Shillelagh

23 February, 2008

The Bray Emmets Senior Team opened their league campaign with a draw against Shillelagh last Saturday in Old Conna but were very unlucky not to have come away with both points as they led from start to finish and were up seven points with only six minutes to go. Hopefully the team will learn from this performance and go on to produce the results that they are well capable of.

Having won the toss Bray opted to play with the wind but failed to capitalise on their many scoring chances. For long spells they owned the ball but their final touch seemed to always leave them down.They went in at half time leading by only 4 points having pinned Shillelagh in their own half for most of that half.

Bray can look back positively on this match.The overall team performance was excellent from corner back Ronan O Brien right up to full forward Stephen Fox. There were some great passing movements and support play. The young players are settling in well and are growing in confidence with every match. On the day Oisin o Hannaidh at full back  was rock solid  and was well supported  by Ronan O Brien who was always ready to turn defence into attack. John O Keeffe linked up well with the forwards and wing back Paul Barry is enjoying the open space and going forward. Johnny Kinch and Brian O Keeffe put in workaholic performances at midfield and covered acres of ground. J. Kinch  0-5, L.Benson 0-3 ,J Douglas 0-2 , R. Lambe 0-1.

However they came out at the start of the second half,  all guns blazing, and went into an  eight point lead. The defence linked up well and worked the ball out and up to their forwards. Luke Benson at centre forward was a constant threat and was causing all sorts of problems for the Shillelagh defence. He linked up well with Jack Douglas, Dave Finn and Peter Walsh and between them they ended up scoring 8 points.