Antrim Football League Division One
St Brigid's 0-20 St Gall's 1-7
A PERFORMANCE of power and pace saw St Brigid's score a comprehensive win over St Gall's at Musgrave Park on Wednesday evening.
The hosts were full of running and intensity as they bossed the game to score a 10-point win that in no way flattered them on the night.
The Biddies had nine different scorers, highlighting their range of attacking options with James Smith sprung from the bench to top-score with five points, but in Patrick Finnegan they had an excellent outlet with the wing-forward dictating most of their play with much of the play going through him.
Their restarts were excellent and clever use of the ball with support runners and good movement always gave an option to create scoring opportunities and the tally of 20 points with 17 from play shows how fluid the South Belfast men were going forward.
St Gall's actually opened a little brighter but could not find a way through a compact home defence until Sean Kelly - named last 15 but playing as a sweeper - burst forward and was fouled with Niall Burns converting the fifth-minute free.
They should have had a goal minutes later when their tactic of pumping the ball in resulted in Terry O'Neill gathering the break in stride and he squared to brother Niall, but the younger O'Neill somehow missed the target with the goal gaping.
Joseph Finnegan on the ball
This stung the hosts into action who would dominate for the remainder of the opening quarter with Joseph Finnegan thumping over the equaliser before they surged clear with some excellent scores through Ryan Tweedy, Peter Henvey, Peter Webb (free) and a brace from Patrick Finnegan before St Gall's could muster a response from a Burns free to leave it 0-6 to 0-2 at the first-half water break.
The visitors were first to register from the restart when another long ball yielded the desired result as Terry O'Neill pumped long into Mark Cummings who looked through but almost seemed to be distracted by the whistle for a mark, eventually playing on to curl over.
By this stage, St Brigid's had introduced Smith for Webb and he wasted no time in getting into the game as with his first involvement, gathered from a quick Patrick Finnegan free to curl over before doubling his tally as a shot at goal was deflected up and over.
A Burns free kept St Gall's in touch, but St Brigid's had all the momentum and they finished then half strongly with Henvey converting a free before Ronan Boyle fisted over with the last act of the opening period to ensure all six starting forwards had registered, leaving the advantage at 0-10 to 0-4.
The introduction of Barra McCaffrey appeared to inject a bit of life into the St Gall's challenge early int he second period as they began brightly the substitute kicking an early free.
Callum Webb fisted over in response but another McCaffrey free followed by a booming point off the boot of Sean Burke on 38 minutes that hinted at a comeback from the visitors who now trailed by just four.
However, St Brigid's simply lifted it again and hit points through Peter King, Henvey (free) and Patrick Finnegan to ensure their lead had extended to seven by the end of the third quarter.
Peter Henvey in possession 
They powered on in the final period with the energy levels remaining high with Smith kicking two sublime points. Ryan Tweedy then saw a shot dip just over before Smith landed his fifth from out on the left to put 11 between the teams.
Credit to St Gall's who didn't give up and they grabbed a consolation goal with two minutes of normal time remaining as midfielder Thomas Bunting struck a low shot on the left of goal that ended up in the net as John Toner's feet got tangled when trying to clear, but the hosts finished in the ascendency with Tweedy doubling his tally for the night to four as he finished a couple of moves late on to see his side reach the 20-point mark.
This was a good night's work for the Musgrave Park outfit who have made it two wins from two to start the season, while St Gall's - minus many of their regulars - will certainly improve as the campaign goes on.
ST BRIGID'S: D Heery; J Morgan, C King, C Webb (0-1); P King (0-1), J Toner, O Boyle; M Cummings, J Dowling; R Boyle (0-1), R Tweedy (0-4), P Finnegan (0-3); P Webb (0-1 free), J Finnegan (0-1), P Henvey (0-3, 2 frees). Subs: J Smith (0-5) for P Webb (17 mins), N Lundy for P King (52 mins), C Conway for J Dowling (58 mins).
ST GALL'S: N McCurdy; C Chada, S O'Hagan, C Murray; R Wilson, A Gallagher, J McCaffrey; S Burke (0-1), T Bunting (1-0); C Doherty, T O'Neill, N O'Neill; M Cummings (0-1), N Burns (0-3 frees), S Kelly. Subs: B McCaffrey (0-2 frees) for N O'Neill (HT), E McCurdy for R Wilson (43 mins), C O'Kane for S Burke (45 mins), O Crawford for C Murray (47 mins), N O'Neill for M Cummings (51 mins).
REFEREE: Kevin Parke (Naomh Éanna)
