Sixmilebridge 0-08                     

Doora/Barefield 3-13

Sixmilebridge was the venue for this U16 BNOG Shield Round 4 match last Monday evening in perfect conditions for hurling. D/B were quickest to settle and had their first score on two minutes with a nice point from Donal O Driscoll. The Bridge slowly started to get into the game and on six minutes Matthew Hurley opened the Bridges account with a point which was added to three minutes later by a Scott Kirkland point from out the field to put the Bridge up by one. The rest of the half was even enough on the scoreboard until the 25th minute when Donal O’Driscoll blasted to the Bridge net leaving the half time score 1-06 to 0-05 in favour of D/B. 

The Bridge started rotating their subs at half time with Michael Carey and Luke O’Halloran coming on. They started the second half brighter and for the first ten minutes threatened the D/B goal on several occasions and each time came up short hitting the crossbar, upright, and good saves from the D/B goalie.  D/B weathered the storm and then started to chip away with points and it took an excellent save from Bridge keeper Cian Fawl in the 12th minute to prevent a D/B second goal. He pulled off another one on 25 minutes but the rebound was buried by the ever threatening O’Driscoll. They were thrown a lifeline with two minutes of normal time left when they were awarded a penalty which Cian Fawl came up from his goal to take.  He hit a cracking shot to the right corner but was met with an equally cracking save from D/B goalie Cian Hadden and that finished it. D/B got their third goal well into injury time to leave the fulltime score 3-13 to 0-08 in favour of the visitors. D/B were physically bigger than the Bridge with all 15 of their players at Under 16 level with the Bridge having just 5. So, in that respect they were punching well above their weight. Also, the Bridge midfield and half forward line made continuous runs at the D/B goal which were good to look at, however had the effect of taking their full forward line completely out of the game. As a result, their forwards were totally ineffective and this was reflected in the score line with eight forwards (including Subs) scoring two points from play.

For Sixmilebridge, Evan O’Callaghan, Morgan O’Connell, Michael Carey, and Adam O’Sullivan played very well in the full back line as they were under pressure all evening and it was only two late D/B goals put a gloss on the score line.  Colin Kelly also played well in midfield.

For Doora/Barefield, Odhran Meaney, Shane O’Halloran, Seanie Keane, Ciaran O’Halloran, Donal O’Driscoll played very well but more importantly they worked together between midfield and full forward. Darragh O’Callaghan was also very strong in full back.

Sixmilebridge: Cian Fawl, Evan O’Callaghan, Adam O’Sullivan, Morgan O’Connell, Adam Murray, Ferdia O’Lionain, Colm Flynn, Mathew Dillon, Colin Kelly 0-5 (0-3F), Noel Flynn, Matthew Hurley 0-1, Scott Kirkland 0-1, Eoin Morby, David Kennedy, Conor Maxwell, Luke O’Halloran, Dylan Dunne, Michael Carey, James Egan 0-1.

Doora/Barefield: Cian Hadden, Eoin Duggan, Darragh O’Callaghan, Ronan Foley, David McNicholas, Joey Keane, Brendan Cleland, Odhran Meaney 0-3, James Shaw, Shane O’Halloran 1-3, Ciaran O’Halloran 0-6(0-2F), Seanie Keane, Byran Ruane, Donal O’Driscoll 2-1, Diarmuid O’Halloran.