St Brigid’s beat Scotstown in All-Ireland semi-final

St Brigid’s, the reigning Connacht champions, defeated Scotstown 1-16 to 1-12 to advance to the final of the All-Ireland Club Senior Football Championship at Breffni Park.

The Roscommon side extended their lead to four points throughout the second period as Scotstown stoked a number of opportunities.

The Monaghan side will have regrets because they didn’t make their chances count in their first game of the year since winning the previous Ulster title on December 18th. However, St Brigid’s will face Dingle in the final on Sunday, January 18.

The two sides engaged in an enthralling battle in the opening period that swung this and that, but Scotstown simply couldn’t pull the Connacht side in, who will make their final appearance since 2024’s final defeat to Glen from Derry.

St Brigid’s manager Anthony Cunningham stated to BBC Sport NI, “We probably had a few] chances in the second half that could have ended the game.”

With the modern game and the two-pointers, “you just don’t know. Some of our plays are fantastic, but we could have made them more manageable.

The five to ten minutes before half-time, in my opinion, were the turning point because it provided a cushion and because we had to get things right at half-time.

Rory Beggan and Scotstown put the game square before St Brigid’s burst into life when Ruaidhri Fallon, their top scorer, turned up on six minutes as he slipped Brian Derwin in and the corner forward finished brilliantly to the top corner.

Scotstown rocked next, but after Nicky Sherlock pointed, Mattie Maguire turned it over and found Jack McCarron, who finished the scoring flawlessly.

Scotstown were on top and were back on track thanks to Bobby Nugent and Ciaran Sugrue when Francis Maguire scored a two-pointer in the first half.

When St Brigid’s broke and Beggan was out of his goal, Ben O’Carroll tried his luck from distance, Micheal McCarville briefly restored the Scotstown advantage. Beggan reacted quickly, but Paul McGrath was the one to give the ball away for the fourth time.

Conor Carroll saved Shane Carey’s place in the second half, but Scotstown had the chance to start the game, and somehow Darren Hughes’ follow-up was saved in the end.

Conor Hand hit a two-pointer at St. Brigid’s, and Scotstown won the match, but the gap they couldn’t narrow down even further.

With a pair of Jack McCarron scores bringing Scotstown back within striking distance in the closing stages, Bobby Nugent’s two-point free cut the deficit to six, but there was a sense they really needed a big moment.

When substitute Tommy Mallen picked out McCarron, it appeared Scotstown had a goal, but St Brigid’s defender Sean Trundle returned to divert for a 45 that was nothing. The play went off in the direction of the posts on 55 minutes.

class=”ssrcss-xbdn93-ItalicText e5tfeyi2″> class=”ssrcss-1xjjfut-BoldText e5tfeyi3″>Subs: Tommy Mallen for Mattie Maguire (46) and Conor McCarthy for N. Sherlock (HT).

St Brigid’s: Conor Carroll, Pearse Frost, Sean Trundle, Robbie Dolan, Ruaidhri Fallon (0-1), Brian Stack, Paul McGrath (0-2), Shane Cunnane, Eddie Nolan (0-1), Ciaran Sugrue (0-1), Conor Hand (0-2, 1x2p), Bobby Nugent (0-6, 1x2pf, 2f), Ben O’Carroll (0-1), Mark Daly, Brian Derwin (1-0).

Subs: Senan Kilbride for B Nugent (55), Charlie O’Carroll (0-1) for M Daly (33), and Ronan Stack for M Daly (33).