Sixmilebridge 6-18                     

Ballyea 1-07

Sixmilebridge were away to Ballyea for this U16 BNOG Shield Round 3 match last Friday evening.  They lost the toss and were playing into a light breeze in the first half. Ballyea got off to the better start and 5 mins in registered the first score of the game with a lovely point from Kevin Clohessy. Mathew Dillon equalized a minute later, and from the puck out Mathew Hurley won possession and made a lovely pass to Conor Maxwell who flicked it into the back of the net for their opening goal. The Bridge started to get more and more into the game with strong fast runs from the two Mathews (Hurley and Dillon). One of these resulting in their second goal on 13 mins when  Matthew Hurley ran at the Ballyea goal, hit a cracking shot which was well saved by Darrgah Coote but Eoin Morby was at hand to finish it.  It was a similar pattern for the rest of the half with the Bridge midfield and forwards in control, and goals from Noel and Colm Flynn on 25 and 30 mins leaving the Bridge in good shape at the interval 4-07 to 0-6 with wind advantage to come.

The Bridge made two changes at half time with James Egan coming on for Noel Flynn and Seamus O’Connell replacing Scott Kirkland and they continued rotating subs for the remainder of the game. The second half was similar to the first but with wind advantage the Bridge were taking their scores from further out and they kept chipping away with points from Evan Murphy, Colin Kelly, James Egan, Scott Kirkland who was now on in the forward line. Matthew Hurley got the fifth goal for the Bridge when he slotted a deflected shot home in the 16th minute. Eoin Morby finished the scoring for the Bridge when he got his second goal of the evening in the 21st minute with Ballyea getting a consolation goal when JJ Mc Quaid hit a low ball into the corner of the net finally getting the better of the Bridge backline who were rock solid all night.

For Sixmilebridge,  Matthew Hurley and Mathew Dillon stood out with Eoin Morby showing good poaching skills in front of goal. The Bridge backs were very effective in breaking down Ballyea attacks with the forwards putting up a very healthy score line.

For Ballyea, Darragh Coote (Goalie) played very well as he was under pressure all night but still made several good saves. Four of the Bridges’ goals were tap in’s from his saves.  Eoin Gavin, Michael Meaney, and Kevin Clohessy also stood out.

Sixmilebridge: Cian Fawl, Evan O’Callaghan, Conor Morey, Morgan O’Connell, Scott Kirkland 0-2, Evan Murphy 0-5(0-4F,0-1(65), Adam Murray, Mathew Dillon 0-1, Colin Kelly 0-2, Noel Flynn1-1, Matthew Hurley 1-03, Colm Flynn 1-0, Eoin Morby (Capt.) 2-0, David Kennedy0-2, Conor Maxwell 1-0, James Egan 0-2, Seamus O’Connell.

Ballyea: Darragh Coote, David Meaney, Cormac O’Mahony, Patrick Sweeney, Enda Breen, Conor McMahon, Aaron Lynch, Evan Walle, Kevin Clohessy 0-4(0-2F), Aaron Moloney, Michael Meaney 0-1, Oisin Griffin, Eoin Gavin 0-2, JJ Mc Quaid 1-0, Niall Killeen.

Referee: Jim Hickey