This was a game of 2 halves really, the bridge started brightest, and with the aid of a stiff breeze led by 4 points to 3 after 25 minutes. Both sides were fairly wasteful in the 1st half, scoreable chances going abegging all over the place. A terrible ankle injury to 'Bridge captain & star player Jason kelly spelt trouble for the Shannonsiders and they didnt score again until ten minutes before the end of the game, and at that stage it was too late as Gracefield knocked over points for sport in the second half.
In all honesty, Gracefield were made look better than they actually were, as a very youthful and inexperienced 'Bridge side found it hard to cope with a more energetic and physically stronger Gracefield side. Bobby Fitzpatrick caused the backline loads of trouble, and with Slattery making his usual darting runs, 'Bridge defence was always going to suffer.
Already after the first two games, this group looks like a foregone conclusion, with Rhode obviously going to top the group, and Gracefield looking an ominous proposition for second place.
Shannonbridge 1-05 Gracefield 0-18
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Lone Shark
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I think you're being pretty kind to Shannonbridge there, or pretty harsh on Gracefield, one or the other. To call it a game of two halves is to imply that Shannonbridge had the better of at least one half. I'm not sure which one you think they had the better of - the first, when they had the aid of a strong breeze and went in trailing 6-4, or the second, where they scored twice in thirty minutes and conceded 12 points?
God help me but the last thing I want to do is to re-open the old Shannonbridge jihad against me, however the overwhelming impression I got from last Saturday evening was that whoever loses the game between Shannonbridge and Erin Rovers will be long odds on for relegation. Both sides look to be about six or seven players short of being a genuine senior championship team, with Shannonbridge's retirees looking to have left a lot of holes in the team. Jason Kelly's injury didn't help, but the forward line looked extremely weak in terms of scoring, and even one man playing well wouldn't really be enough. (You'll note I used the work "weak" rather than "lightweight")
In terms of key players on both sides, I thought Shane Flannery and Roger Ryan were the best of what Shannonbridge had to offer, although Gracefield were alert to this and were fairly quick to fould Flannery before he ever got a head of steam up. Gracefield obviously had a lot more by way of key contributors, though funnily enough I wouldn't have put Karol Slattery among them - he was very quiet. Niall Smith was probably man of the match, John O'Neill was very accurate and Bobby Fitzpatrick was a live wire throughout the match - he was particularly prominent while the game was still a contest, which I would count to be a point in his favour. At the back you couldn't say any of the Gracefield players were under real pressure, but Niall Slattery was probably the best of them.
I will say this though. In this group, Erin Rovers with all due respect will be well beaten by any side that has notions of reaching the knockouts, while a lot of these teams would struggle to beat Rhode even if they were playing well. In effect this was a straight knockout for these two teams - losing from this game is almost impossible to recover from. I personally think that having a fixture like that in May is unfair on the teams involved. In a four team group any loss is difficult to recover from, but in this group it's impossible - I firmly believe that either you do like Kilkenny hurling or Westmeath football and have two groups of six where most or all teams reach the knockouts but with added rewards for finishing further up the group, or else you fit the championship into three months, July, August and September. Expecting county players to peak for a full summer is one thing, expecting club players to do it is quite another.
God help me but the last thing I want to do is to re-open the old Shannonbridge jihad against me, however the overwhelming impression I got from last Saturday evening was that whoever loses the game between Shannonbridge and Erin Rovers will be long odds on for relegation. Both sides look to be about six or seven players short of being a genuine senior championship team, with Shannonbridge's retirees looking to have left a lot of holes in the team. Jason Kelly's injury didn't help, but the forward line looked extremely weak in terms of scoring, and even one man playing well wouldn't really be enough. (You'll note I used the work "weak" rather than "lightweight")
In terms of key players on both sides, I thought Shane Flannery and Roger Ryan were the best of what Shannonbridge had to offer, although Gracefield were alert to this and were fairly quick to fould Flannery before he ever got a head of steam up. Gracefield obviously had a lot more by way of key contributors, though funnily enough I wouldn't have put Karol Slattery among them - he was very quiet. Niall Smith was probably man of the match, John O'Neill was very accurate and Bobby Fitzpatrick was a live wire throughout the match - he was particularly prominent while the game was still a contest, which I would count to be a point in his favour. At the back you couldn't say any of the Gracefield players were under real pressure, but Niall Slattery was probably the best of them.
I will say this though. In this group, Erin Rovers with all due respect will be well beaten by any side that has notions of reaching the knockouts, while a lot of these teams would struggle to beat Rhode even if they were playing well. In effect this was a straight knockout for these two teams - losing from this game is almost impossible to recover from. I personally think that having a fixture like that in May is unfair on the teams involved. In a four team group any loss is difficult to recover from, but in this group it's impossible - I firmly believe that either you do like Kilkenny hurling or Westmeath football and have two groups of six where most or all teams reach the knockouts but with added rewards for finishing further up the group, or else you fit the championship into three months, July, August and September. Expecting county players to peak for a full summer is one thing, expecting club players to do it is quite another.