  The second half of this wonderful trilogy resumed in Nowlan Park on Saturday last when Bennettsbridge and St Patricks of Ballyraggett returned to complete the show they had started on the previous Sunday. And so it was after a great spectacle the second half commenced as the first had with St. Patricks applying the early pressure and storming into an early 2 point lead. But unlike last week the Bridge boys struck back early and with conviction. A well worked move between a couple of the Bridge forwards ended when the ball was fed out to Brian Lannon and he duly finished the ball to the net. Now we were going to see what St. Patricks were made of but instead of pushing on with pressure and scores it was the men in maroon that hit back and let our lads know they were not going to lie down. They hit 2 unanswered points from frees resulting from pressure on our defence. Nicky Cleere hit the first of 10 points in the 8th minute and after Kevin Kelly scored from play the Bridge hit 3 on the trot before 2 more pointed frees for St. Patricks. On the 15minute mark the scoreboard read 1-4 to 7 points. By the time the clock hit 30 minutes the score had moved on to 1-7 to 10 points when disaster hit and St. Patricks hit the back of the Bridge net. This was a cruel blow on the brink of half time. There was still time for Nicky Cleere to score one last point before the break and so it was a repeat of last week and The Bridge went in 2 points down. The second half started with Bennettsbridge applying the pressure and when Kevin Blanchfield hit a good point things looked good. However it was a further 8 minutes before the Bridge were to score again although in that time spell St. Pats scored just a single pointed free. Also during that lean spell Liam Blanchfield caught a great ball on the edge of the square but he was fouled and a penalty was awarded. Nicky Cleeres shot was well saved by the keeper and from the resulting melee the Saints were awarded a free out. This would give a team a great lift normally but in fact their entire second half scores came from dead balls from Kevin Kelly. With the clock reading 30 minutes and Nicky on the ground in pain on came Dr Mary O’Gorman to inflict a little more but it was worth it as he got up and levelled the scores again. Then in a moment of brilliance Enda Cleere took a puck out aimed at Brian Lannon. With 3 players around him he managed not only to catch the ball but get his shot away and over it went to send the Bridge support wild. From the resulting puck out Darragh Wafer was fouled and from our own half up stood Nicky Cleere who had just received an injection 2 minutes earlier and shot the ball straight through the posts. Game over and it was now down to Enda Morrissey to climb the steps and receive the cup from Ned Quinn and Michael Lyng on behalf of the team. This was the end of a magnificent run of 2 seasons winning League and Championship doubles both years. The Team was. E Cleere, J Moran, R Lennon, C Wafer, J Cleere, E Morrissey, A Cleere, D Wafer, K Blanchfield (0-1), L Blanchfield, S Morrissey (0-1), N Cleere (0-10), M Shiel, H O’Neill (0-1), B Lannon (1-3). Sub used K Brennan. |
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