Junior C Premier County Final

Sixmilebridge 0-17

St. Josephs Doora Barefield 0-14

Our Junior C Team have won the inaugural Junior C Premier County Final in an enthralling contest against St. Josephs Doora Barefield on Saturday morning last in that great bastion of hurling, Dr. Daly Park in Tulla, the scene of many a battle over the years.

Managed by Mikey Corbett and his backroom team, the Junior Cs played 11 league and championship matches and a number of competitive challenge games, no mean feat for a 4th team and illustrates the commitment of the players and management to providing hurling and playing for the club. Having setup the Whatsapp group in April of this year, and after 2,426 Thumbs ups 👍👍 later, the inaugural cup for the competition resides in Sixmilebridge.

There were 31 players togged on Sunday for the County Final, Conor Morey unfortunately was injured for the final having contributed a lot to the teams progression to the final and Johnny Hayes had rescheduled his trip to Paris to play in the final!

The team was led out by Captain Robert Conlon. Despite wet conditions in the days leading up to the final conditions for the match were dry and calm, although underfoot was a bit wet. Conor Murphy opened the scoring for the 'Bridge with a free, the first of 7 frees that he would convert over the course of the game. Donald Devanney added two inspirational points from midfield and Stiofan Fitzpatrick chipped in with a point also in the first half. The 'Bridge backs were on top and it was mainly frees keeping Barefield in the game. The half time score showed nothing between the teams at 8 points a piece.

The second half saw the 'Bridge get the upper hand but Barefield were never too far away and indeed by the closing stages only the 1 score, a goal was between the teams. Stiofan Fitzpatrick added a couple of points from play and Murphy with the frees and 4 points from play really drove the 'Bridge forward. Kieran Liddane also added a point. Barefield were scrambling for scores and for the elusive equalising goal in the final few minutes but the 'bridge stood firm and saw the game out. The full time score saw the 'Bridge finish as 3 point winners.

Goalie Roger made a number of good saves and the backs were under pressure but on top for most of the game conceeding only 4 points from play, young guns Morgan O' Connell and Ian Collins fitting in seamlessly with the experienced Hayes, Donovan and Billy Maxwell. Robert Conlon showed some of the touches and footwork from a couple of decades ago as he danced and weaved his way through tackles before delivering to the forwards. Danny Dunne at midfield got through a lot of work on the day and Donald Duck Devanney was inspirational at midfield and chipped in with 2 points but was unlucky for another couple. The 'experienced' half forward line of Kieran Liddane, Stiofan Fitzpatrick and Adrian Chaplin delivered from start to finish, getting on a lot of ball and doing the dirty work of chasing back and getting the tackles in, whilst Fitzpatrick was able to put 3 points on the board. Fitzpatrick was marking an old foe in Darragh O' Driscoll, who would be of the same vintage. Then up front Jamie Lyons put in a great shift and hooked and blocked all day, with Ronan Hayes at full forward proving difficult to handle for the Barefield backs. Conor Murphy ended with a total of 11 points, 4 from play and he had an outstanding second half. Good contributions also from Hogan and Corry when introduced in the second half.

Manager Mikey Corbett said after the game - how proud he was of the whole panel throughout the year, "...to loose our first match in the championship and to come back from that to become county champions was unbelievable, many thanks to my fellow management team of Pa Punch, Alan Whyte, Ed Skeehan, Tom Keogh and Richie Jordan, Roll on next year..."

Celebrations were good over the weekend with Gillys bar certainly being tested for capacity on Sunday night after the Junior Bs also reached their County Final. Certainly there was disappointment after the Senior and Intermediates teams exiting their championships but club wise it is great to have the 3rd and 4th team reaching finals and especially so with the good mix of experience and youth on both teams.

Team

Ryan McCarthy
Billy Maxwell
Mark O' Donovan
Ian Collins
Morgan O' Connell
Robert Conlon
Johnny Hayes
Donald Devanney (0-2)
Danny Dunne
Adrian Chaplin
Stiofan Fitzpatrick (0-3)
Kieran Liddane (0-1)
Conor Murphy (0-11, 7f)
Ronan Hayes (Sub Eoin Hogan)
Jamie Lyons (Sub Robbie Corry)

Subs
Gerry O' Halloran
Brian O' Loughlin
Ian Chaplin
Brian Glynn
Jack Hughes
Daniel Rezanov
Richie Burke
Tom Forde
Gavin McMahon
Alex Muldooin
Darragh Custy
Conor Morey
Sahne Freeman
Jordan Ryan

Management
Mikey Corbett (Manager)
Patrick Punch (Coach/Selector)
Alan Whyte (Coach/Selector)
Ed Skehan
Tom Keogh
Richie Jordan

Physio
Rachel Kelly