky Judge, Michael Kearney, Sean Bannon, Derek Flynn, Richie Coffey; Chris O'Connor (C), Eric Clancy; Danny Quinn, Sean Coffey, David Carroll; Seamus Curry, Damien Carroll, Barry Thompson. Subs - Sean Kavanagh for B Thompson (38), Mark Coffey for Clancy (50)
