There's only one St Brendan's Adult team still standing in the Championship and that's The Hurlers, sponsored by Bodibro and after the heroics of the Quarter Final against St Sylvester's two weeks ago, the reward is a home Semi Final against Pobal Parnell in the PTSB Junior C Championship.
Michael 'Offaly Good' Culleton gave The Dark Force a good start with the opening score playing against the wind into the Chapelizod Road end. The away side equalised with Route One Hurling a few seconds later.
Matthew 'The Scholar' McGlynn was in a good position 30 meters out, but he slipped when beginning his puc, but thankfully found Eoin 'Quinn Roux' Fallon in a good position and his shot was tapped over by the Parnells goalkeeper and over the bar 0-2 to 0-1.
Parnells made it a Desmond, 2 points each with a free in and soon took a footholding in the contest with a brace of points to lead by 2 points, Fallon and McGlynn collaborated for St Brendan's third point of the morning with The Scholar pointing.
Pobal Parnell hit three points on the spin with three minutes to go. Then St Brendan's got a big boost late on when Fallon hit a free in into the parallelogram, there was some confusion but judging from what this writer saw, the sliotar ricocheted off the back of a Parnells players helmet and into the net and a one point game again 1-3 to 0-7.
Parnells hit a free in to put two between the sides and brilliant defending from Mark 'The Edge' Kinsella, Michael ' Bruno Fernandes' Harte and Eoin 'Corky' Corcoran, ensured Parnells went into the half time interval leading by only two points.
Special thanks to Saunter Coffee for pitching their trailer in Longmeadows this morning.
One person who ensured Saunter Coffee had their coffers full this morning by drinking their double espresso by the bucket load was Brian ‘Jamie Vardy’ Dolan, who ensured St Brendan's started the 2nd half in typical St Brendan's fashion with a point seconds after McGlynn won the throw in.
Another Parnells point followed, but Neon Leon Broderick ensured the caffeine from the triple Americano he consumed kicked in at the right time by converting a free in from 20 meters after the referee gave advantage for a jersey tug. Broderick made it a hat trick of free in's, the first from 40 meters, following a foul on Noel Murphy and the second after Pa Carey drew the foul and the lead for the home side 1-7 to 0-9.
But St Brendan's were dealt a blow when Liam 'Vit Hit' Kennedy was given a straight red card, pretty harsh in my opinion after taking out his Parnells marker, nothing materialised from the resultant free and St Brendan's still lead by 1 point.
Halfway through the second half and both sides traded points, with Broderick making it a four timer, again a free in, but the away side with another free in and a level game again 1-8 to 0-11.
17:20 gone in the second half and Broderick making a five timer and a one point lead with the most simple straight forward free in form 13 meters after the referee moved the free in there after Parnells were guilty of mouthing.
Michael 'Offaly Good' Culleton got the first point of the match and later got the 10th when he hit a long range shot over the bar and a two point lead with 8 minutes to go and this after a disputed sideline ball after Carley chased the sliotar from going over the sideline, but hit the flag instead, the sideline cut was retaken twice and in the end it was Pa O'Dowd who won possession and pass to Culleton for the two point lead score.
Going into the closing stages, Pobal Parnell had a free in which was dropped short but Rob ‘Shane Lowry’ O’Hanrahan showed incredible courage by heroically catching the sliotar and clearing out to midfield, only for the away side to turn over and Michael Harte brilliantly provoking the forward to shoot wide.
Two minutes to go and Fallon played a great sideline cut to Donal O’Brien who beat his marker, went one on one with the goalkeeper and pucked into the back of the net and a five point lead and delirium on the St Brendan’s sideline.
Then The Wexican Oisin Carley put the icing on the cake by scoring the point and a six point lead one minute into injury time.
And that was the sole injury time minute played because the referee whistled up for full time and St Brendan’s were in the PTSB Junior C Championship Final. An unbelievable achievement for the team and it was all down to one man, Adrian 'Cry Before Dawn' Morrissey, who has guided the team to the Final in two week’s time against Commercials, who defeated Fingallians 3-17 to 3-16 in the other semifinal.
Final Score from Longmeadows, St Brendan’s 2-11 Pobal Parnell 0-11.
