St. Nicholas Gaelic Football Club

A BATTLE rather than a free-flowing footballing spectacle was the best way to describe St Nicholass win over Bishopstown at Páirc Uí Rinn in the Evening Echo SFC on Tuesday night. That was indicated by the final scoreline of 0-9 to 0-8 in the northsiders favour, but they had to work hard to get the win, having been four points down inside the opening eight minutes. For Nicks selector Des Cullinane, the result was the most important statistic, even if they did ride their luck at times. We did, but I suppose youd be very disappointed if you were Bishopstown, they missed a lot of scoring chances in the second half, he says. It was an exciting game but you wouldnt say it was a high-class game, either team would have had a lot of work to do to face Nemo after that. At the same time, were there, were after winning two football games in a row now and were in the quarter-final. Obviously well go in as underdogs against Nemo but the one thing we have is a lot of spirit and were capable of playing better than that as well. The spirit shown in overturning the early deficit was an illustration of the character within the side. Absolutely, Cullinane says. Robert Brosnan kicked some immaculate frees, and I thought Danny OCallaghan played very well in the full-forward line in the second half as well. Youd feel sorry for Bishopstown, theyre missing two or three of their best forwards, who are in America, such as Paul Honohan and Paul OConnor. But what I liked about Nicks was they had a bit of spirit and they could have folded but they didnt, and you never know what will happen in that scenario. Even during Bishopstowns period of dominance at the start of the second half, Nicks worked immensely to ensure that that control of the game was not converted into scores. There was some fantastic blocking, fellas really threw their bodies on the line, he says. Training was reasonably good for the last couple of weeks and it stood to them for the most part. You wouldnt see it in our shooting, which was appalling and thats something well have to work on for the next day because we wont get as many chances against Nemo, you have to take them, its a different game. In a two-horse race though, neither runner can be ruled out. Absolutely, Nemo will be favourites but they probably arent as good as they were a couple of years ago either, Cullinane says. We certainly wont be afraid of them, well have a cut off it and if its good enough, its good enough.

St Nicholas 0-9 Bishopstown 0-8

A STRONG finish from St Nicholas saw them advance past Bishopstown and into the quarter-finals of the Evening Echo SFC at Páirc Uí Rinn last night. Four points down after seven minutes, the northside outfit did well to get themselves back into the game by half-time, at which stage they trailed by 0-5 to 0-4, and, after Bishopstown failed to harvest scores from some great chances at the start of the second half, Nicks were better in the closing stages. The free-taking of Robert Brosnan was a valuable weapon in the Nicks armoury, while Dean Brosnan at midfield and Danny OCallaghan in the full-forward line stood out despite their tender years. At the back, Nicks kept things tight after their the poor start, with Cillian Spain, Donal Óg ODonovan and Niall Horgan all doing what was asked of them. When they reflect on this game though, Bishopstown will know that they left a great chance to progress to the last eight. They began the second half in a positive manner, but at times they were too elaborate and took the wrong options with scoring opportunities while Gavin Walsh should have scored a goal, that would have put them four points up, in the 43rd minute. Buoyed by that let-off, Nicks equalised through a Robert Brosnan free and thereafter looked the likeliest to take the win. Such an outcome did not too realistic however in the early stages of the game as the favourites Bishopstown began the game at a fine pace, Gavin Walsh and Billy Harty scoring two points each while goalkeeper Ken OHalloran went close with two 45s. Nicks were struggling to win possession in midfield but eventually they managed to get to grips with the game and Robert Brosnan opened their account with a good free from a tight angle on the left on eight minutes. Two minutes later, David Cunningham, after making a great run to join the attack, saw his goal effort go wide off the post but Nicks had built momentum and three further points saw them eat into the lead, the last of these, from captain David Brosnan, unlucky not to be a goal as OHalloran tipped his shot over. With only a Harty free in reponse, Bishopstowns lead was down to just a point and they seemed to have lost their way, kicking some bad wides, and they went in at the break knowing that they should have been ahead by more. It was more of the same at the outset of the second period though, notwithstanding Jack Ferriters point within 25 seconds of the restart following a good move. Another Brosnan free cut the gap to a point again but Bishopstown were creating plenty of chances, Nicks goalkeeper Kieran McEnery doing well to stand up to a Walsh shot on 38 and Walsh again had a chance five minutes later only to shoot wide. In fairness to Nicks, though, they were getting in some good blocks and the pattern of the first half repeated itself as they again got on top, Brosnan again proving deadly accurate with a free to make it 0-6 to 0-6 with 16 minutes left. Bishopstowns affliction seemed t have affected Nicks too though as they were also wasting chances, but on 51 they took the lead for the first time, Paul OBrien finding Danny OCallaghan with a searching ball and he produced an excellent kick to score. David Brosnan extended the lead soon after when he got the better of Ian Jones and then Robert Brosnans fifth free put three points between the sides. To Bishopstowns credit, they did fight back, Brian Healy cutting the gap, but spaces were being left at the other end and Gavin Moylan should really have put the game beyond the Town only to shoot wide with a goal chance. It mattered little though as a Ferriter point was all Bishopstown could muster in response, and at the end they fell short by a point.

Scorers for St Nicholas: R Brosnan 0-5f, D Brosnan 0-2, P OBrien, D OCallaghan 0-1 each. Bishopstown: B Harty 0-3f, J Ferriter, G Walsh 0-2 each, B Healy 0-1. ST NICHOLAS: K McEnery; T Spain, D Óg ODonovan, S Hegarty; D Cunningham, N Horgan, C Spain; P OBrien, R Brosnan; G Callanan, S Hegarty, Dean Brosnan; David Brosnan, D OCallaghan, S Kennefick. BISHOPSTOWN: K OHalloran; E Byrne, N ODonovan, K Long; C ONeill, M Power, D Hickey; J OSullivan, A OConnor; B Harty, J OShea, D Crowley; G Walsh, J Ferriter, B Healy. Subs: I Jones for Long (14), S Kenny for D Hickey (48), J Murphy for OShea (55), P Cronin for Harty (60). Referee: N Barrett (Carrigtwohill).

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