Horror finish in Thurles will haunt Brigid’s senior hurlers

St. Fergal’s (Rathdowney) 2-10
St. Brigid’s (Loughrea) 0-13

STEPHEN GLENNON AT SEMPLE STADIUM

HOLLYWOOD has produced some horror stories over the decades but at Semple Stadium on Saturday, St. Brigid’s Vocational School, Loughrea became the unwitting authors of their own ‘Nightmare’ in a crazy All-Ireland VS senior hurling final.

One suspects few involved in this All-Ireland decider will have the stomach to read this deliverance in black and white this week and you could not blame them. Ten points to the good after 34 minutes, St. Brigid’s looked to be cruising to the three-in-a-row of titles – and an 11th crown overall at this level.

Consequently, it was unfathomable the Galway outfit should blow a winning hand in the manner they did but credit to St. Fergal’s of Rathdowney for putting their collective shoulder to the wheel and for not viewing the outcome at any stage as a lost cause.

Their reward was a mesmerising ‘Roy of the Rovers’ comeback which was punctuated by captain Aidan Corby’s equalising goal with four minutes left on the clock and culminated in full-forward Daire Quinlan pouncing for the winning goal in the final minute of this absorbing tie.
For the devastated St. Brigid’s players, who looked to be home and hosed earlier, this was the Freddy Krueger of ‘Nightmares’ . . . with ‘Friday The 13th’ and ‘Halloween’ thrown into the mix for good measure.

There were, arguably, mitigating factors. For one, midfielder Darragh Dolan, who was the driving force behind their Connacht final and All-Ireland semi-final victories, had a torrid afternoon with injury – he had to be treated on the sidelines twice – and this had an adverse impact on both him and the team.

In addition, aside from pursuing an All-Ireland colleges’ dream, the majority – if not all – of the St. Brigid’s players have been caught up with club minor or U-21 championship action, if not both, over the past fortnight.

As a matter of fact, a number of players were lining out in their fifth championship game in two weeks and the effects of this became apparent in the closing stages when the Galway students were simply out on their feet and were unable to respond in any fashion.

Still, you can’t help but feel they really should have won this. By half-time, they led 0-10 to 0-2 and they extended this advantage early in the second period when full-forward Brian Molloy and midfielder Eanna Burke clipped over two neat points. It looked as if normal service had resumed and nobody could argue otherwise.

For St. Brigid’s fluency in the opening 34 minutes was a joy to behold. Indeed, after just 24 seconds, Jamie Ryan had split the posts and over the ensuing quarter Daniel Nevin (2), Molloy (play and free), Jarlath Mannion – a serious injury concern in the run-in to this game – and Ryan again all added to their side’s tally to leave them seven points to no score ahead after just 15 minutes.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.