Two goals but then Monivea-Abbey almost threw their lead away

By JIM CARNEY Monivea-Abbey .2-5 St Brendan's .0-8 MAYBE Monivea-Abbeyknockmoy thought they had enough done at Páirc an Chreagáin, Mountbellew on Saturday when, midway through the first half, they hit two sensational goals inside one minute, both from play, both brilliantly created and scored â€â€ the first by the hard-working Darren Finn from a superb pass by Trevor Mullins and the second by Stephen Walsh after great work by Eoghan Roche and Darren Finn. It set up Mike Warren's team nicely for a half-time lead of 2-4 to 0-4 but, astonishingly, they could do no better than one point (off a free) in the entire second half. Even allowing for a rising wind favouring St Brendan's, it was hard to credit that Monivea-Abbey were not able to drive on from such a good position at the interval. So, there's plenty for the manager, and selectors Michael Collins and Séamus Cooke, to work on in the coming weeks. The players too, of course, for they will know they could easily have squandered their victory chance here. Late in the match Adrian Martin tried to get a pass into David Carty, the Ballygar-Newbridge target-man at full-forward, and David was only inches away from grabbing the ball close to goal. It was a three-point deficit for St Brendan's at that stage and if they'd levelled the game they'd be confident of winning it in the remaining couple of minutes.[private] Monivea-Abbey were that close to throwing it all away. It's simply impossible to explain how it happened. Perhaps it really was a case of St Brendan's owning the ball in the middle third of the pitch for most of the second half, allied to the growing threat posed by the ball-winning ability and shooting prowess of the big man in the full-forward line, David Carty. Ironically, he had missed a relatively easy free early in the game but from there to the end he was the man most likely to turn this game around on the scoreboard. I cannot remember when I was last at a match in any team sport that produced the two leading contenders for Man of the Match from the losing side! Eoghan Roche was a star for Monivea-Abbey; their goalkeeper and captain Denis Farragher made a brilliant save in the first half, keeping out with his feet a seemingly certain goal low to his left, and their corner-backs Stephen Joyce and John Blade were also excellent. But in my opinion the two outstanding performers on the field in this contest were the St Brendan's pair Adrian Martin at midfield and David Carty in attack. The Monivea-Abbey pointed free in the second half was the second score of the evening for Cathal Coleman, a classy forward who has plenty of scores in him if the problems out the field, so obvious in the second half on Saturday evening, are solved. It might mean switching Brian Flaherty from centre half-back to midfield but that could only be done if there was a good man available to wear the No. 6 jersey. I've probably gone too far in examining the winners' display from the perspective of looking for problem areas. In fairness to them, they played some lovely football in this game; their attitude was good and their spirit was strong. How far can Monivea-Abbey go? And will St Brendan's bounce back and take their 'back door' opportunity? The answer is the same for both teams â€â€ it's up to themselves. Monivea-Abbey: D. Farragher, captain; S. Joyce, B. O'Donnell, J. Blade; O. Crowe, B. Flaherty, P. O'Donnell; T. Mullins, D. O'Reilly; R. O'Neill, D. Finn (1-0), E. Roche (0-3, one free); S. Walsh (1-0), C. Coleman (0-2, one free), J. Finn. Subs used: R. O'Connor, L. Laheen, C. Kennedy, C. Treacy. St Brendan's: J. Kilroy; S. Crowe, C. Delaney, J. Fitzmaurice; D. Greally, T. Shaughnessy, D. Shaughnessy; A. Martin (0-2), F. Ferguson; C. Greally, T. Crowe, captain (0-1), P. McArdle; T. Finneran, D. Carty (0-5, two frees), E. Walsh. Sub., A. Crowe, for C. Greally; R. Collins, for McArdle. Referee: Noel Dempsey. Herald Sport Man of the Match: Shared by Adrian Martin and David Carty (St Brendan's).[/private]