Winning start for the ’Bridge

The ’Bridge held the favourites’ tag ahead of the tie and while they deserved their win, it was hard earned.
Truagh got off to a great start, putting Sixmilebridge under pressure. Maire Begley for Truagh had the first real scoring opportunity of the match but failed to find the target. The first score came for Sixmilebridge from a free, with Chloe Morey pointing after nearly eight minutes. Aileen O’Sullivan for Truagh matched Morey shortly after, converting a free.

After 10 minutes, Truagh were dealt a blow when captain, Patricia Mullins, retired due to injury. Yvonne Woods replaced her in the full-forward line. O’Sullivan put Truagh ahead after 12 minutes with a point from play. Two minutes later, after some excellent play from both teams, Sixmilebridge levelled with a point from play. Sixmilebridge’s Morey added another free to go a point ahead. Sixmilebridge then had their purple patch, with midfielders Maire McGrath and Morey both scoring from play and showing dominance in the middle of the field. Morey added another free before the break to leave the half-time score at Sixmilebridge 0-6, Truagh 0-2.

Sixmilebridge got the second half off to an ideal start when, after five minutes, they found the Truagh net. However, Truagh pushed on and for the next 10 minutes they held Sixmilebridge scoreless. Aileen O’Sullivan converted a free from 35m after Emma Kavanagh was fouled.

Sixmilebridge gave away another free, which O’Sullivan put over the bar from 50m. Michelle Caulfield got her name on the scoresheet for Truagh when she scored a point from play after winning the Sixmilebridge puck-out. Shortly afterwards, Sixmilebridge won a free and from the 20m line, Morey went for goal but Truagh full-back Teresa Nihill saved, gathered and cleared. Truagh had battled back to 0-5 to 1-6 midway through the second half. Sixmilebridge were increasing the pressure and Morey increased their lead with a converted free.

Truagh had a free, which O’Sullivan floated into the goal area and the ball was finished to the net by Begley but she was deemed to be in the square. Truagh won another free and from the sideline and nearly 40m out, O’Sullivan put the ball over the bar. However, shortly after this, Sixmilebridge dealt Truagh another blow by scoring their second goal, with Morey converting a penalty with 10 minutes left in the half. O’Sullivan added a point from a free and shortly afterwards converted a 45’ and with eight minutes remaining, Truagh trailed by five points. The final score of the game went to the accurate Morey, who scored a second point from play.

Chloe Morey and Maire McGrath were strong for Sixmilebridge at midfield, with Morey tracking back to help gather ball from her own half-back line. For Truagh, Michelle Caulfield worked hard in midfield and Sarah Sherlock made some good runs out from defence.

Sixmilebridge: Ann Sweeney; Deanne Considine, Bridget O’Halloran, Katie Connor; Aiveen O’Shea, Ellen Roche, Maire McGrath; Chloe Morey, Sinéad Tuohy; Alison Quinlan, Mairéad Hyland, Fiona Murphy; Áine McNamara, Rachel O’Halloran, Eimear Murray.
Subs: Elaine Carey, Antoinette Keane, Eimear Donnellan, Niamh Murray and Aoife Roche.
Truagh: Lisa Moloney; Aideen Hogg, Teresa Nihill, Siobhán Fahy; Sarah Koyce, Sarah Sherlock, Helen Guinane; Eimear Kelly, Michelle Caulfield; Emma Kavanagh, Maire Begley, Patricia Mullins; Aileen O’Sullivan, Niamh Power, Ellen Horgan.
Subs: Yvonne Woods for Mullins and Kathleen Horgan for Power.

Walkover for Newmarket
THE scheduled first-round game between Newmarket and Kilkishen did not take place at the weekend but Newmarket and the referee were present and the ball was thrown in.
Kilkishen requested a postponement last week, due to the game clashing with a wedding involving a sister of one of their players. Because of ladies’ football fixtures, Newmarket were not able to facilitate the request.
It is understood that at a fixtures committee meeting on Monday night, the game was awarded to Newmarket, who offered to look at their fixture schedule with a view to arranging a re-fixture.

Victory for Clooney-Quin
LAST year’s beaten finalists Clooney-Quin made a winning start to their senior campaign with a 2-13 to 2-4 win over Inagh-Kilnamona.