Sixmilebridge 2-13        

Clonlara  2-11

O’Garney park was the venue for this under 16A Round 2 meeting with Clonlara last Sunday evening. Conditions were ideal with sunshine and no wind. Clonlara started quicker and immediately were putting the Bridge backs under pressure with good passing and quick running at the Bridge goal and in the 4th minute it took a great save from Cian Fawl to deny them a certain goal. It was Fawl again a minute later that pulled off another save to take the pressure off his backline.

Clonlara finally opened the scoring in the 6thminute with a pointed free from Aidan Moriarty followed by one from play from Colm O’Meara. After this early pressure the Bridge backs slowly started coming into the game with good ball now being sent into their midfield and forward line.  They were now threatening the Clonlara goal and were rewarded with two frees which Jack Corry converted to level the match on 11minutes. Clonlara then worked the ball quickly and with some lovely passing movements, Aidan  Moriarty was baring down on the Bridge goal and it took another cracking save from Cian Fawl to deny the Clonlara full forward yet again.  Clonlara then hit three points in row only for the Bridge to do likewise with Dylan Downes, Conor Flynn and a Jack Corry 65 to level the sides for the second time. Then for the next 8 minutes Clonlara played some lovely hurling with their midfield and forward lines beginning to dominate scoring 3 more points without reply before Moriarty again gained possession in front of the Bridge goal and let fly only to be hooked by Evan Murphy. He wasn’t going to be stopped this time as he pulled first time sending the ball flying into the Bridge net and this time Cian Fawl had no chance of stopping it. To their credit the Bridge responded with another Corry free and an Adam Breen point to leave the half time score 0-7 to 1-08 in favour of the visitors.

The second half started well for Clonlara and within two minutes Aidan Moriarty hit a lovely pass from out the wing into Dylan McMahon who buried it into the Bridge net. Jack Corry pointed another long range free for the Bridge two minutes later. Then 6 minutes in it was a Jack Corry free that found its way to Matthew Hurley who made a lovely catch and an even nicer pass into Sean McNamara, who was unmarked and made no mistake as he found the back of the Clonlara net.  Corry was on target again with another free shortly after before Moriarty and McMahon got two more points to stretch Clonlara’s lead. In the 11th minute Sean McNamara showed lovely first touch and broke free of his marker and took a shot at goal which was well saved by Cillian O’Brien only for Leon Kelly to put the rebound over the goal line for the Bridge’s second goal.  Adam Breen was on target a few minutes later with a lovely point from out the field to tie the game. It was Breen again who was fouled as he was running through from midfield a minute later and Jack Corry made no mistake to put the Bridge ahead for the first time in the game. They went two clear on twenty minutes thanks to another Corry free and for the remainder of the game Clonlara laid siege on the Sixmilebridge goal.  Cian Fawl had bailed out his backs in the first half and now he needed them to bail him out. They didn’t disappoint. Their work rate was first class breaking down attack after attack and working with and for each other. It was fitting that when Clonlara were trying to launch one last attack it was Shane Whyte who made a brilliant block in the last action of the game. It epitomised how much they wanted to win this game and how much they worked for it.

For Sixmilbridge Cian Fawl would have to get a mention because he made some really cracking saves at crucial times in the game. Jack Corry, his free taking was first class especially the long range ones, and his overall work rate was brilliant. Alex Frost played very well especially in the last 15 minutes when the Bridge were under enormous pressure. In truth this was true of the entire team. For Clonlara, Colm O’Meara, Dylan McMahon, and Aidan Moriarty were excellent. It was a very exciting game of hurling and could have gone either way right up to the end.

Sixmilebridge: Cian Fawl, Evan Murphy, Alex Frost, Adam O’Sullivan, Darragh Toomey, Storm Devanney, Sean Og Murnane, Adam Breen 0-2, Dylan Downes 0-1, Conor Flynn 0-1, Shane Whyte, Matthew Hurley, Jack Corry 0-9(0-7F)0-1(65), Sean MacNamara 1-0, Leon Kelly1-0, Luke Keogh.

Clonlara: Cillian O’Brien, Conor O’Brien, Logan Ryan, Diarmuid Byrnes, Thomas Walsh, Tom Mac Leish, Michael O’Callaghan, Colm O’Meara 0-1, Dylan McMahon 1-3, Stephen English, Luke Hannan, Louis McCormick 0-1, Dean O’Gorman, Aidan Moriarty 1-6(0-4F), Seimi Gully.

Referee: Chris Maguire.