Sixmilebridge Camogie News – 06/09/2012

by Rachel Whelan (Camogie Club PRO)

Senior Team:

After a long summer of training the girls’ got off to a great championship start with a one point defeat over near neighbours Kilkishen in the opening round of the senior championship. Kilkishen got off to a great start with a point followed by a Norah Murphy goal in the opening 2minutes of the game, Sixmilebridge’s Naomi Carroll responded with a point. Kilkishen got 2 more points on the board before Sinead Touhy got Sixmilebridge’s first goal of the game. Kilkishen got another two scores on the board; one from a free which was cancelled out by a Naomi Carroll converted free. Sixmilebridge responded with another point from Aiveen O’Shea before Michelle Moroney and Naomi Carroll exchanged points before the halftime whistle which left Kilkishen leading 1.6 to Sixmilebridge’s 1.5. Like a mirror image of the first half, Kate O’Gorman added to Kilkishen’s lead with a goal in the opening 5 minutes of the second half which she followed up with a converted free, Naomi Carroll opened the‘bridge’s second half scoring with a point from play 10minutes in. the next score didn’t come until the 24th minute when Sixmilebridges Rachael O’Halloran rattled the Kilkishen net, the ‘bridge girls added to their lead when Naomi Carroll goaled in the next minute. Kilkishen received a 21 yard free in the dying minutes of the game which came off the hurley of defender Orla Chaplin who diverted it over the bar, leaving one point between the sides. The final whistle then blew ending a very entertaining match for both players and supporters. Having already qualified for the county semi-final due to being placed in a group of three teams, Sixmilebridge now go onto face old rival’s Newmarket in their final group game Sunday, September 9th.

Sixmilebridge 3.06 Kilkishen 2.08

Team: Niamh McInerney (joint captain), Ann Sweeney (joint captain), Chloe Morey, Orla Chaplin, Ciara Whelan, Marie McGrath, Katie Connors, Antoinette Keane, Bridget O’Halloran, Rachel O’Halloran (1-0), Aiveen O’Shea (0-1), Ellen Roche, Sinead Touhy (1-0), Naomi Carroll (1-5), Mairead Hyland. Sub: Ali Quinlan for Keane.

Junior Team:

After both an interesting Junior league& North Munster league campaign, the Junior girls’ have suffered two defeats in their two opening games of the championship to Eire Og & Ruan respectively. In both games it was the opposing team who were the much stronger side, however the ‘bridge girls’managed to hold on to their “never give up” attitude, fighting for every ball until the final whistle. With just one game left in their group, they now face Bodyke this Sunday, September 9th in their final group game, which will be followed up with a play-off to qualify for the junior shield semi-final.

Sixmilebridge0.03 Eire Og 7.10

Sixmilebridge 0.2 Ruan 6.09

Team v Ruan: Colette Freeman, Regina Fennessy, Laura Murray, Dianne Murray, Jean Chaplin, Flora Crowe, Aisling Hassett, Karen Corbett, Niamh Murray (0-1free), Maria Frawley, Majella Slattery, Rachel Whelan (0-1), Sinead Fitzgerald.

Minor Team:

Following a defeat in the final of the Munster 7’s competition from Burges/Duhara of Tipperary, it was back to the training field for the Minor A competition. The championship opened with a defeat from old rival’s Newmarket. The bridge girls’ recomposed themselves and defeated Feakle by 9 points in their second game. Unfortunately they lost their remaining two games to Kilmaley and Ballyea. They have now qualified for the Minor A Shield final on Saturday September 15th and await the winners of Feakle and Kilmaley to see their opponents, with Sixmilebridge having defeated Feakle, Feakle having defeated Kllmaley and Kilmlaey having defeated us by 2points in the round stages it really is all to play for.

Sixmilebridge 2.03 Newmarket 3.18

Sixmilebridge 3.09 Feakle 0.09

Sixmilebridge 2.05 Kilmlaey 2.07

Sixmilebridge 0.04 Ballyea 4.11

Team: Eimear Murray, Laura Murray, Eimear Donnellan, Katie Freeman, Laura Whelan, Ellen Roche, Aisling Hassett, Emma Robbins, Fiona Murphy, Niamh Murray (0-1), Slaine Carey (0-2), Ali Quinlan (0-1), Aoife Roche, Siobhan Lynch, Aisling Hawkes.

U16’s Team:

Sixmilebridge finally got their u16 campaign under way on Saturday evening last where they faced Eire Og in the opening round, the ‘bridge girls lead by 4 points with 2 minutes to go when unfortunately a problem arose with the lights and the match was called off, at a fixtures meeting on Monday night it was stated the match would have to go to a replay which will take place next Tuesday, September 11th. On Wednesday September 5th they defeated Clooney/Quin by 4.8 to 1.0 to pick up their first win of the championship. Also in line for the u16 A title are St. Joseph’s, Eire Og and Inagh/Kilnamona.

U14 Team:

The u14’s have got their championship off to a great start with two defeats over Clooney/Quin and Feakle. With the girls’training hard since January, a great improvement can be seen in all the players. They have Inagh/Kilnamona, Newmarket and Clarecastle left to play in their championship. After the u14’s losing out to Inagh/Kilnamona in the Feile semi-final, the Inagh/Kilnamona girls went one step further then the ‘bridge girls last year, capturing the All-Ireland Feile Division 2 title in June.

Sixmilebridge 7.7 Clooney/Quin 0.1

Sixmilebridge 4.4 Feakle 1.4

Team v Clooney/Quin: Claudia Chaplin, Hayley Brooks, Caoimhe O’Callaghan, Sarah Quinn, Lauren Gaule, Rachel Kelly, Keelin Lyons, Karen Gallagher, Mary O’Connor, Olivia Phelan, Emma Kennedy, Maygen Griffin, Ciara O’Gorman, Ruth O’Neill.

The u13 Final against Kilkishen which was due to be played the end of June, has now been fixed for October 6th.

U12 Team:

The u12’s have enjoyed a great summer of camogie. Back in April the numbers at training were so high the ‘bridge entered 2 teams into the go games competition which ran every Saturday morning for approx. 2 months attending fixtures all over the county, with the mini league not starting until July, the u12’s took part in many challenge games to keep the girls in shape. Unfortunately due to summer holidays etc, the ‘bridge could only enter one team into the mini leagues where they played Clooney/Quin, Clarecastle, Inagh/Kilnamona, Kilkishen & Ogonelloe, winning the first 3 games and losing to Ogonnelloe in their final match. The management team of Mike Sheedy, John Mellett, Fergal Kennedy and Carmel O’Brien felt that early August was too early to end the year so they entered into a tournament in Kilmaley which the girls’ won. They are now entered into an u11 tournament run by Tulla Camogie Club which is starting this Wednesday, September 5th.

Underage Teams:

The u10’s, u8 and u6 panel’s are also enjoying a great summer of training , both the u10’s and u8’s have competed in various go-games league’s where a great improvement can also be seen with these girls’.

The future looks bright for Sixmilebridge camogie.

Other News:

For the first time this year the county board has also introduced an u21 championship which will start on October 20th where the ‘bridge will once again face Newmarket in a knock-out semi-final.

Sixmilebridge senior camogie star Naomi Carroll this summer earned her first Ireland international hockey cap where she contributed to Ireland’s U21 European Championship win, Ireland defeated Turkey in the final 8 0 and Naomi scored 2 of Ireland’s goals. Since then Naomi has continued to move up the ladder and she has since earned to Senior International hockey cap’s, on both occasions Ireland’s opponents were Wales, in the second game Naomi contributed to 2 of her sides 3 goals to give them a 3 1 victory over the Welsh side, Well done Naomi !!