Clooney Quin 2-9

Sixmilebridge 3-7

Clooney Quin was the venue for Sixmilebridge’s Under 14A Round 3 BNOG Championship match last Friday night. Conditions were perfect with just a very light breeze which the Bridge elected to play with in the first half. This was an eagerly awaited match given the history that has been created between these two teams over the last couple of years and it did not disappoint.

The match started with the Bridge coming out on top in the early exchanges. Five minutes in and Dara Casey goaled for the away side after cleverly breaking free of his marker and coming onto a pass from his Full Forward colleague Luke O’Halloran. His shot was low and hard into the bottom corner of the net. Three minutes later he had his second goal under similar circumstances and the Bridge seemed to be flying it. The next score was a lovely point from Colm Flynn from out the field leaving the Bridge up 2-1 to no score.

Then, Clooney seemed to find their purple patch, with two lovely points thanks to Dylan Cunningham. They then got a 21 metre free with 8 minutes to go in the first half and sent half back Eoin Guilfoyle up to take it. He left no doubt what his intentions were, he was going for goal and hit a cracking shot at the Bridge net which was brilliantly saved by goalie Cian Fawl. However, the deflection was met by Darragh Keogh who buried it in the back of the net. This brought Clooney right back into the game and the sides went in at half time with a score line of 2-4 to 1-3 in favour of the Sixmilebridge.

The second half started with Clooney continuing to take control of the match with the Bridge backline under tremendous pressure as Clooney were now aided by the breeze which had picked up a bit. Clooney started picking off frees from Darragh Keogh and 65’s from Eoin Guilfoyle to tie the game.

With about 7 minutes left and Clooney now in front by one point and piling on the pressure, the most skilful passage of play of the game occurred. A long high ball came sailing toward the Clooney goal thanks to an Evan Murphy free and it was doubled on first time by Conor Murphy into the back of the net with the goalie and everyone else helpless to react. It was a superb piece of skill and also the turning point of the game. It was followed up by the last of Evan Murphy’s 4 frees leaving the Bridge two up heading into injury time.

Clooney to their credit never gave up and battled hard for the goal they needed. They got one last chance with a 65 which was pointed by Eoin Guilfoyle. The referee blew it up on the puck out with the Bridge winning by the narrowest of margins on a score line of 3-7 to 2-9 in what was a very entertaining match and a credit to both teams.

A feature of the game was the ‘Bridge again being able to show the strength in the squad. Seamus O’Connell did a superb job in a new role as centre forward marking a very strong player in Eoin Guilfoyle at CB for Clooney, likewise Oisin Breen once again came off the bench to give the team fresh impetus from our half back line and also help to curtail the influence of Dylan Cunninham in the closing stages. Michael Carey was superb all through at corner back and Evan O’callaghan dealt admirably with being forced to play as a sweeper after Clooney decided to go down that route in the first half. Colm Flynn scored a superb solo effort when things got tight in the 2nd half and David Kennedy and Cian Gleeson got through a huge amount of work in a crowded middle third of the field.

Next week sees the Feile na nGael competition in Clare on a knockout basis with the Quarter finals on Friday evening and the winners will progress to a semi final on Bank Holiday Monday afternoon and the Final will be on the same evening. Stay tuned to Clubify for the draw details next week.

Sixmilebridge: Cian Fawl, Morgan O Connell, Evan O Callaghan, Michael Carey, Scott Kirkland, Colin Kelly, Adam Murray, David Kennedy (0-1), Evan Murphy (0-4 F), Cian Gleeson, Seamus O Connell, Colm Flynn (0-2), Dara Casey( 2-0), Luke O Halloran, Noel Flynn. Subs: Conor Murphy (1-0) for Dara Casey, Oisin Breen for Adam Murray.

Clooney Quin: Oisin Mcmahon, Daniel Palache, Callum Beirne, Matthew McNamara, Padraic Cleary, Eoin Guilfoyle (1-3 one free, two 65’s) Jack O Neill, Darragh Keogh (1-(3f), John Conneally, Stephen McSherry, Evan Maxted, Niall Murphy, Cormac Egan, Dylan Cunningham (0-3), Callum Hassett.

Referee: Chris Maguire.