JK Brackens secure their quarter final place in Tipperary football county championship

JK Brackens 2-8
Ardfinnan 0-9
JK Brackens secured their passage to county football quarter finals with a strong performance in Golden on Tuesday evening which saw off the spirited challenge of Ardfinnan in a group two clash.
The five point victory piles pressure on Ardfinnan to qualify as they face Ballyporeen now in what amounts to a knockout clash for both of those teams  in round three.
JK Brackens were well worth their victory.Well drilled and organised to be so efficient in defence they turned over Ardfinnan on numerous occasions to break away at speed on the counter and with players like Shane Doyle, Dean McEnroe and Lyndon Fairbrother in attack they caused problems for Ardfinnan.
Brackens showed admirable patience in defence withdrawing to set up their defensive lines and relying on the huge work ethic of players like Cathal Scully and Lorcan Roche to break up the play.
When they did Brackens punished Ardfinnan and the outstanding Eanna McBride time and time again carried the ball at speed running directly at the Ardfinnan defence to set up the attack.
It was from one of those counter attacks that JK Brackens secured their important opening goal of the game.Dean McEroe won the delivery from defence and he cleverly picked out the good run of Shane Doyle who calmly slotted to the net to give his team a five point lead after eighteen minutes.
Ardfinnan's opening score came just seconds into the game from Billy Hewitt but despite their ample possession Ardfinnan were unable to build on that due to the defensive wall set up before them.
JK Brackens scored 1.3( the points coming from Shane Doyle and a brace from the excellent Dean McEnroe) following that Ardfinnan opener.
Ardfinnan only managed one more point in the opening half, a James O' Mahoney point which was cancelled out a few minutes later with a Dean McEnroe free which gave JK Brackens a 1.4 to 0.2 half time lead.
Just as in the first half Ardfinnan got off to a bright start with Michael Barlow picking off a point within a minute and centre back Colm O Shaughnessy added another to reduce the deficit to just three points five minutes into the second half.
Two minutes later however all their hard work was undone when Cathal Scully dispossessed an Ardfinnan defender in front of goal and he blasted to the net to put JK Brackens in a commanding six point lead.
That goal effectively  killed off the game. To their credit Ardfinnan kept pressing for scores.Two more Billy Hewitt frees were cancelled out by another brace of frees from Brackens marksman Dean McEnroe.Substitute Jack Fogarty and another score from play from Dean McEnroe kept the scoreboard ticking over for JK BRackens.
Ardfinnan, with Tom Kirwin and Michael Barlow prominent, managed to score the last three points of the game to reduce the deficit back to five points before the final whistle went with a scoreline of 0-9 to 2-8.

Group 2 victory for Ballyporeen/Clonmel Og