19/02/17. Adamstown 

Stacy Cup. 

Lucan 1-15 v 0-12 St Brendan's. 

NCunningham. SKeher. GFay. SDonohue. SCasey. CHickey. FMcGrath. PCarroll (0-1). MMoran. PSloan. AParsons. NMcKiernan. GHamilton (1-5). JDoyle (0-3). CTorsney (0-1). 

Subs. RDownes. AMcCormack. DHerlihy. CBuchanan (0-3). AO'Neill (0-1). GCarabini. DTomney.

Beating an old foe is always sweet, but we had a man down in battle today. Shane Donohue has already fought back from injury, in recent years, & now he'll have to fight the good fight again. And he will win again. As is often the case, it seemed such an innocuous challenge.

An early GHamilton (1-5) score, was not followed up, despite numerous opportunities. Brendan's got a run & picked off 3 good pts, but Lucan wrestled back control, & dominated right up to 30th min. 6pts without reply, a terrific PCarroll effort with the outside of the boot, a well taken CTorsney pt & a fine 45 on a mucky pitch from JDoyle(0-3) were the most notable efforts. NMcKiernan & PSloan were sweeping up a lot of ball round the middle. Lucan were ready for the break with a 4 pt gap, when ref intervened to allow Brendan's get 2 undeserved scores & reduce their deficit to 2pts. 

Defensively Lucan had looked very strong. GFay, SKeher & RDownes (who'd replaced SDonohue) were on top of their men. Not for the 1st time. Half backs, SCasey, CHickey & FMcGrath were similarly cutting off Brendan's supply routes. 2nd half resumption saw Lucan back in the driving seat, outscoring 4 v 1. The last a fine effort from sub AO'Neill, but with 15mins to go, Brendan's found the nitrous oxide button & powered back into the game. FMcGrath's fist was savagely attacked by a Brendan's chin, and resulting splashes of colour seemed to open up the game, with the additional space! Brens clocked 3 quick pts & margin was back to 2pts again. MMoran was giving a towering performance in the middle. GHamilton slotted a penalty after keeper got a little over excited. DHerlihy, GCarabini &  AMcCormack joined the fray, but Brens came again, but in a purple patch only registered 3pts. 

Having weathered the storm, super sub CBuchanan was able to slot the final 3pts to put a fine gloss finish on our morning. Final word goes to NCunningham between the sticks. No goals conceded. A varied range of kick outs. You have to have a good base, in order to have that silky gloss finish.

Paul McGann