St Brigid's (Roscommon) 1-12 Fulham Irish (London) 0-7:THE CHAMPIONSHIP journey will continue into the new year for St Brigid's of Roscommon for the second successive season after they proved too strong for Fulham Irish at Ruislip yesterday.
The turning point for Fulham was the dismissal of influential midfielder Lorcan Mulvey on the stroke of half-time. The former Cavan star was shown a second yellow card after appearing to have struck Darren Dolan off the ball.
The incident occurred at a crucial point in the game for Fulham. Having made a slow start, they settled during the final 10 minutes of the first-half. The London champions gathered momentum and reduced their deficit to five points but losing Mulvey left them with a mountain to climb after the break.
Brigid’s raced into an early 1-2 to 0-0 lead, with Cathal McHugh finding the net in the eighth minute. Darren and Frankie Dolan extended the Roscommon side’s lead, before Mulvey finally opened Fulham’s account with a 19th-minute free.
Mulvey and Marty Hughes added further points for Fulham but the decisive red card soon followed, delivering a major blow to the home side’s hopes going in at the interval as they trailed by 1-5 to 0-3.
Although Fulham had the aid of a breeze in the second half, the expectation was Brigid’s would capitalise on their numerical advantage.
And while their lead was never in danger, they were unable to disappear out of sight as anticipated.
But when Cathal McHugh kicked his third point in a row for Brigid’s with seven minutes remaining, which gave them a 1-11 to 0-7 lead, 14-man Fulham’s brave challenge finally died.
Frankie Dolan wrapped up the win with a late free, as Brigid’s set up a semi-final meeting with the Leinster champions in February.
ST BRIGID’S: J Martin; R Kelly, D Donnelly, D Sheehy; E Sheehy, P Domican (0-1), N Grehan; K Mannion, G Dolan; D Dolan (0-2), Cathal McHugh (1-3), G Cunniffe; I Kilbride, S Kilbride (0-2, frees), F Dolan (0-4, 0-2 frees). Subs: D Kelleher for Kelly (43 mins), J Murray for Cunniffe (56 mins), Conor McHugh for McHugh (57 mins), C Sheehy for S Kilbride (60 mins).
FULHAM IRISH: D Traynor; G O’Hare, C McClean, M Conway; A Savage, S Mulligan, J Boyce; L Mulvey (0-2, frees), P Walsh; N Nicholson, F McVey, I Barrett; J Ryan (0-1), M Hughes (0-2), H Murphy (0-1, free). Subs: J Reilly (0-1) for Savage (34 mins), M McCaffrey for Boyce (43 mins), P McKernan for Barrett (54 mins).
Referee: E Kinsella (Laois).
