St Brigid’s land an historic first title

ANTRIM SFC FINAL

St Brigid’s 0-21 Rossa 1-16

THERE will only ever be one first time and St Brigid’s woke up this morning as Antrim senior champions for the first time.

The club was founded in 1998 before winning junior and intermediate honours, but Sunday in Corrigan Park was their greatest hour.

Man of the match JJ Higgins landed 0-7 with Ronan McGrady also chipping in with half a dozen point on a momentous day for the club.

They did it the hard way, seeing off a Rossa team who had beaten Portglenone and Cargin on the way to the decider.

For their part, Cathal Murray’s side had dethroned champions Dunloy and now face into a week of celebrations.

After a tightly contested first half, Ronan McGrady and Paul Bradley kicked St Brigid’s into a 0-10 to 0-8 interval lead.

A goal from Diarmaid Rogan shot Rossa back into contention with both teams trading scores ahead of a tense finish.

In the end, it was Higgins – supported by others – who added the scores as St Brigid’s took home the McNamee Cup for the first time.

Their reward is a quarter-final spot against the preliminary round winners.

Ironically, it’s Cathal Murray native Clonduff who are there already, waiting on the winners of this weekend’s replay between Edendork and Errigal Ciaran.

St Brigid’s: D Heery; O Downey, J Morgan, S Campbell; S Downey, J Finnegan, R McGrady (0-6); J Dowling (0-1), P Finnegan (0-1); R Boyle, D Quinn (0-1), P Bradley (0-2), N Duffy (0-1), J Smith (0-2), JJ Higgins (0-7)

Sub: P King for P Finnegan, J Logan for McGrady

Rossa: M Byrne (0-1); G McGrath, G Walsh (0-2), N Crossan; C McGettigan, P Moyes, M McEnhill; L McEnhill (0-2), E McMenamin; C Walsh, D McEnhill (0-3), D Rogan (1-0); S Beatty (0-3), C Fleming, T Morgan (0-2)

Subs: E Fleming for Crossan, R Grant for C Walsh, F McDonald for M McEnhill, D Morgan for D Rogan