The Brian Dillons Junior (A) Footballers qualified for the semi-final of the 2012 City Division Championship with a 2-8 to 0-8 victory over St.Nicks ,at Ballinlough, on Saturday evening, 1st September,2012.

                            Similar to the hurlers victory over Nemo, the previous week, a powerful second -half performance when playing against the wind ,enabled the Brian Dillons footballers to turn a two point interval deficit into a six point winning margin against St.Nicks.  The opening half of this game saw the Blackpool side dominating for most of the half-hour and Brian Dillons were not playing to their usual standard.  St.Nicks had the opening three points before Tomas Lawrence scored Brian Dillons first point after eight minutes play.  Cillian Brosnan added another point ,a minute later, but St.Nicks responded with two pointed frees to restore their three point advantage. Points by Cian McCarthy and Darragh Brosnan reduced the margin to the minumum before another pointed free ,in the 29th minute ,had St.Nicks 0-6 to 0-4 ahead at the half-time whistle.

                      Now playing against the swirling breeze in the second-half, the prospects of a Brian Dillons victory were not looking bright. To add to their woes, they fell three points behind when St. Nicks opened the second -half scoring with a point in the 3rd minute. However, from that stage of the game, the Brian Dillons side began to take control and John Horgan had their first second-half point after four minutes. Sustained pressure on the St.Nicks defence yielded a 45 metre kick which Cillian Brosnan expertly floated into the square and debutant, Darren McGrath jumped highest to fist the ball into the net for a great goal to put Brian Dillons into the lead for the first time in the game.  Four minutes later, John Horgan raced through the Nicks defence and, just as he was about to shoot for goal, he was pushed to the ground and Brian Dillons were awarded a penalty kick which was expertly dispatched to the back of the net, by Cillian Brosnan, to put Dillons 2-5 to 0-7 ahead ,with eleven minutes of the second -half gone.  Now dominating in all sectors, Brian Dillons looked set to cruise to a comfortable victory but, strangely they did not add another score until the 23rd minute when John Horgan pointed. St.Nicks had to wait until the 29th minute for their second point of the second half and Brian Dillons finished the game in impressive fashion with  two further John Horgan points in added time to leave the full-time score reading, Brian Dillons,2-8; St.Nicks,0-8.

                The Brian Dillons team can feel reasonably satisfied with this victory but , they will agree that a much better performance will have to be produced if reigning champions ,St.Finbarrs ,are to be overcome in the semi-final.    The defence were solid for most of the game with outstanding performances coming from Edmund Hussey, Chris Daly and Stephen Crowley.  The midfield pairing of the Brosnan brothers, Cillian and Darragh, were impressive all through, particularly in the second half. The forwards did not perform with their usual fluency on this occasion with numerous scoring opportunities wasted. However,Brian Barrett and Tomas Lawrence got in an amount of good work while Darren McGrath, playing his first Junior (A) game, and John Horgan can look back on this game with satisfaction.,also.

           Scorers for Brian Dillons were; John Horgan,0-4,(0-1 free); Cillian Brosnan, 1-1 (1-0 pen.); Darren McGrath, 1-0; Tomas Lawrence, Cian McCarthy, and Darragh Brosnan ,0-1 each.

           The Brian Dillons team lined out as follows; (1) James Kirby; (2) Danny Murphy; (3) Edmund Hussey; (4) Martin Corbett; (5) Cian McCarthy; (6) Chris Daly; (7) Stephen Crowley; (8) Cillian Brosnan.(9) Darragh Brosnan; (10) Darren McGrath; (11) Brian Barrett; (12) Tomas Lawrence; (13) Mark Buckley; (14) John Horgan; (15) Dave O"Leary;  Subs; Tommy Triggs for Danny Murphy ( injured,37 mins.); Philip O"Brien for Dave O"Leary (43 mins.) Mark Walsh for Mark Buckley,(59 mins.);