Sixmilebridge              0-15         

Doora/Barefield           1-04

Sixmilebridge was the venue for this Semi Final meeting V’s Doora/Barefield in the under 14A Championship. Played in wet windy conditions it added to what was already a very tense atmosphere with a place in the final for the winners. The Bridge lost the toss so were playing against the wind in the first half. This was the first time these teams played against each other this year so the first few minutes were cagey enough as if they were checking each other out.

On the 4th minute however D/B corner forward Eoghan Talty won an outfield ball and broke free of his marker and was bearing down on goal. He hit a cracking shot at the Sixmilebridge goal but it was met by an equally cracking save by Bridge keeper Cian Fawl. Not only did he save it, he contained it, and cleared it as well. It was huge let off for the bridge.

The game then started opening up a bit with some lovely hurling from both sides, but with both half backlines on top scores were very hard to come by.

The deadlock was finally broken in the 11th minute by the Bridge with an Evan Murphy pointed free only to be cancelled out two minutes later by an Eoghan Talty point for D/B. The Bridge were slowly starting to get the better of the exchanges in the middle and half forward area and when Evan Murphy pointed from a free in the 18th minute it was the start of a purple patch for the Bridge. Over next ten minutes the Bridge rattled off five points without reply with Luke O’Halloran, David Kennedy, Seamus O’Connell, and Evan Murphy all scoring from play. They were in good shape but Talty for D/B wasn’t finished yet. He made an excellent run through the Bridge defence and hit another strong shot at the Bridge goal only to be met with another excellent save from Cian Fawl right at the stroke of half time. The Bridge went in at half time 0-7 to 0-1 up with wind advantage to come in the second half.

It was D/B who opened the scoring within 30 seconds of the second half when winning possession from the throw in Eoghan Talty hit a lovely point from forty yards. Cian Fawl denied Talty yet again in the second minute with his third save of the game, but he did manage to scramble a point out of this passage of play. Evan Murphy had a point from a free on 4 minutes but it was Talty again 5 minutes later with another fine point. From the puck out the Bridge worked the ball down the field where Dara Casey pointed to keep the scoreboard ticking over. On the ten minute mark a high ball was sent in across the Bridge goal and seemed to be going harmlessly wide until D/B full forward Michael Nash got a lovely flick to it to guide it in to the Bridge net.

The gap was narrowed to two points but they wouldn’t score again as the Bridge backs now began to turn up the pressure breaking down attack after attack and feeding their forwards with some lovely passes. David Kennedy got his 3rd point from play in the 14th minute after some lovely support play from Luke O’Halloran and Evan Murphy. Then between the 20th and 23rd minute the Bridge finished the game as a contest with 4 unanswered points, 3 from play from Evan Murphy and James Egan who had come on for Coby McDonald in the 16th minute. Murphy got the last score of the game on 28 minutes. The score line does not do justice to how tough a match this was with both sides giving their all in dreadful conditions. Both teams should be proud of their performances.

For Sixmilebridge Cian Fawl must get a mention, not only because of the three brilliant saves he pulled off at crucial periods of the match but also his long puck outs and long range frees took a lot of pressure of the Bridge back line. The rest of the Bridge team could be mentioned here because it truly was a team performance throughout and the fact there was only one substitution made, Egan for McDonald, who had ran himself to a standstill in the shield final 3 days earlier bears that out.

For D/B Eoghan Talty was immense and threatened the Bridge goal on several occasions. Also Dara Nagle at centre back, Michael Nash at full forward, Fionn Kelleher at midfield, and Evan Creaven in goal played very well. 

Sixmilebridge will now go on to play Feakle/Killanena in the final which is fixed to take place the weekend of June 23rd. First though there is the small matter of Féile Na nGael in Kilkenny next weekend.  Exciting times for Sixmilebridge U14’s.

Sixmilebridge: Cian Fawl, Michael Carey, Evan O’Callaghan, Morgan O’Connell, Scott Kirkland, Colin Kelly, Adam Murray, David Kennedy (0-3), Evan Murphy(0-8,0-4F), Colm Flynn, Seamus O’Connell (0-1), Coby McDonald, Dara Casey(0-1), Luke O’Halloran (0-1), Noel Flynn. Subs: James Egan (0-1) for Coby McDonald, Oisin Breen, Oran Carey, Ian Collins, Dylan Dunne, Jack Hughes, Gary O’Callaghan, Conor Gilligan.

Doora/Barefield: Evan Creaven, Cillian Warner, Adrian Baker, Cian Lahiffe, Mark Moloney, Dara Nagle, Mark Hanrahan, Fionn Kelleher, Conal O’Regan, Luke Enright, Cian Moloney, Matthew Power, Brendan Keane, Michael Nash (1-0), Eoghan Talty (0-4), Seamus Og Enright, Joe Daly, Conor Cleland, Ciaran O’Driscoll, Jack Power, Morgan Lahiffe.

Referee: Damian Fox.