Bambricks win the day for Old Leighlin

Old Leighlin 2-12 Tinryland 1-10 

Old Leighlin got their senior football championship off to a cracking start with a well-deserved win in what must have been a history making first three games of the championship. When Aaron Amond scored his only point of the game in the second half, he became the sixth captain in the three games played to feature on the scoresheet.

The eventual winners were the better side in the opening quarter but failed to take the chances they created. Daragh Fitzgerald nudged them in front with a point and they followed up with a goal when Mikey Bambrick toed home from inside the small square.

Tinryland hit back with a Jonah Dunne point while Danny Moran scored a fabulous point from way out on the right. Matthew O’Toole and Diarmaid Walshe (f) were also on target for Tinryland.

In what would have been lauded in a volleyball match, Old Leighlin created their second goal chances with at least three of their players touching the ball with their fingers as David Bambrick netted from close range. That came with the last move of the half and gave Old Leighlin a 2-3 to 0-4 lead at the interval.

Old Leighlin lost Sean Taylor to a yellow and black card which saw him leave the action after only 35 minutes.

Tinryland upped the intensity and were rewarded when Shane Redmond punched to the Old Leighlin net. They brought back the deficit to two points against the fourteen players but were unprepared for Old Leighlin who continually hit them on the break.

Two old hands, Seamus Kinsella and Cathal Coughlan steadied Old Leighlin with both players finishing the game with five points between them.

Scorers 

Old Leighlin:

M Bambrick 1-0, D Bambrick 1-0, D Fitzgerald (1f) 0-3, C Coughlan 0-3 (1f), S Kinsella 0-2 (fs), S Scallan (f), A Amond, K Carpenter, S Bambrick 0-1 each

Tinryland: S Redmond 1-0, D Walsh 0-3 (fs), D Moran, J Dunne 0-2, M Lawler, M O’Toole (f), J McGrath 0-1 each 

OLD LEIGHLIN: Steven Scallan; Tadhg O’Neill, Jordan Kelly, Roy Sheehy; Tadhg Roche, Sean Bambrick, Sean Taylor; Ian Atkinson, Shane Dooley; Seamus Kinsella, Mikey Bambrick, David Bambrick; James Dowling, Aaron Amond, Darragh Fitzgerald. Subs: Jamie Doyle for Dooley (37), Cathal Coughlan for Kinsella (40), Kinsella for Fitzgerald (60).

TINRYLAND: Chris Townsend; Danny Moran, John Murphy, Conor Ryan; Conor O’Toole, Peter Hennessy, Michael Hosey; Conor Carew, Diarmaid Walshe; Mark Mullen, Paddy Regan, Cormac O’Brien; Cathal O’Toole, Jonah Dunne, Matthew O’Toole. Subs: Shane Redmond for Carew (h/t), Maurice Lawler for C O’Toole (h/t), James McGrath for M O’Toole (38), Shane Webb for Hennessy (47), Mark Lawlor for Murphy (54)

Referee: John Hickey (Fenagh).