St Pauls draw
with
Bredagh in U16 B Championship
In a keenly contested
U-16 B championship final at Teconnaught
St Paul's drew with Bredagh 1-9 to
2-6.
St Paul's started
confidently and Ryan Tumelty put them
in front with a point. For the next
few minutes play flowed from end to
end before an error in the St Paul's
defence let Bredagh in for a well
placed goal. St Paul's kept pressing
forward and another point from Ryan
reduced the margin to a single point.
another mistake in the St Paul's defence
let Steele in for a second Bredagh
goal. Bredagh were playing well at
this stage and in a good spell extended
their lead through points from O'Neill,
Holywood and Devlin.
At this stage St Paul's looked to
be in trouble until a well worked
move gave Tony Tumelty an opening
and he took full advantage to place
the ball in the corner of the net
leaving the score St Paul's 1-2 Bredagh
2-3. Bredagh had a further point from
Devlin before Ryan Tumelty, playing
a real captains part, had a great
run from midfield into the Bredagh
20 metre area before being fouled.
Ryan picked himself up and pointed
the subsequent free. Another point
from Ryan on the stroke of half time
left the half time score St Paul's
1-4 Bredagh 2-4.
Dermott Rice had replaced Rory Davidson
just before half time and a further
positional switch saw Chris Williams
moving to centre half and Desi Fusco
moving to midfield. This move paid
off immediately with Desi getting
the ball from the throw in, running
through the centre of the Bredagh
defence and hitting a neat point.
Ryan tumelty then had another great
run from midfield and only a fine
save from keeper Arthurs deflecting
the ball over the bar prevented St
Paul's from going into the lead.
Bredagh had a number of chances at
this time to increase their lead but
a combination of wides and great defending
by St Paul's kept them out. During
this period Chris Williams, Greg Walls
and in particular Ronan Pedan, who
had been switched to left back before
the match were outstanding.
Midway through the half the teams
were level when Callan Pedan took
a good pass from Ryan Tumelty, turned
inside and slotted the ball over from
close range. St Paul's continued to
press forward and in the space of
two minutes had two great goal chances.
First Craig Gilroy, who had replaced
Johnny Garrett, fired a great shot
from 20 metres that went inches wide.
Then Michael Gibson, who was having
a fine game at full forward, caught
the ball from the kickout and his
first time shot flew past the outside
of the Bredagh post with their goalkeeper
stranded.
However St Paul's were not to be denied
and a good movement saw the ball going
out to Callan Pedan who picked out
Michael Gibson and Gibby made no mistake
knocking over the lead point. Both
teams had several chances before Bredagh
No. 15, McKenna, got a deserved equaliser.
With time running out Bredagh attacked
down the middle and when a St Paul's
defender was adjudged to have handled
on the ground inside the small square
they were awarded a penalty. Fortunately
for St Paul's the kick was driven
wide.
Approaching the end of normal time
a good spell by Bredagh led to a point
and the lead. Deep into injury time
Bredagh lost the ball in midfield,
it was picked up by Desi Fusco and
another of his strong runs deep into
the Bredagh area was tucked over the
bar for the equaliser. Full time arrived
with St Paul's back on the attack
but a draw was a fair result in a
game played in a sporting manner which
neither deserved to lose,
East down chairman announced that
the match would be replayed next week,
date and time to be announced, Final
score St Paul's 1-9 Bredagh 2-6.
