Nigel on hand to boost Bru na Boinne to final

There was so much to unpack from Friday night's Regional FC semi-final at Dunganny, but ultimately Bru na Boinne held on to secure their final spot with the narrowest of victories over Lough Crew.

After a slow start which saw them trail by four points inside 10 minutes Bru na Boinne rallied and, boosted by a couple of fortunate goals, they led by nine points four minutes into the second-half.

Davy Nelson's Lough Crew ended a 27 minute barren spell by hitting 10 of the next 11 points to draw level and increase the likelihood of extra-time on a damp, but mild evening.

However Bru na Boinne settled and it was top scorer Nigel Hand who tapped over what proved to be the winning point from a close range free, a decision that prompted one of many differences of opinion between the opposing management teams.

It was one of those games where both sides chanced their luck by claiming breaches of many of the new rules.

Marks were called but not awarded, points were claimed but waved wide, accusations of not keeping three in attack at all time were made - some valid, some not.

Back chat to the referee was punished by moving the ball forward 50-metres and suggestions that solo-and-go from frees were taken from the wrong place all served to add to the tension and drama.

It got spicy on the sidelines and frustrations with the new rules and how they were applied by referee Andrew Lenehan threatened to boil over at full-time before calm was restored by the respective managers.

Add in the fact that there was plenty of high-octane, fast-paced football and some excellent scores from both sides and this semi-final was entertaining.

Lough Crew manager Davy Nelson has devoted a huge amount of time and energy into the Regional FC and his ambition of winning the competition looked on track when his side raced into a 0-4 to 0-0 lead.

CJ Healy, Sean Reilly, Jason Scully and Harry Ryan accounted for those early scores and after Hand settled Bru na Boinne it was Lough Crew who could, and should, have extended their lead when Daire Shine's goalbound shot was brilliantly cleared off the line by Colm Regan.

That let-off was the boost John McCarthy's Bru na Boinne needed.

Tom Bowden kicked their first point from play and in the 18th minute they received a significant boost when Sean Emmanuel took a quick solo-and-go after Conor Harford had been fouled and he lofted a shot goalwards.

With Dylan Scully backtracking the ball dipped under the crossbar and into the net to give McCarthy's side a 1-2 to 0-4 lead.

Points from Hand (free) and two super scores from Adam Tuite extended that lead to four points and with the last kick of the half Bru na Boinne enjoyed another stroke of luck.

This time Scully did well to prevent Harford's dipping shot from creeping under the crossbar, but the loose ball fell kindly to Hand and he fired to the net to make it 2-5 to 0-4 at the break.

Ben Loughran's dipping effort was tipped over the bar by replacement 'keeper Pat Kevin and Harford found his range to stretch Bru na Boinne's lead to nine points, but they managed just one more score in the next 21 minutes as Lough Crew came storming back.

Daire Shine tapped over a 20-metre free after Bru na Boinne were penalised for not keeping three players in the opposition half and two points from Cormac Browne, either side of a Shine free, made it 0-8 to 2-7.

Hand responded with a free for Bru na Boinne, but the one-way traffic continued to flow in Lough Crew's favour with Sean Geraghty, Shine (two, one free), Sean Reilly and Oran Mulvanny closed the gap to the minimum.

The ever-influential Shine restored parity with a superb score with seven minutes remaining, but Hand settled Bru na Boinne with the lead point again 90 seconds later.

Both sides went helter-skelter in the closing stages in search of scores. Adam Tuite looked to have extended Bru na Boinne's narrow lead when the umpire raised the white flag, but Lenehan signalled the effort wide and so the closing six minutes were played out with Bru na Boinne holding on to their one-point advantage to secure their final spot.

Bru na Boinne - Ryan Lynch (Duleek-Bellewstown); Adam Byrne (St Patrick's), Davy Tallon (St Vincent's), Colm Regan (Duleek-Bellewstown); Ryan Hand (St Vincent's), Tom Bowden (Duleek-Bellewstown 0-1), Conor Harford (St Vincent's 0-1); John Curtis (St Patrick's), Sean Emmanuel (St Patrick's 1-0); John Mannion (St Patrick's), Ben Loughran (St Mary's 0-1), Sam O'Leary (Duleek-Bellewstown); Nigel Hand (St Vincent's 1-4 four frees), Adam Tuite (St Vincent's 0-2), Liam Brennan (St Patrick's). Subs - Senan McKeon (St Patrick's) for Curtis 42m, Sean Hackett (St Patrick's) for Loughran 44m, Gary Tuite (St Vincent's) for Brennan 53m.

Lough Crew - Dylan Scully (St Brigid's); Shane Gibney (Moylagh), Michael Flood (St Brigid's), Conor Fleming (Ballinlough); Dylan Garrigan (Oldcastle), Sean Geraghty (Ballinlough 0-1), Ronan Maguire (Ballinlough); Oran Mulvanny (Oldcastle 0-1), Eoin Briody (Ballinlough); Sean Reilly (Moylagh 0-2), Jason Scully (Oldcastle 0-1), Pearse Sheridan (Oldcastle); CJ Healy (Oldcastle 0-1), Harry Ryan (Ballinlough 0-1), Daire Shine (Ballinlough 0-5 three frees). Subs - Cormac Browne (St Brigid's 0-2) for Scully 27m, Lee Healy (Oldcastle) for Maguire, Pat Kevin (Oldcastle) for Scully both half-time, Darren O'Higgins (Ballinlough) for CJ Healy 52, Conor Delaney (Oldcastle) for Ryan 59m.

Referee - Andrew Lenehan (St Patrick's).