The Junior C team took to the field on Sunday in Kilkishen for their opening championship game against neighbours Broadford. Manager John Fahy went for a blend of youth and experience with his team selection on a lovely evening for hurling in Kilkishen
The Bridge started well with a well taken point from veteran Brian Culbert followed by two points from frees from youngster Ben O'Connell. O'Connell then raised the green flag with a superbly taken goal staright to the top corner giving the Broadford goalie no chance. Culbert would finish the half with 4 points to his name and O'Connell with 1-3. Ian Chaplin and Podge Flannery also put points on the board in the first half to leave the Bridge in the lead at halftime on a scoreline of 1-9 to 0-6.
Broadford got a goal early in the second half to cut the deficit but the Bridge kept the pressure on outscoring the Broadford men. The Bridge added two goals in the second half, one from Danny Scullion, introduced at half time who gained possession of the ball, turned his man and finished well to the left hand corner and the other from Ian Chaplin who batted a saved shot into the net to raise the Bridges third green flag for the day. O'Connell started where he left off in the first half, adding a further 5 points to his tally to finish the day with 1-08, with 4 from frees. Kieran Liddane, Danny Scullion, Conor Maxwell and Brian Casey also contributed points to see the Bridge finish as comfortable winners in the end on a scoreline of 3-18 to 1-11.
The Bridge backs played very well, led by Captain Brian O' Loughlin at full back and the roving wing backs Kieran Liddane and Richie Burke, whilst O'Halloran in goals made some notable saves in the second half. While at midfield Will Gilligan and Conor Maxwell did well and covered a lot of ground. In the forwards, there were two standout performances from the experienced Culbert and young Ben O'Connell with good contributions from Chaplin and Scullion who did very well when introdcued.
Overall this was a good team performance and it was great for managament to have a full squad of over 20 players to choose from and to have the likes of Stiofan Fitzpatrick, Errol Tuohy and Brian Casey to call on when needed.
The Bridge will face Killanena in the next round in 2 weeks time.
Sixmilebridge Team & Scorers
Gerry O'Halloran, Dylan Dunne (Sub Ed Skehan), Brian O'Loughlin, Oisin Casey, Richie Burke, Brian Glynn, Kieran Liddane (0-01), Conor Maxwell (0-1), Will Gilligan (Sub Cian Maxwell), Ben O'Connell (1-8, 4f) (Sub Sam Edbrooke) , Brian Culbert (0-4) (Sub Brian Casey (0-1)), Podge Flannery (0-1) (Sub Errol Tuohy), Ian Chaplin (1-1) (Sub Brendan Murphy), Michael Collins (Sub Daniel Scullion(1-1), Jack McCloskey (Sub Stiofan Fitzpatrick)
