Sixmilebridge 1-15 Eire Og Ennis 0-9

Sixmilebridge under 16’s travelled to Wolfe Tones Shannon for this Under 16 A Semi Final last Saturday afternoon where their opponents were Eire Og Ennis. The ‘Bridge started brightest, and Evan Murphy got them on the scoreboard in the first minute with a good long-range point from a free. Murphy was involved again two minutes later when he struck a cracking side line cut into the hand of Dara Casey who promptly popped it over the bar. The ‘Bridge were excellent in this period applying relentless pressure and were rewarded with both frees which Evan Murphy converted, and points from play from Noel Flynn and David Kennedy.

Twenty minutes in and the ‘Bridge were four points clear and looked to be in control with two Eire Og points from frees the only scores conceded. From there to the interval the ‘Townies upped the ante as the ‘Bridge got careless with their striking registering six wides in the opening half four in the last ten minutes. Eire Og got stuck in and started running at the ‘Bridge defence which was its usual dogged self, only conceding hard fought frees (3) with the ‘Townies only scoring one point from play in he first half thanks to a James Lyne effort which started their fight back. At the interval the teams were dead locked on 0-6 points each.

Eire Og went ahead five minutes in as they started the second half in a similar vein as they ended the first. Both teams slogged it out in what were very tough conditions with scores at a premium. The ‘Bridge made an early change with Luke O Halloran coming on for Seamus O Connell three minutes in. At first it made little difference but as the game wore on O Halloran moved out the field and his physical presence was what was required to break the stalemate.

Fifteen minutes in Evan Murphy equalised with a cracking point from play and a minute later were back in front after a monster 75m free from O Halloran. From the puckout the ‘Bridge won possession and David Kennedy made a pass to Noel Flynn who turned his marker and hit a super point. From there the ‘Bridge kicked on, scoring six of the next seven points. It was finally put beyond Eire Og’s reach coming up on full time when Noel Flynn made a blistering run at their goal laying off a hand pass to Fionn Hayes who had drifted free in the corner of the square. Hayes made no mistake as he rifled the left corner with an unstoppable shot to put the ‘Bridge nine points clear.

It was a very good Sixmilebridge performance and it puts them in the final for the second year in a row where they will come up against reigning Under 16 Champions Corofin Ruan.

For Eire Og, Darragh Stack and James Lyne were vey good but Jarleth Collins was their standout player.

For a very good Sixmilebridge defence Michael Carey was assured and also Cian Gleeson covered a lot of ground and snuffed out any Eire og danger in the No. 6 position. Further out the field David Kennedy and Noel Flynn carried the fight to Eire og with good running and passing. Evan Murphy and Luke O Halloran were also very impressive.

Sixmilebridge: Cian Fawl, Morgan O Connell, Evan O Callaghan, Ian Collins, Scott Kirkland, Cian Gleeson, Evan Murphy 0-4, 0-3F, Michael Carey, Colm Flynn, David Kennedy 0-2, Seamus O Connell, Oisin Breen, Dara Casey 0-1, Conor Murphy, Noel Flynn 0-3. Subs: Luke O Halloran 0-5, 0-4F, Fionn Hayes 1-0.

Eire Og: Fionan Treacy, Cian Murphy, Eoin Guilfoyle, Jack Lynch, Liam Kavanagh 0-1F, Jarleth Collins 0-1F, Cillian Moroney, Cuan O Glaisne, Conor Kilcawley, Andrew McElwee 0-1, Oran Cahill 0-1F, Darragh Stack, James Lyne 0-1, Michael Heneghan 0-4F, Fionn McMurrough.

Referee: Chris Maguire.