The Brian Dillons Junior (A) Footballers made no mistake at the second attempt when they recorded a comfortable, 1-13 to 1-5, victory over Delanys in the replay of the City Division Junior (A) Football Championship ,at Ballinlough on Tuesday evening, 7th August,2012.

                       Playing a splendid brand of football in the opening thirty minutes, in sharp contrast to the drawn game, the Brian Dillons side were in complete control of this game right from the throw-in. They scorched into a 0-7 to nil lead after just twelve minutes with the new full-forward line of Mark Buckley, John Horgan and Dave O"Leary causing all kinds of problems for the Delanys defence. Brian Barrett was winning the aerial balls around midfield with remarkable ease while Cillian Brosnan and Darragh Rodgers were supplying plenty of quality ball to the ever dangerous full-forward trio.

                    It took sixteen minutes before a shell-shocked Delanys side opened their account with a point and then ,one minute later, they were back in the game when they scored a splendid goal.   However, Brian Dillons recovered well from this setback when Dave O"Leary finished to the net after the Delanys goalkeeper spilled a long ball ,sent in by Darragh Rodgers. Delanys were dealt another body blow in the closing minutes of the first-half when they were reduced to fourteen players when one of their mid-fielders was dismissed with a straight red card. The half -time score read; Brian Dillons, 1-10; Delanys,1-3;

                   The second-half of this game saw both sides guilty of some deplorable misses with Delanys totalling nine wide balls and Brian Dillons just two behind at seven. While Brian Dillons were never in any danger of losing this game, their play became sloppy and they abandoned the ploy of the fast ball into their inside forwards which had proved so beneficial in the opening half. Instead, they changed their tactics to the short passing game in trying to work the ball into a scoring position which almost always broke down by the tenacious tackling of the Delanys defenders. The result was a low scoring second -half of just five points, three to Brian Dillons and two to Delanys.

                Despite their disappointing second - half performance, the Brian Dillons team and management can feel well satisfied with this victory and ,particularly the impressive first -half display. Their defence were in total control all through with goalkeeper, James Kirby, as reliable as ever. The full-back line of Martin Corbett, Edmund Hussey and Danny Murphy never put a foot wrong while Stephen Crowley, Darragh Rodgers and Cian McCarthy, in the half -back line,as well as giving sound defensive displays also found time to carry the ball into the Delanys defence which led to several scores.  The midfield pairing of the Brosnan brothers, Cillian and Darragh, won plenty of possession with Cillian, in particular,being highly impressive..Brian Barrett had one of his best outings in a long time at centre half forward and also was able to help out at midfield with his immaculate fielding while ,on the wings ,Dave Cremin,in the first-half, and Tomas Lawrence were always dangerous. As already mentioned, the Brian Dillons full-forward line was in sparkling form, particularly in the opening half when they were delivered an adequate supply of the ball. John Horgan was ,once again, impeccable from placed balls while tapping over a few nice points from play,also. In the corners, Mark Buckley and Dave O"Leary more than justified their promotion from the second string, when always looking menacing when in possession of the ball.

           Brian Dillons are now through to the quarter-final of the City Division Championship against St.Nicks,which is provisonally fixed for next Saturday night,11th August. More about this fixture,on this website,later on in the week.

             The Brian Dillons scorers against Delanys were; John Horgan,0-7,(0-4 frees ); Cillian Brosnan,0-3 (0-1 free, 0-1 "45); Dave O"Leary,

 1-0 ; Mark Buckley,0-2; and Cian McCarthy,0-1;

              Team; (1) James Kirby; (2) Danny Murphy ; (3) Edmund Hussey; (4) Martin Corbett; (5) Stephen Crowley; (6) Darragh Rodgers; (7) Cian McCarthy; (8) Cillian Brosnan ; (9) Darragh Brosnan ;(10) Dave Cremin ;(11) Brian Barrett ; (12) Tomas Lawrence; (13) Mark Buckley; 

(14) John Horgan ; (15) Dave O" Leary;     Subs; Mark Walsh for Dave Cremin (38 mins;) , Chris Daly for Darragh Brosnan,( 42 mins;) Niall Fahy for Stephen Crowley (53 mins; Darragh Brosnan for Darragh Rodgers  (injured, 53 mins;)

          The victory was marred somewhat, due to the knee injury of star defender, Darragh Rodgers,in the closing stages of the game and it is hoped that the injury will not prove to be serious.  His loss to both the Hurling and Football sides would be immeasurable.