Defence inspires as ’Bridge move into play-offs

Sixmilebridge 1-14   O’Callaghan’s Mills 0-8

Although never managing to re-produce the form they had shown five days earlier when easily accounting for Tulla, Sixmilebridge deservingly defeated O’Callaghans Mills at Cusack Park on Sunday to seal a quarter final place in this season’s senior championship race.
That the Mills will rue some very poor finishing – they had fourteen wides in all – is without question but when Sixmilebridge stepped up a gear in the second half, they proved too strong for their neighbours. It was evident from an early stage that a goal would prove crucial and this came to the winners at the start of the final quarter and put them in the driving seat.
The Mills went into this tie knowing that victory was essential to keep their title hopes alive. Defences dominated in a low scoring first half at the end of which the sides were level at 0-4 each. The Mills had played with the aid of the breeze in this half but they had failed to capitalise and wasted a number of good opportunities of scores.
The winners had made the better start going three points clear in the opening quarter. The Mills fought back to level with two minutes of the half remaining.
The losers dominated the opening five minutes of the second half but they shot four wides in this time and these were to prove very costly. Tony Carmody and Alan Duggan exchanged points before the winners hit three in a row from John Fennessy and Niall Gilligan (2) to take a lead they would hold to the finish.
An Alan Flaherty effort kept the Mills in contention but the game’s only goal turned the tie very much in Sixmilebridge’s favour. Seadna Morey won possession in the right corner forward position and having rounded his marker passed to Tony Carmody who crashed a powerful effort to the roof of the O’Callaghan’s Mills net. John Fennessy and Morey followed with points and from here to the end the Mills were chasing the tie.
In an effort to get back into contention, they made a number of changes, both in personnel and positional, but the winners were now in control and they held a tight grip on proceedings from here to the final whistle, finishing out the tie with points from Gilligan and substitute Pa Sheehan.
Conceding just eight points indicates the strength of the winners’ defence on this occasion. Tadhg Keogh, Aidan Quilligan and Paidi Fitzpatrick were always prominent while John Fennessy did well when he switched from midfield to the half back line early in the second half.
The Donnellans, Bryan and Pat along with Conor Cooney worked hard in the Mills defence throughout but their attack struggled to break past a well organised Sixmilebridge backline.

Sixmilebridge: Derek Fahy; Tadhg Keogh, Aidan Quilligan, Paul Fitzpatrick; Barry O’Connor, Paidi Fitzpatrick, Robert Conlon; Shane Golden, John Fennessy; Seadna Morey, Tony Carmody, Declan Morey; Jamie Shanahan, Niall Gilligan, Danny Morey.
Subs: Pa Sheehan for Conlon (40 minutes); David O’Connor for Declan Morey (41 minutes).
Scorers: Niall Gilligan (0-5, 3f); Tony Carmody (1-2); John Fennessy, Pa Sheehan (0-2 each); Danny Morey, Seadna Morey, Jamie Shanahan (0-1 each).
Frees for: 11; wides: 11.
Bookings: Shane Golden (55 minutes); Jamie Shanahan (62 minutes).
“We knew that the Mills would be well up for this one as they were fighting to stay in the championship. Our backs did well today. We conceded 2-13 the other night, which we weren’t happy with but today we didn’t concede a whole lot. The workrate at midfield and in the forward line wasn’t good enough and we have a lot of work to do,” Christy Chaplin, Sixmilebridge manager.
O’Callaghans Mills: John Cooney; Sean O’Gorman, Conor Cooney, Gerry Cooney; Ger Frost, Patrick Donnellan, Bryan Donnellan; Gary Neville, James McMahon; Adrian Flaherty, Adrian Donovan, Jonathon Lyons; Niall Donovan, Declan Donovan, Alan Duggan.
Subs: Eoin Pewter for N Donovan (45 minutes); Fergus Donovan for D Donovan (46 minutes); James Shanahan for Duggan (53 minutes); Kevin O’Callaghan for Lyons (55 minutes).
Scorers: Adrian Flaherty (0-3, all frees); Alan Duggan (0-2); Gary Neville, James McMahon, Fergus Donovan (0-1 each).
Frees for: 16; wides: 14.
Bookings: Gerry Cooney (59 minutes); Bryan Donnellan (60 minutes); Conor Cooney (62 minutes).
“The misses killed us especially at the start of the second half when we had five in a row. We had an awful lot of wides and we should have been up at half time. Our shooting left us down. Whoever was going to get the goal was going to win it and they got the goal at the right time,” Peter Carmody, O’Callaghan’s Mills manager.
Referee: Kevin Walsh, Wolfe Tones.