OGONELLOE(CLARE) 3-13 BRICKEY RANGERS 2-13
AIB MUNSTER JUNIOR HURLING CHAMPIONSHIP QUARTER FINAL
Played in soft going in Sixmilebridge, the teams were level at 3-8 (O) to 2-11(B) with forty minutes played in this Munster club junior hurling championship quarter-final. The Brickeys had just scored the last two points but it was the Clare champions who drove on the stronger for the rest of the hour to deservingly take the spoils after a quality game at this level.
It could be said that Brickeys looked like winning the match in the first quarter and that Ogonelloe won it in the final one. The locals came out on top by 0-5 to 0-2 in that final period of time and they looked the most likely of the two sides to claim the spoils.
Talking to an Ogonolloe selector after the game, he said that their main aim before the throw-in was to negate the influence of Brickey player Mark Cummins in the middle of the field and that they had given Adam Cunnane (no.19) this Man marking job which worked. On the other hand, the Brickeys did not deal with Ogonelloe’s star player Gearoid Sheedy, who proved to be the man of the match and who made and took scores throughout.
There was one moment of controversy in the match which, to a certain extent, helped the winners across the line. In the 25th minute, Ogonolloe’s Henry Vaughan was fouled in front of the Brickeys goal, and the referee Conor Doyle, behind the play, whistled for a free. The ball ended up in the back of the net and the referee allowed the score the reasoning for which would be difficult to find in any rule book. The score was a blow to Brickeys as they were now 0-5 behind their opponents at 2-7 to 0-8.
Earlier in the match, the Brickeys were a much more free-flowing side than Ogonelloe and they had enough possession and opportunities to log a winning tally of scores. It was certainly a case of making hay while the sun shines as in the final quarter, the opposite was the case.
Tom O Connell opened the scoring with a brace of points inside three minutes before Aaran Fitzgerald Bradley got Ogonelloe off the mark. However, wides by the Brickeys, seven in total in the first half, and poor options in front of goal kept the difference minimal and Gearoid Sheedy showed his quality early when he pointed from play in the seventh minute with a goal also a definite possibility.
Cormac O Grady and Josh Whelan Veale pointed and the Brickeys lead of 0-5 to 0-2 was the very least that their early dominance deserved. Sheedy pointed a free in the 11th minute and then the cat was thrown among the pigeons when Aaran Fitzgerald Bradley placed Sheedy for a well-taken goal.
This major score was out of character with the action so far and credit Brickeys, they replied with scores by Tom O Connell(f) and Eoin Barry, the latter giving his best display in a Brickey jersey before being taken out of the game late on by an Ogonnoloe player which earned him a yellow card.
Coming up to the first water break, Brickeys wasted further scoring opportunities and after Gearoid Sheedy pointed a free, the teams were level at 1-4 to 0-7 after the visitors had played all of the hurling.
Ogonolloe came more into the game in the second quarter, Henry Vaughan gave them the lead in the 20th minute with two follow-up wides by Sheedy and Danny Cunnane letting the Brickeys off the hook. The impressive Cian Fitzgerald Bradley gave his side a 0-2 advantage at 1-6 to 0-7 before the hard-working Cormac O Grady popped over his second point.
Ogonolloe center-forward Colin Hart was on target in the 24th minute and then came the controversial awarding of his team’s second goal which left the scoreboard reading 2-7 to 0-8.
Brickeys needed a boost at this stage and up pops Mikey Hanlon with a brace of well taken goals in the 28th and 30th minutes. Firstly, Eoin Barry sent a diagonal pass in his path and Hanlon finished in style. His second score was even better as after good lead-up play by Barry, again, and Tom O Connell, the Brickey number 15 had to fight off the close attention of a number of Ogonolloe defenders before raising green flag number two.
The half finished with Gearoid Sheedy pucking wide from a ‘65’ and the Brickeys entering the dressing room ahead by 2-8 to 2-7.
SECOND HALF
After 4-15 being registered by the teams in the first half, the scoring dried up in the second with 1-11 added. Ogonnole won this half by 1-6 to 0-5 with the key score being Rory Skelly’s 35th-minute goal set up by Gearoid Sheedy.
The half started with another Brickey wide before Peter English, for the winners, and Eoin Barry traded minors. Skelly’s goal gave Ogonolloe a 0-2 lead at 3-8 to 2-9 but credit the Brickeys, they were back on level terms by the 40th minute after minor scores by Tom O Connell(f) and Conor Whelan.
It was from this stage onwards that Ogonolloe made their burst for the winning enclosure. Brickey full-back Johnny Cooney did very well to block a second goal attempt by Rory Skelly and Gearpoid Sheedy was wide from play.
Ogonolloe were beginning to turn the screw, though, and team captain Danny Cunnane pointed twice, the latter the result of a super save by Mark Shalloe in the Brickey goal, 3-10 to 2-11.
After the second water break, Gearoid Sheedy(f) put a clear goal between the teams while his defence closed down the shutters from play and by fouling and Brickeys never looked as if they were going to get goal number 3.
Tom O Connell pointed a 53rd minute free but Ogonolloe’s midfield pairing of Adam Cunnane and Aaran Fitzgerald Bradley both pointed against a Brickey defence that was being overworked at this stage. This gave the winners a 3-13 to 2-12 lead with Tom O Connell(f) finishing the scoring with a late free.
Despite losing out, Brickeys gave one of their best displays of the year, having to wait so long for this game with Ogonolloe in championship action the past number of weeks.
Ogonelloe’s Top Three: Gearoid Sheedy, Cian Fitzgerald Bradley, Adam Cunnane.
Brickey’s Top Three: Eoin Barry, Mikey Hanlon, Cormac O Grady.
Man of the Match: Gearoid Sheedy.
Number of Scorers: Ogonelloe: 9. Brickeys : 6.
Scores From Play: Ogonelloe: 3-10. Brickeys : 2-8.
Frees For: Ogonelloe: 9. Brickeys : 15.
Wides : Ogonelloe: 9. Brickeys : 14.
Score of the Match: Ogonelloe’s winning goal in the 35th minute engineered by Gearoid Sheedy and executed by Rory Skelly.
Scorers:
Ogonelloe: Gearoid Sheedy 1-4(3f), Henry Vaughan 1-1, Rory Skelly 1-0, Aaran Fitzgerald Bradley and Danny Cunnane 0-2 each, Cian Fitzgerald Bradley, Colm Hart, Peter English and Adam Cunnane 0-1 each.
Brickeys: Tom O Connell 0-7(5f), Mikey Hanlon 2-0, Cormac O Grady and Eoin Barry 0-2 each, Josh Whelan Veale and Conor Whelan 0-1 each.
Teams:
Ogonelloe: Robert Dreelan; Noah Sheedy, Barry Kiely,; Sean Kikkers, Colm Quinn, Peter English; Aaran Fitzgerald Bradley, Adam Cunnane; Colin Hart, Cian Fitzgerald Bradley; Henry Vaughan, Gearoid Sheedy, Liam Hart. Subs : Eoin Heffernan for Noel Sheedy(47), Paul McGee for Colin Hart(52), Jamie Cunnane for Aaran Fitzgerald Bradley (54).
Brickeys : Mark Shalloe; Carthach Barry, Johnny Cooney, Jack Lombard; Conor Phelan, Philip Walsh, Niall Browne; Cormac O Grady, Mark Cummins; Eoin Barry, Tom O Connell, John Morrissey; Josh Whelan Veale, Conor Whelan, Mikey Hanlon. Subs : Sean Ronayne for John Morrissey(47), Sean Lennon for Jack Lombard(51), Stevie Ahearne for Eoin Barry(inj, 53).
Referee : Conor Doyle (Tipperary).
