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St Brigid's spring a surprise on Nemo

ALL-IRELAND CLUB SFC SEMI-FINAL: St Brigid’s 0-13 Nemo Rangers 1-8: ST BRIGID’S stunned the highly-fancied Cork champions to…

Mon Feb 28 2011 - 00:00

ALL-IRELAND CLUB SFC SEMI-FINAL: St Brigid's 0-13 Nemo Rangers 1-8:ST BRIGID'S stunned the highly-fancied Cork champions to reach their first All-Ireland club football final following an exciting second half at the Gaelic Grounds on Saturday.

The Connacht champions looked in trouble when trailing by 1-4 to 0-5 at half-time after playing with the strong wind, but full forward Senan Kilbride was their scoring sensation on the resumption.

Nemo’s troubles began with the dismissal of midfielder David Niblock for a second yellow card after 35 minutes and they finished with 13 players following the straight red received by defender Aidan O’Reilly at the death.

The St Brigid’s centrefield duo, Garvan Dolan and Karol Mannion, were also very influential, particularly after Nemo levelled with a brilliant long-range point from centre back Brian O’Regan with six minutes of regulation time left.

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And when substitute Alan Morgan pointed with his first touch seconds later it seemed the 14-men would survive, but St Brigid’s responded in style.

Kilbride kicked his third magnificent point of the half to restore parity for a sixth time at 0-11 to 1-8 before wing back Gearóid Cunniffe ventured forward to edge his side in front with another superb score. Kilbride’s free just before the game entered two minutes of injury-time settled matters.

The victory makes up for the disappointment of losing to Crossmaglen Rangers at the same stage four years ago.

“It’s a fantastic feeling to be in an All-Ireland club final for the first time. It’s fantastic for the club, the supporters and Roscommon in general. There were games in the Roscommon championship, when we were struggling as well, but I thought our experience stood to us. We’ve a lot of guys from our 2007 campaign,” said manager Noel O’Brien.

ST BRIGID'S:P Martin; R Kelly, D Donnelly, D Sheehy; G Cunniffe (0-1), P Domican, I Kilbride (0-1); G Dolan, K Mannion (0-1); E Sheehy (0-1), Cathal McHugh, D Dolan (0-1); D O'Connor, S Kilbride (0-6, three frees), F Dolan (capt, 0-2, one free). Subs: Conor McHugh for Cathal McHugh (18 mins), D Kelleher for O'Connor (29 mins).

NEMO RANGERS: B Morgan, captain; C O'Shea, D Kavanagh, A O'Reilly; C OBrien, B ORegan (0-1), D Breen; D Niblock, P Morgan; A Cronin, P Kerrigan, B O'Driscoll; J Masters (0-6, five frees), S O'Brien (1-0), D Kearney. Subs: D Mehigan for Kearney (38 mins), W Morgan for O'Brien (46 mins), A Morgan (0-1) for O'Driscoll (52 mins).

Referee: E Kinsella(Laois).