St Brigid's are through to the All-Ireland club SFC semi final following a 1-12 to 0-7 win over Fulham Irish.

St Brigid's went into this match as strong favourites, but they were by no means taking their opponents for granted as clubs travelling to Ruislip have struggled to win in recent meetings.

The home side needed a good start, but it was the visitors who came flying out of the traps.

Senan Kilbride had the first scoreable free of the afternoon and from 25 yards out way out on the right, the 26-year-old fired over a fine point as St Brigid's settled very quick, while their opponents looked to find a way into the game.

St Brigid's work rate was very impressive as they dominated possession and didn't let Fulham Irish settle on the ball at all. Frankie Dolan then scored an excellent point after seven and a half minutes, before Brigid's scored the only goal of the match. Fulham Irish goalkeeper Declan Traynor gave away the ball and Niall Grehan got the final touch as it sailed into the net to make it to 1-2 to 0-0.

Wing forward Darren Dolan then raced through to fire over after 12 minutes and the signs looked ominous for the Exiles as they couldn't compete with their experienced opponents in these early stages.

Frankie Dolan hit his second point of the afternoon when he followed through and kicked over soccer style. The Roscommon champions were well on top as the lead by 1-4 to 0-0. A Fulham Irish '45 was cleared swiftly and Brigid's worked the ball up the field where it ended with Senan Kilbride shooting wide when he had the goal at his mercy.

Fulham Irish finally got on the score sheet when Lorcan Mulvey kicked a free after 18 and a half minutes to reduce the gap to six points. But, Kilbride kicked another free as the visitors looked very comfortable at 1-5 to 0-1.

Mulvey hit over another free after Carlow native Patrick Walsh was fouled, but moments later the Mulvey played in a great ball to Marty Hughes and he went for goal, but his effort flew over the bar to make it 1-5 to 0-3 as Fulham Irish finally started to get into the tie.

Fulham Irish were then dealt a huge blow as the influential Mulvey received two yellow cards in the space of three minutes and he was given his marching orders by referee Eddie Kinsella, although the first yellow card was very debatable.

The game was descending into a scrappy affair as the first half was played out at a slower pace than it had begun, but Brigid's were the happier of the two teams as they lead by 1-5 to 0-3, despite hitting five wides during the opening 30 plus minutes.

As expected Brigid's hit the first couple of scores in the second half as the used their extra man to good advantage. Harry Murphy responded for Fulham as his point made it 1-7 to 0-4 after eight minutes of the second half.

The score of the match came soon after as John Ryan hit another point from distance for the home side to reduce the gap to five points as the 14-men set out to put it up to St Brigid's. Then Darren Dolan took on the Fulham Irish defence and scored a fine point to make it 1-8 to 0-5 after 13 minutes of the second half.

However, Fulham Irish responded as John Reilly scored a point and to be fair Barry's charges were working hard and they were by no means going to let Brigid's run away with this game. A good move by the Connacht champions ended with Cathal McHugh hand passing over the bar to make it a six point game once again and the same player scored the next point when Frankie Dolan chipped a free into his team mates path to make it 1-10 to 0-6.

Tyrone native Marty Hughes got on the end of a Fergal McVeigh pass and he kicked a fine point as Fulham kept working hard even though St Brigid's seemed comfortable keeping their opponents at bay. McHugh then hit his third point in a row as it was a 1-11 to 0-7 game with seven minutes remaining.

Defences were on top for the remainder of the match as scores were at a minimum. Senan Kilbride looked certain to get another goal for St Brigid's but Traynor made an outstanding save late on before they closed out the scoring with a pointed free by Dolan to leave it 1-12 to 0-7 at the final whistle.

St Brigid's: J Martin; R Kelly, D Donnelly, D Sheehy; E Sheehy, P Domican (0-1), N Grehan; K Mannion, G Dolan; D Dolan (0-2), Cathal McHugh (1-3), G Cunniffe; I Kilbride, S Kilbride (0-2, frees), F Dolan (0-4, 0-2 frees). Subs: D Kelleher for Kelly (43 mins), J Murray for Cunniffe (56 mins), Conor McHugh for McHugh (57 mins), C Sheehy for S Kilbride (60 mins).

Fulham Irish: D Traynor; G O'Hare, C McClean, M Conway; A Savage, S Mulligan, J Boyce; L Mulvey (0-2, frees), P Walsh; N Nicholson, F McVey, I Barrett; J Ryan (0-1), M Hughes (0-2), H Murphy (0-1, free). Subs: J Reilly (0-1) for Savage (34 mins), M McCaffrey for Boyce (43 mins), P McKernan for Barrett (54 mins).

Ref: E Kinsella (Laois) Tweet

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