St Brigid's survive in a tense finale

St Brigid's 2-11 Clonguish 3-6 Trouble can come at you from all directions in the club championship. From goals disguised as harmless passes. From a single band of devoted brothers. Even from your own men. Surviving the unexpected is an essential part of winning.

Had St Brigid's not survived the unexpected in Mullingar yesterday the Leinster championship would have lost one its more entertaining passengers before its last stop. And resulted in a sort of paradise lost for the Dublin champions. The difference between making a final and losing a semi-final never needs an explanation.

Clonguish proved worthy challengers and almost progressed on the basis of three goals all scored against the run of play. But that would have meant the better team lost on the day. St Brigid's had the more balanced and capable team that will ensure the Leinster decider against Round Towers in a fortnight's time is a game not to be missed.

"Ah sure semi-finals are terrible," admitted Paddy Clarke, joint manager with St Brigid's. "I hate them anyway. There is always a great fear of losing. And it was a very nervy sort of game for us. We got far too casual for our own good in the first half. But we're in the final now and that will be a whole other game."

Clarke pointed out last week that Clonguish's best chance of winning was with goals. But while the goals definitely kept the Longford champions in the game, they weren't enough to win it. Only one point came from play, very late in the game, and two of the goals also required the aid of the new St Brigid's charity organisation.

Having propelled themselves into a four-point advantage, St Brigid's suddenly got generous and gave two goals away in the space of 10 minutes. First came a penalty for Paul Barden, awarded to the player himself after some needless jersey pulling by Keith Keane. Barden doesn't miss from the placed ball with only the goalkeeper to beat.

On 20 minutes, with St Brigid's still cruising 0-5 to 1-0, came the second give-away. Paul Barden sent a harmless free into the hands of goalkeeper Paul Keane, who somehow managed to fluff the ball into his own net. Enda Barden provided some impetus but apparently made no contact. Still he gets credit for the goal purely by association.

So Clonguish were now up by a point, with new found confidence to go with it. Raymond Gallagher clawed back one free before the break but Enda Barden responded with something similar, and it was 2-2 to 0-6 in favour of Clonguish at the turnaround.

That score-line did set up an entertaining second half - with all 2,498 spectators glued to every move. St Brigid's gradually got motoring again and Rory Gallagher popped up for his first score after 35 minutes to level things once more.

At this stage it appeared the St Brigid's defence had regained control. Mick Galvin was the pillar of the half-back line, reading the breaking ball more like a hurler, and Martin Cahill doing the same behind him. Declan Lally was also moved to centre back after Peader Andrews was booked in an effort to limit Paul Barden's constant threat.

Yet it wasn't quite a smooth ride to the finish. Ken Darcy gave them a little breathing space on 42 minutes with a cracking goal only for David Barden - after collecting a beautiful pass from his brother Paul - to balance it out with the third goal for Clonguish. Still only one point in it and some 15 minutes left to play.

And then up popped Rory Gallagher - such a threat even on a quiet day - to add a second and decisive goal for St Brigid's with a bursting run from his own 45-metre line. It was now simply a matter of the St Brigid's defence holding up for the last 10 minutes. And they just about did. Three late points for Clonguish, two from frees, merely sustained the tension until the end.

"Yeah, we did up it in the second half, but still we made it hard for ourselves at the end," added Clarke.

"That last attack could have ended in another goal and we were gone. But I think overall we deserved to win. I mean they were three scratchy goals they got. I won't say in what respect. Let's just say there was a very wide box for the first one."

St Brigid's will undoubtedly bring talent, depth and real class to the Leinster final in two weeks' time. Kevin Bonar, John Noonan and Declan Lally all proved they could score when the Gallagher cousins were a little off, and that man Galvin is still finding his limits. Expect the unexpected.

ST BRIGID'S, DUBLIN: P Keane; M Cahill, D Cahill, K Keane; G Norton, P Andrews, M Galvin; K Darcy (1-0), J Ward; C Ryan, Rory Gallagher (1-1), D Lally (1-1); K Bonar (0-2), Raymond Gallagher (0-4, one free), J Noonan (0-3, two frees, one 45). Subs: C McGlynn for Ryan (38 mins), D Darcy for Raymond Gallagher (56 mins).

CLONGUISH, LONGFORD: M McHugh; B Burke, S Prunty, S Hagan; T O'Malley, P Reilly, D Quinn; J Dowd, L McGuinness; C Clarke, P Barden (1-1), P Dowd; J O'Brien (0-1), E Barden (1-4, four frees), D Barden (1-0). Subs: G O'Malley for T O'Malley (40 mins), P Cooney for Hagan (48 mins), J Smith for McGuinness (49 mins).

Referee: P Fox (Westmeath).