St.Mary's suffer defeat in opening group championship clash with JK Brackens

St.Mary's Clonmel ...................... 2-13
JK Brackens .................................. 4-14
Despite recovering strongly from killer blows from a more clinical JK Brackens St.Marys still ended up on the losing side in this opening Seamus O Riain group game in Littleton on Saturday.
It was an entertaining game in which St.Mary's made it very difficult for themselves after experiencing a nightmare start to the game.The Clonmel side were two goals and two points in deficit with just seven minutes gone as JK Brackens went into top gear immediately from the whistle.
St Marys found it very difficult to contain Lyndon Fairbrother and Andrew Ormond in the opening minutes and it was that pair that continued to cause St.Mary's all kinds of trouble throughout the game.
To their credit St.Mary's kept their head despite the disastrous start and started to play their way back into the game and could have made it a lot easier on themselves had they shown more acccuracy from frees in that opening quarter when they were playing with a strong wind.
Liam Ryan, Seamus Kennedy and Sammy Ryan started to get St.Mary's going and they were rewarded with a welltaken goal after seventeen minutes fromSean Kennedy who finished off an excellent movethat involved Seamus Kennedy,MichaelMurphy and Gearoid Buckley.
That goal, to go with points from Seamus Kennedy andRoss Peter brought St.Mary's back into the game but Brackens pounced again at the right time with Andrew Ormond judging the flight of the delivery out of defence better than his marker and firing to the net for his second goal of the half.
Given the poor start and the goal conceeded so closeto half time St.Mary's were just seven points behind at the break but disaster was to strike with the second half just three minutes old.
On this occasion it was Lyndon Fairbrother who tormented the St.Mary's defence and he was dragged down for a penalty.Up stepped goalie Darren Russell to fire home the penalty and JK Brackens were well and truly in the driving seat now holding a ten point lead.
Again St.Mary's, showing great resilience forced their way back into the game scoring four points without reply before Seamus Kennedy got on the end of a great move to bring St.Mary's back into the picture again.
It looked as if the odds of St.Mary's coming out on top in thic clash improved when Jordon Moloney was sent off for Brackens with sixteen minutes gone in the second half but as it transpired JK Brackens went on to hurl even better with despite their numerical disadvantage.
After the sending off a Seamus Kennedy free reduced the deficit but Brackens went on to dominate with Paddy Cadell puttingin an inspirational performance to drive his team on to victory.

Brackens went on to dominate picking off five points without reply to put themselves in control again and fully deserved their seven point victory in this opening group game.

St Mary's
Enda Dunphy,Josh Ryan, Liam Ryan,Richie Gunne,Jamie Pegters,Gavin Ryan,Sammy Ryan,Paul Nolan,Seamus Kennedy,Eric Walsh,Ross Peters,Michael Murphy,Sean Kennedy,Jason Lonergan,Gearoid Buckley.
Subs Conor OSullivan for Michael Murphy,Matt Barlow for Gearoid Buckley, Niall Hoctor for Richie Gunne.
Scorers - Seamus Kennedy 1-4,Sean Kennnedy 1.0,Ross Peters 0.4,Niall Hoctor Michael Murphy Gearoid Buckley Matt Barlow Jason Lonergan 0.1 each.
JK Brackens
Darren Russell,Michael Egan,Cathal Scully,Martin Delaney,Eanna McBride,Paddy Cadell,Keigh Kennedy,Neil Quinlan,Tom murphy,Lyndon Fairbrother,shane Scully Jordon Moloney,Andrew Ormond,David O Shea,Shane Bourke.
Subs-Eoin Fitzpatrick for David O Shea,Aidann Fog
arty for Lyndon Fairbrother
Scorers
Andrew Ormond 2-6,Lyndon Fairbrother 1.1,Darren Russell 1.0,Shane Scully 0-3
.Shane Bourke 0.2,Paddy Cadell 0.2