St. Paul's
U16's overcome Bright to reach final
At a sunny St Patrick's
Park, Saul St Paul's U-16's overcame
Bright to reach the final of the East
Down B Championship by a score of
St Paul's 1-10 Bright 1-3.
In a closely contested
opening St Paul's went into an early
lead when Ryan Tumelty converted a
free. However Bright, playing with
the breeze, soon hit back with a point
in the fourth minute. Play continued
to flow from end to end and the next
score didn't come until the tenth
minute when a long ball from Bright wasn't
cleared and their right full forward
fisted it to the net to put Bright
three in front. St Paul's didn't let
this unfortunate goal upset them and
with Desi making some great catches
round the middle of the park and feeding
his forwards it wasn't long before
St Paul's got another score through
Ryan. More St Paul's pressure led
to Johnny Garrett getting the ball
on the twenty metre line and driving
home a very good point.
The equalizer wasn't
long in coming and again it was Ryan
getting the ball in the midfield area
and running through the Bright defence
for a fine point. Another fine catch
from Desi led to the ball being worked
forward until it finally reached Tony
Tumelty who pointed to put St Paul's
back into the lead. on the stroke
of half time Bright pointed, their
first score from the tenth minute,
to leave the half time score St Paul's
0-5 Bright 1-2.
During the break
Paddy urged more effort from the team,
Dermott Rice was introduced at left-half
back with Kieran McMullan moving into
the half-forward line and Tony Tumelty
going into the left corner. Midfielders
Tony Galbraith and Chris Williams
started to get on top and with Desi
driving forward from centre-half St
Paul's,helped by the breeze, began
to create more chances. Desi had a
fine run from the half back line and
from thirty five metres put over a
great point to give St Paul's a lead
they were not to lose. Two more Ryan
points extended St Paul's lead
to three before Ryan picked up the
ball on the half way line beat the
entire Bright defence and drove the
ball to the net for St Paul's best
score of the season. Ryan had a further
point before Bright had their only
score of the half a point to leave
the margin six points. Bright pressed
for goals but the defence , with Ronan
catching, blocking or kicking everything
that came his way, held firm. Luke
and Conor had fine games also and
Dermott harried his man and didn't
give him any chances to score. Kev
and Callum played their parts and
Gareth, except for his early mistake,
had a good game in nets. St Paul's
then extended their lead when Ryan
capped a magnificent display with
his and the teams final point
to leave the final score St Paul's
1-10 Bright 1-3. Ryan contributed
a personal tally of 1-7 to the St
Paul's score in what was his
best game of the season. All the team
are to be congratulated for a fine
win.
St Paul's: Gareth
Wright; Conor McMullan, Ronan Peden,
Luke Higgins; Kev Hinds, Desi Fusco,
Kieran Mc Mullan; Tony Galbraith,
Chris Williams; Callum Pedan, Ryan Tumelty,
Tony Tumelty; Darren Ford, Johnny
Garrett and Paul Shannon; Subs used
Dermott Rice and Daniel Leebody.
