U14A Championship 24/8/20 Round 3 – Venue Gurteen

St Joseph’s Doora Barefield 4-12 Sixmilebridge 5-12

Down through the years there have been many cracking games between The ‘Bridge and SJDB in all grades of A underage Hurling, and Monday night’s latest instalment in the U14A Championship lived up to that billing. With the stricter Covid-19 guidelines place being enforced by the hosts it was a privilege to witness this game as both teams played to their maximum to earn the right to top the group for the semi-final pairings.

The Bridge were first to score with a Cillian Murphy free after Jack O’Halloran was fouled but the pattern of tit for tat scoring for the entire match was soon established with a converted DB free for Mark O’Connor. This was quickly followed by a neat point from DB through Niall Talty. The Bridge then struck for the first major of the night, a brilliant puck out catch from wing forward Calum Phelan who offloaded to his centre forward Niall Liddane who drove on and hit a direct ball to Eamonn Breen at full forward. Breen took a clever touch with the hurley to direct the ball to where he could sweep onto it and once turned towards goal there was only one thing on his mind and the net danced.

DB came roaring back with a goal of their own within minutes as Talty got around his marker and gave Mark Sheedy no chance. Then the impressive Ógie Fanning at midfield for DB got a point, quickly followed by Talty again for another point. The Bridge hit back with points from Cillian from a free after Niall Liddane was fouled, and shortly after the direct running Liddane set up Ben O’Connell who took a cool angled point. DB struck back with a goal from Talty after some confusion in the Bridge defence saw a wide-bound free being kept in play and the No. 13 pounced. Just before the water break Eamonn got another point back for us and score was 2-4 to 1-4 to the hosts.

Cillian struck another free and again Talty replied at the other end, and at this stage the Bridge made an influential move by bringing back Jack O’Halloran to mark the No. 13 and his influence was noticeably less from thereon. The Bridge got a great team goal started by Mark Sheedy as he advanced Fahy-like from his goals, offloaded to Matthew O’Halloran and he went direct to his Full forward Breen and once again after he had clean possession it was direct to goal he headed and another green flag was raised. Shortly after Eamonn did good work in pressurising a corner back into a turnover, dispatched the ball to Niall Liddane and he hit a point. DB hit back with 3 points with Ógie Fanning and Paddy Nagle prominent for them before half time with the Bridge replying through Cillian and another great forward’s point as Eamonn and Mike Morey forced a turnover in the corner and got the ball to Niall again for another point.

Half time score was DB 2-8 to SMB 2-7 as those in attendance drew breath. The Bridge got 2nd half off to a positive as Finn Murphy forced a foul after some direct running and Cillian tapped over the free. DB responded with a point of their own from Mark O’Connor. The Bridge then got a lucky break as a Liddane shot for a point from an angle deceived the goalie at the near post and floated into the top corner. No surprise the hosts went down the field and got a point and then a goal of their own from Thomas O’Connor.

Back came the Bridge as Mike Morey fielded a long delivery, drew defenders and offloaded to the onrushing Calum Phelan who popped a good point. Then another foul on hard working centre forward Niall Liddane and Cillian pointed the free. Finn Murphy punished a sloppy clearance straight between the posts to leave score at water break SMB 3-11 DB 3-10. The pace had been hectic and both teams deserved their drink, as Parents were probably wishing for something stronger to calm the nerves..!!

While the report highlights the scorers contributions, the Bridge backs were putting in an excellent display ably led by Captain Mark Sheedy in goal with his safe handling and long accurate clearances. Matthew O’Halloran was dominant in the Centre back position along with the tight marking of Jack Phelan and Harry Chaplin. There was also little space afforded to DB by the aforementioned Jack O’H and the tidy Calum Toomey. Together they ensured that Joseph’s who clocked up huge scores in their previous 2 games, were finding it much tougher against a Bridge defence. A sure sign of this was how few frees our lads gave away as it was smart pressuring and wholehearted defending that did the trick.

On the restart the Bridge got another great team point through the hard work of the backs after an epic to and fro around midfield lasting about a minute between both teams. The Bridge forced another turnover and Harry emerged with the ball, he dispatched a crisp 30 yard ball to the ever-willing Liddane who took on his man, offloaded to Calum Phelan who put on the afterburners and flicked over a wristy point.

The Bridge made it 4-12 to 3-10 with about 5 mins to go - as yet again - man-of-the-match Niall Liddane drove hard at the heart of the DB defence, offloaded to Ben O’Connell who showed great composure to gather and then smartly hit it low past the advancing keeper.

In chasing back, the DB No. 6 Padraic O’Donovan sustained what looked like a serious knee injury as he clashed accidentally with a teammate. The game was held up for a good while as he was attended to. Everyone in Sixmilebridge wishes the young man all the best and hopefully a speedy recovery as he is a fine hurler and we know that he also had a frustrating time last year with a knee injury as well.

When play resumed the Bridge lads struggled to regain their previous momentum while Josephs upped the pressure. This eventually told as goalie Mark was forced to drag down the DB full forward after a bad bounce deceived Mark when he came to gather. From the resultant penalty Mark O’Connor placed an excellent strike into the corner to make it 4-12 to 4-10. The Bridge then conceded a scored free and the margin was down to 1.

The 2 teams were like two tired boxers at this stage slugging it out as the play went up and down the pitch and the excitement reached fever pitch for the supporters on both sides. But the ever energetic Cillian Murphy won a great possession, danced around a few tackles and found Finn Murphy around midfield, he boomed a long strike towards Eamonn at full forward but as the ball was in flight Mike Morey showed a great corner forward instinct to run in behind Eamonn and the full back as he read that the flight of the ball would beat them, and he got a decisive first time touch to steer the ball past the keeper.

Josephs were awarded a free and sored a point to leave a goal in it as Andy McMahon had to play longer extra time after the injury above. Despite the best efforts of DB including one effort that went past the post(but Mark looked like he had it covered!!) they couldn’t eke another goal out of a resolute Bridge defence and it ended 5-12 to 4-12.

A brilliant game played in a sporting fashion as always between the 2 clubs and a credit to all the Players and Coaches involved on both sides.

Congrats also to Andy for his performance as Ref in letting the game flow and letting 2 good teams battle it out in the right manner.

The Bridge now march on to a semi-final v Eire Óg and will look to avenge a disappointing and frustrating defeat to the same opposition at Qtr final stage last year.

SMB: Mark Sheedy(Captain) Harry Chaplin, Jack Phelan, William Chaplin, Calum Toomey, Matthew O’Halloran, Will Gilligan, Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Halloran, Calum Phelan, Niall Liddane, Finn Murphy, Ben O’Connell, Eamonn Breen, Michael Morey.

Subs: Mark Mullins for William Chaplin; Dylan Keogh for Harry Chaplin; Darragh Whyte

PS: As our Academy team were playing at the same time at home in O’Garney Park, the squad for the A games is much smaller than usual. The Academy team just lost out to Doora Barefield (2-08 to 3-10) in that match on Monday evening, but because of their excellent win in their first game v Clooney Quin they are still very much in contention as they face into their final group game v Eire Óg on Monday week.