Junior B League, Division 5c, Round 1

Venue, Cappa Lodge

Date, 10th April 2022

referee, Jim Hickey

Sixmilebridge 2-16
Ballyea 3-12

The Junior B 4th Team which has only recently been reformed, got their campaign off to a winning start under the management of Mikey Corbett on a cold and blustery Sunday afternoon at Cappa Lodge yesterday. After the coin toss, Ballyeas third team elected to play with the very strong wind. Some great shooting from Ballyeas center forward Francie Reilly took the visitors into the dressing room with a 2 point margin at half time. But the question was would it be enough?

Gerry O' Halloran, last years Junior B goalkeeper turned poacher for this game and played at wing forward and managed to get on the scoresheet with a nice point from distance. Estonian Daniel Rezanov lined out for his first competitive game for Sixmilebridge on the other wing. There were three 19 year olds playing, Conor Gilligan, Gary O' Callgahan and Ian Collins and all played very well using their energy to good effect. Conor Gilligan scored some great frees in tricky conditions and from a long distance, maybe he has been getting tips from his famous uncle Niall. Along with the 19 year olds there were 6 over 40s playing.

For Sixmilebridge, Ronan Hayes showed great form in the first half winning most of the aerial battles and gaining possession. Finishing with a tally of 1-4, it could have ben more except for some good goalkeeping from Sheehan. Alongside him, Jordan Ryan scored a goal for the ages in the second half, winning the ball out on the wing and soloing all the way in to a shooting position before unleashing a rocket to the top of the net. Robert Conlon was excellent at Center back, both defensivley and distributing ball to the forwards, all whilst marking Ballyeas best player. Conor Gilligan and Gary O' Callaghan were very good at midfield, covering a lot of ground and providing excellent link play as well as scores. Ian Collins also at wing back was steady.

In the dying moments Ballyea were variously 3, 2 and 1 point down, going all out for the win. Ballyeas wing forward was taken down in the last minute while heading for a goal, resulting in a yellow card for Ian Chaplin, the resulting 21 yard free skimmed the crossbar. The 'Bridge in the end survived and finished winners by the smallest of margins. A good result for the 4th team who hopefully can build on this result for round 2 in 2 weeks time.

Ballyea had former senior keeper and manager, Kevin Sheehan in the nets and Barry Coffey, current U15 Sixmilebridge joint manager at wing back, but their best player by far was Francie Reilly, a former Ballyea Senior and who worked hard it is understood, in the background to get Ballyeas 3rd team off the ground.

Sixmilebridge Team and Scorers

Ryan Macarthy

Ian Chaplin

Mark O' Donovan

Brian O' Loughlin

Kieran Liddane

Robert Conlon

Ian Collins

Conor Gilligan (0-6)

Gary O' Callaghan

Daniel Rezanov

Jamie Lyons (0-3)

Gerry O' Halloran (0-1)

Paul Corbett (0-1)

Ronan Hayes (1-4)

Jordan Ryan (1-1)

Management, Mikey Corbett, Patrick Punch, Ed Skeehan