Brian Dillons were fast out of the blocks against St.Michaels, with will-o-the-wisp corner forward, Dave O"Leary, planting the ball in the net for a splendid goal, after just three minutes play. St.Michaels got their opener when they pointed,after six minutes and two minutes later they were awarded a rather dubious penalty when the Brian Dillons full-back  Edmund Hussey was wrongly penalised for picking the ball off the ground, when he clearly did not. St. Michaels goaled from the spot , which pushed them ahead, 1-1 to 1-0, after eight minutes play. This was to be the only time , in the game, that St.Michaels would be in the lead as Brian Dillons settled down to play some attractive football  for the remainder of the opening half. Points from Dave O"Leary, Tomas Lawrence and Cillian Brosnan pushed them ahead, 1-3 to 1-1, after twenty minutes and, then, one minute later, came a goal of pure class when midfielder, Tomas Lawrence, raced through the Michaels defence, to plant the ball in the back of the net. Further points from Shane Maher and Cillian Brosnan left Brian Dillons leading at the interval by 2-5 to 1-1.

                   The second half opened brightly for Brian Dillons with half-back, Kevin Coughlan , surging forward to score a fine point, in the first minute. However,St.  Michaels were back in the game, one minute later, when they opened up the Brian Dillons defence to score their second goal which was quickly followed by a point....2-6 to 2-2, with just three minutes of the second half gone.. Brian Dillons responded to those scores when the ever dangerous, Dave O"Leary , cut open the Michaels defence, once again, and his piledriver of a shot just clipped the crossbar ,for a point, which could ,quite easily , have been a goal, after five minutes. One minute later, Philip O"Brien, now playing great stuff at centre half forward, added another point for Brian Dillons before St.Michaels got one back, with a pointed free, after eight minutes. Four minutes later, Cillian Brosnan, who was creating havoc in the full-forward slot, had his third point and when John Noonan, whose workrate was enormous, fielded PhilipO"Brien"s high delivery and kicked a fine goal, Brian Dillons were leading,3-9 to 2-3, with sixteen minutes remaining in the game. St.Michaels reduced the arrears with a point ,after twenty minutes and ,once again, Dave O"Leary tormented the Michaels defence , one minute later, with another fine point...3-10 to 2-4 with nine minutes remaining., and that was the signal for Manager, Alan Whelan, to empty his bench. St. Michaels scored three consecutive points in the next four minutes, before John Noonan scored the final point for Brian Dillons, with just four minutes of normal time remaining.  The Brian Dillons defence were put under severe pressure in the closing minutes as St. Michaels strove to put a respectable look on the scoreboard and managed to put over six unanswered points, two from placed balls, during the final four minutes of normal time, plus two minutes of injury time.  Full marks to Paul McCarthy, the Brian Dillons "keeper, who made two fabulous saves, during those closing few minutes.. Scorers for Brian Dillons were; Dave O"Leary, 1-3; Tomas Lawrence, 1-1; John Noonan, 1-1; Cillian Brosnan, 0-3; Shane Maher, Kevin Coughlan and Philip O"Brien, 0-1 each.  The Brian Dillons team lined out as follows; Paul McCarthy; Michael Noonan; Edmund Hussey; Andrew Murphy; Martin Corbett; Tom Triggs; Kevin Coughlan; Tomas Lawrence; Darren McGrath; John Noonan; Colm O"Connor; Philip O"Brien; Shane Maher; Cillian Brosnan and Dave O"Leary; Substitutes; Dave Cremin for Colm O"Connor (inj. 5 mins.); James Murphy for Tom Triggs (inj. 10 mins.);Michael Colohan for Martin Corbett (50 mins.) Dave Coughlan for Shane Maher (50mins.) and Dave O"Donoghue for Philip O"Brien (52 mins.);