Sixmilebridge U10s 5-0 (U10s win on penalties)
Sixmilebridge Coaches 5-0

The U10s finished off their season on Monday evening in the Arena. After over 60 training session throughout the year and over 20 blitzes/tournaments, the group finally called a halt for 2023.

The theme of the night was to have fun but for the duration of the Coaches v Players game a very competitive streak emerged on both sides!

The evening started off with one of Peter Kearney's famous obstacle courses, which nearly finished one of the coaches when they attempted to demo for the U10s! Fair play to Peter and his boys (Ross, Aidan and Liam) for their effort each year planning, transporting, setting up and dismantling the course.

The boys had great fun traversing the tough course and well done to James Fitzpatrick, the only boy to successfully strike a sliotar into the concrete mixer at the end of the course!

The Coaches v Players game was predicted to be competitive so an official referee, Mikey Corbett, was drafted in for the evening. There were some decisions questioned (mostly by the Coaches!) but to be fair Mikey was able to keep control for the full 40 minute match.

The coaches who were all over 40 wore the Sixmilebridge Away set of jerseys and the boys wore their Sixmilebridge Home gear. The coaches had less players than the boys so they drafted in two players to make up the numbers, first up was PJ Fitzpatrick, former senior player (a while back!) to shore up the full back line and next up was Mark Sheedy, Clare Minor All Ireland Winner in 2023, to man the goals. Both were excellent additions to the team!

There was no love lost in this battle as grandfathers, fathers, sons and grandsons fought hard to be the winner, no one wanted to be on the losing side. Referee Mikey Corbett was under pressure from both sides as every decision was questioned but thankfully nobody saw the line! The game was neck and neck right up to the final whistle and it finished 5 goals a piece. It was down to penalties to decide who would be the champions in the U10 Players v Coaches match for 2023. With Sheedy stepping into goals for all the penalties, the U10s proved more adept at placing the sliotar in the far corners out of reach of Sheedy whereas the coaches went for power, but without the placement of the U10s, these shots were easily saved by Sheedy, meaning the U10s triumphed for 2023!

Good for the coaches were Pj Fitzpatrick, solid at the back, Peter Kearney, up and down the wing all night, Mike Slattery and Johnny Sullivan with excellent link play, Richie Casserly who said he was retiring afterwards and Tony Ahern who pulled several balls down from the cloud (a full forward in the making!). No doubt Mark Sheedy in goals saved the Coaches bacon on several occasions. Stiofan Fitzpatrick who arrived late, did help to set up several attacks but both himself and Paul Fitzpatrick were overwhelmed by the savage tackling and workrate of the U10s.

Commenting afterwards, Coaches rep Ian Chaplin said that some decisions by the referee on the night were questionable and especially the failure to award a penalty in the dying moments to the coaches after a clear pull down! However he did accept that the U10s maybe marginally deserved to win the game!

A great year, done and dusted now until January 2024 when these boys will be back at it as U11s!

Huge Thanks to Peter Kearney for the obstacle course and enthusiasm, Mikey Corbett for keeping the peace and refereeing and Mark Sheedy for being so selfless with his time even though he is a busy man training several nights a week now with the Clare U20s. It is because of our great volunteers and their giving of their time that we can make great memories for the boys.

Sixmilebridge Coaches
PJ Fitzpatrick (Captain), Mark Sheedy, Mike Slattery, Johnny O'Sullivan, Richie Casserly, Peter Kearney, Tony Ahern, Stiofan Fitzpatrick, Paul Fitzpatrick, Ian Chaplin

Sixmilebridge U10s
Aaron Fitzpatrick (Captain), Ben O' Flaherty, Cathal Pearl, Fionn O' Brien, Jack Downes, James Fitzpatrick, Josh Keane, Liam Kearney, Michael Gilligan, Paddy Morey, Rhys Tuohy, Sean Ahern, Senan Chaplin, Tommy O' Sullivan, Will Slattery, Joe Madden, Shane Fitzpatrick