East Cork Junior 'A' Football Championship Final:

Bride Rovers  2-07      Fr.O'Neills  1-02

	At Jamesy Kelleher Memorial Park on Saturday afternoon last we captured our

first ever East Cork Junior ‘A’ Grade Football Championship title with a great

win over Fr O’Neills. It took the Bride Rovers Club just 2 years to win the East

Cork Junior hurling title but it has taken us 76 years to win the football

title. After the disappointment of the last two years, Saturday’s game brought a

pleasant change of fortune. This was indeed a great team victory, we won by

eight points but even the most ardent Fr O’Neills supporters would agree that we

were far superior than the Ballymacoda/Ladysbridge side.

	Training for the team concluded on Tuesday night under the lights in

Ballyhooly. They had a get together and team meeting then on Thursday night

when Jackets with the Rathcormac Tyres logo were presented to the panel members.

	Credit to the Dungourney club for the great condition of the pitch for the

final. It was the first Saturday of December but the playing surface was

absolutely perfect.

        Fr O’Neills going for their third title had the aid of the slight breeze in

the first half. From the throw-in we were on the attack. After an early wide, Sean

Ryan opened our account in the 2nd minute with a good point. Terry was wide from

a free in the fourth minute. Even at this very early stage one could sense that

we were on top in most sectors. Our defence was simply superb and gave the

O’Neills forwards very few chances. A sideline ball to Fr O’Neills was fisted

down by Barry Murphy to Brendan Walsh, Brendan set off on a solo run and

finished a great move with a lovely point. The score lifted the team and for the

next eight or nine minutes we pounded the O’Neills defence. We could have had

two goals from Padraig and Sean but unfortunately we just brought our wides

tally to five. Then in a break up field, Johnny Flavin pointed for O’Neills and

despite our near-total dominance we were only a point ahead. Sensing that

O’Neills were coming into the game, Donal and Batt McHugh began to lord it in

the middle of the field and at last the scores came. Pat O’Reilly came on and

immediately the Ballymore (Longford) native made an impact. A good Fr O’Neills

attack was cleared by Pat Walsh to Brennie, he passed to Batt who found Terry in

space. As he ran Terry was fouled inside the 45 yard line. Taking the free from

his hands, Terry lobbed the ball in high, several players rose but it was the

fist of Brian Murphy that connected with it and the ball was in the back of the

net – goal! Fr O’Neills then kicked three wides in a row, leaving us 1-2 to 0-1

ahead by the 26th minute. We were coming under a lot of pressure but our backs

were coping well. Pat Barry took the ball from Johnny Flavin, passed to Donal,

to Terry, to Brendan and Brendan kicked it to the Sean Ryan who put it over the

bar, 1-3 to 0-1. Trevor Moloney and Barry Murphy combined to put Sean through

but he was fouled. Terry pointed and we were up 1-4 to 0-1 with a minute left in

the first half. Once more Pat Barry stopped a Fr O’Neills move, he kicked the

resultant free to Pat O’Reilly and Pat gave a lovely ball to Mike Hogan who

booted it over to put us 1-5 to 0-1 at the break.  7 points was a good lead but

it could easily have been ten.

The opening ten minutes of the second half were hectic as O’Neills tried to come

back into the game. Exchanges were more even but both defences were on top as

each team kicked 3 wides in the first 10 minutes. Despite getting a very heavy

tackle early on, Donal Ryan was hugely influential all over the field. He gave a

great pass to Sean in the eleventh minute but Sean was fouled and Terry kicked

over the free, 1-6 to 0-1. Faulty shooting cost both sides dearly and both teams

had clocked up 9 wides apiece by the midway point of the second half. Aidan

Collins came on for Barry Murphy, who had to retire with a shoulder injury.

Sensing victory our lads kept the pressure on but Johnny Flavin got O’Neills

second point. Jerome came on for the injured Brendan Walsh and was fouled almost

immediately. Jerome kicked the free off the ground across the goalmouth where

Donal fisted it to Sean who passed to Terry and the captain kicked his third

point. We were 1-7 to 0-2 ahead with 8 minutes left. It seemed a safe lead but

many of us could remember ’99 when we had Cloyne beaten only to be caught at the

end. After Flavin kicked O’Neills 11th wide, they again won possession from

Richie’s kickout. Ger Holland who was O’Neill’s best player found Eoin Conway in

space and he booted a goal, 1-7 to 1-2. Though there were only 3 minutes left,

we were getting nervous on the sideline. Barry Johnson and Hugh Kelleher came

on. Fr O’Neills attacked again but Richie Cahill saved the shot. Richie passed

to forward-cum defender Sean Ryan, who gave to Padraig, on to Pat O’Reilly who

passed to Jerome. The London based medic passed to Brian who beavered passed

four Fr O’Neills defenders to kick a class goal. What a score. We were 2-7 to

1-2 ahead with time almost up. Now at last we knew that the title was ours. When

Ger Sweeney sounded the final whistle it was a real mixture of joy and relief.

After years of trying, Bride Rovers were at last East Cork Junior ‘A’ Football

Champions. This was a great win for a great bunch of lads. Since 1997 we’ve had

some marvellous wins but with the last few years it seemed as though the

football crown would elude us. We lost the last tow finals by eight points and

won this by the same margin. Donal Ryan was presented with his well deserved

‘Man of the Match’ award before Gerard Lane presented the Jim Ryan Cup to our

captain Terry Broderick. Terry missed the 1993 Junior ‘B’ win through injury and

was an inspirational captain this season.

Terry thanked John Murphy, Pat McHugh and Brendan O’Driscoll our selectors. He

paid special tribute to coach Ciaran Hynes who put in a huge amount of work with

the team. He also thanked our sponsors Rathcormac Tyres for the generous support

and called for 3 cheers for Fr O’Neills.

Team and Scorers: Richie Cahill, Brennie O’Driscoll, Pat Walsh, Pat Barry,

Padraig Murphy, Barry Murphy, Trevor Moloney, Donal Ryan, Batt McHugh, Terry

Broderick (0-3), Brendan Walsh (0-1), Brian Murphy (2-0), Colm O’Keeffe, Mike

Hogan (0-1), Sean Ryan (0-2).

Subs: Pat O’Reilly, Aidan Collins, Jerome O’Driscoll, Barry Johnson, and Hugh

Kelleher.

As I said this was essentially a great team win with twenty four players having

played in our seven football championship games this season. After the defeat by

Aghabullogue in the county there were two ways to go, cave in or put in a bigger

effort. Thankfully the panel chose the latter option. The games against

Killavullen and Ballinora helped and last Saturday the efforts of the last 3

years at last came to fruition. For sub-goalie Georgie Johnson, the news of the

win came to him on his honeymoon in Malaysia but he has played his part in this

win also. After the game it was back to the Rathcormac Inn for a lovely meal,

provided by Martin and his staff. Club Chairman, Tom Mulcahy, acted as MC and

spoke of the pride in this team. Pat McHugh, Fr O’Donnell, Team captain Terry

Broderick and Coach Ciaran Hynes also spoke. The celebrations started then and

were resumed on Sunday.