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Shock victory for St Breckan’s

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St Breckan’s 3-11   Éire Óg 1-10

IT will go down as a big shock but for anyone at Corofin on Saturday evening, there can be no denying the merit of St Breckan’s victory over Éire Óg in their first-round tie.
In a high scoring tie played at a tremendous pace, the Lisdoonvarna outfit were the superior team throughout and if they can reproduce that form in the remaining rounds, they will be strong candidates for a place in the concluding stages of the competition.
Short a number of last year’s intermediate-winning side due to injury and emigration, they had a few others back in the panel having missed their march to the provincial intermediate final in 2010. From the moment veteran Denis O’Driscoll gave them the lead in the second minute, they made all the running and this is reflected in the fact that they never trailed.
Five points in front as half-time approached, the North Clare side conceded 1-2 in the closing minutes and there was much speculation at the interval as to how they would react to the concession of these scores. Within 10 minutes of the resumption of play, they had pulled three points clear again and from here on it was evident that it would take a huge effort on Éire Óg’s part to win.
Level at 0-3 each after 10 minutes, St Breckan’s took a grip on proceedings and went back in front when Pat Nagle pointed a close-in free. Seconds later, attacking wing-back Stephen Tierney appeared to be taken down in the square but referee Michael McGann didn’t agree. St Breckan’s continued to pile on the pressure and when the Ennis defence failed to clear their lines at the midpoint of the half, Sean Cormican first-timed the ball to the net.
Stephen Hickey (free) and Nicky Hogan replied with points before Cormican struck again, giving Shane O’Connell no chance with a superb effort from 13m. Hickey converted a free for Éire Óg before one of the game’s big talking points came at the end of normal time.
It looked as if the referee was about to award a penalty as Nicky Hogan was heavily tackled by St Breckan’s goalie, Craig Flanagan. Match referee McGann immediately sounded the whistle before signalling for the green flag to be raised after the ball ended up in the net. Stephen Hickey added a point from a 25m free in the second minute of injury time and Éire Óg were back on level terms.
The Cormican twins and Pat Nagle (free) had St Breckan’s points in the opening 10 minutes of the second half and from here on, St Breckan’s grew in confidence. Eoin Glynn kept the Ennis side in touch but a brace from Pat Nagle and one from 50m from midfielder Shane O’Connor had the winners five points clear with 10 minutes remaining.
Despite some changes, both in personnel and positional, Éire Óg could not break the dominance of the fitter St Breckan’s and any hopes they entertained of a fight-back were killed off with five minutes remaining. A tremendous run out of defence by Michael Reddan saw him pass to fellow defender Stephen Tierney, whose superb left-footed effort gave O’Connell in the Éire Óg goal no chance and sealed a deserved win for the North Clare outfit.
The game ended in a disappointing note for the winners as full-back Conor Howley was dismissed on a straight red card four minutes from time.
In what was a superb team display, Greg O’Leary, Stephen Tierney, Michael Reddan, Shane O’Connor, Sean Cormican and Denis O’Driscoll were particularly outstanding.
For Éire Óg who persisted with Dean Ryan in attack when they were struggling in a number of defensive positions, Nicky Hogan, Donie Lyne and David Russell did best.

St Breckan’s:
Craig Flanagan; Daniel Carey, Conor Howley, Michael Reddan; Raphael Considine, Greg O’Leary, Stephen Tierney; Shane O’Connor, Michael Keating; Denis O’Driscoll, Sean Cormican, Donal Howley; Pat Nagle, Conor Cormican, Eric Murrihy.
Subs: John Stack for Murrihy (46 minutes) and Neil Hawes for C Cormican (58 minutes).
Scorers: Sean Cormican (2-1), Pat Nagle (0-4, 3f), Stephen Tierney (1-0), Denis O’Driscoll and Shane O’Connor (0-2 each), Donal Howley and Conor Cormican (0-1 each).
Frees for: 15; wides: 16; 45s: 1
Bookings: Greg O’Leary (27 minutes) and Pat Nagle (35 minutes).
Sent off: Conor Howley (56 minutes).
“It’s a win we fully deserved. At half-time we were very disappointed with the ref’s decision to allow Éire Óg’s goal. We settled at half-time. We knew that if we ran at them and played football that we were the better side. We were down a few but the new players that came in played great football.” Neil Hawes, St Breckan’s.

Éire Óg:
Shane O’Connell; Nicky Hogan, Donie Lyne, Conor Healy; David Ryan, Mark Kelly, Michael O’Regan; Sean Crotty, David Russell; Shane Daniels, Dean Ryan, Niall Daly; Eoin Glynn, Stephen Hickey, David Monaghan.
Subs: Sean O’Mara for Daly (29 minutes) and Danny Russell for Kelly (41 minutes).
Scorers: Stephen Hickey (0-6, 5f), Nicky Hogan (1-1), Eoin Glynn (0-2, 1f) and Shane Daniels (0-1f).
Frees for: 18; wides: 5
Bookings: David Russell (35 minutes) and Shane Daniels (35 minutes).
“They were way better than us. They worked harder than us and they showed a lot more focus. We felt at half-time that we would be able to get there but they did the same again. They did everything right and got the scores when they needed them. We have a fierce battle now.” Shane Flanagan, Éire Óg.

Referee:
Michael McGann, Michael Cusack’s.

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