The Broadford U6 team made the short trip to Killaloe for the much anticipated match-up with Smith O'Briens on Saturday morning. This game was being touted as a classic even before the ball was thrown in with a large part of the week being spent by the management on examining video analysis of their Killaloe counterparts. No stone was left unturned with some of the players themselves formulating their own team formations and even puck-out strategies. The pre-match team talk cannot be published but needless to say the team was "firing on all cylinders" from minute 1.
Killaloe brought a competitive physicality from the start which kept Broadford under the kosh for the first quarter of the game. Were it not for the monumental defending of Séan Óg Reddan and Fionn Boland the game could have gone away from Broadford early. In fact it was when the young Séanie got a belt early and bravely came back on that Broadfords game started to turn. Croía Corcoran started to dominate midfield with the ever resourceful Micheál O' Connell in support. MJ Madigan started to cause the Killaloe forwards problems and Oisín Lovett could have been mistaken for Joe Canning in periods. The first half finished with Killaloe still shading it. There was even a few rumblings from the "hurlers on the ditch" that the management weren't up to the job. Little did they know.
The half-time team talk was hot and heavy. There was "words said" with both management and players voicing their opinions and boy did it change everything around. "We're a second-half team" was heard from 1 of the supporters in the stand. And as the crowd became more boisterous in support of Broadford so did our players. Zack Cosgrove was everywhere, his physicality and doggedness in full display. Players like Alex Maher stood up and were counted. Alex didn't give up on any ball. Fionn Boland and Micheál O'Connell were like two Goliaths in defence. The phrase "thou shalt not pass" came to mind. Séanie gave a mammoth display of side-line taking that will surely have the Clare senior management sitting up in their seats and on of the biggest cheers of the day came when Croía received a ball in midfield from the tireless work of MJ Madigan up front and "walloped" the ball the distance of the pitch into the Killaloe net (If there was 1). Oisín Lovett got the goal to draw the teams level with only minutes left in the game. And believe it or not, the game ended in a draw. There was a question over the score but we believe it was 4-18 to 3-21. Well done to the hordes of supporters that travelled, super morning out and the team did us proud.
Broadford play Whitegate and Scariff in the next round of the championship next Saturday morning, tough challenges but this team will be out on Tuesday night with the sandbags and kettlebells in preparation. Áth Leathan Abú !
Killaloe brought a competitive physicality from the start which kept Broadford under the kosh for the first quarter of the game. Were it not for the monumental defending of Séan Óg Reddan and Fionn Boland the game could have gone away from Broadford early. In fact it was when the young Séanie got a belt early and bravely came back on that Broadfords game started to turn. Croía Corcoran started to dominate midfield with the ever resourceful Micheál O' Connell in support. MJ Madigan started to cause the Killaloe forwards problems and Oisín Lovett could have been mistaken for Joe Canning in periods. The first half finished with Killaloe still shading it. There was even a few rumblings from the "hurlers on the ditch" that the management weren't up to the job. Little did they know.
The half-time team talk was hot and heavy. There was "words said" with both management and players voicing their opinions and boy did it change everything around. "We're a second-half team" was heard from 1 of the supporters in the stand. And as the crowd became more boisterous in support of Broadford so did our players. Zack Cosgrove was everywhere, his physicality and doggedness in full display. Players like Alex Maher stood up and were counted. Alex didn't give up on any ball. Fionn Boland and Micheál O'Connell were like two Goliaths in defence. The phrase "thou shalt not pass" came to mind. Séanie gave a mammoth display of side-line taking that will surely have the Clare senior management sitting up in their seats and on of the biggest cheers of the day came when Croía received a ball in midfield from the tireless work of MJ Madigan up front and "walloped" the ball the distance of the pitch into the Killaloe net (If there was 1). Oisín Lovett got the goal to draw the teams level with only minutes left in the game. And believe it or not, the game ended in a draw. There was a question over the score but we believe it was 4-18 to 3-21. Well done to the hordes of supporters that travelled, super morning out and the team did us proud.
Broadford play Whitegate and Scariff in the next round of the championship next Saturday morning, tough challenges but this team will be out on Tuesday night with the sandbags and kettlebells in preparation. Áth Leathan Abú !