*Seadna Morey. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
HAVING steered their native club to the brink of a Canon Hamilton reunion last October, Sixmilebridge’s managerial duo Tommy Liddy and Stiofan Fitzpatrick are determined to avoid any second season syndrome in this year’s senior championship.
The Clare Echo’s online coverage of the Clare SHC is brought to you in association with The Temple Gate Hotel.
Sixmilebridge Factfile
Management: Tommy Liddy, Stiofan Fitzpatrick (Joint-Managers); Adrian Chaplin, Barry Coffey (Coaches/Selectors); Chloe Morey, James Naughton (S&C Coaches); Aidan O’Connor (Kitman); Sham Carr, Danny Reddan, Ronan O’Shea, Kevin Wallis (Stats)
Captain: Jamie Shanahan
Key Player: Seadna Morey
One to Watch: Fiachra Ó Braoin
Fresh Blood: Cathal Malone, Pa Mulready
Departure Gate: None
Treatment Table: None
Titles Won: 15 (1977, 1979, 1983, 1984, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1995, 2000, 2002, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020)
Last season’s run: Finalists
Schedule
Round 1 v Clonlara on Friday July 25th in Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chiosóg Ennis at 19:00
Round 2 v Crusheen on Sunday August 10th in Gurteen at 13:00
Round 3 v St. Joseph’s Doora/Barefield on Saturday August 23rd in Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chiosóg Ennis at 17:00
Championship power ranking (1=weak/unlikely winners, 10=strong contenders): 7
Indeed, having put out a rousing call to arms, a rejuvenated ‘Bridge produced a remarkable show of grit and character to prevail in four successive ties that they edged by a mere puck of the ball to progress to a first final since winning it during the lockdown in 2020.
“It was a positive year,” admitted Liddy. “The aim is always to get out of the group and if you do there’s the chance, much like Tipperary, that you can get on a bit of momentum and it can carry you through matches which is what probably happened for us last year. We drew with Newmarket, just about got over the line against Clonlara and we obviously took penalties to get over the line against Inagh/Kilnamona so it could have been a very different year were it not for the slices of luck that we got.
“I suppose it’s hard to rely on that slice of luck the whole time so you’ve got to go again and prepare again and hope to God that you get it again”.
It was more than luck as they were led by a spine of leaders that had garnered four or five senior championship medals in the previous eleven seasons. And they’re far from finished yet according to their joint-manager. “There’s still plenty left in a lot of those boys. They train ferociously hard and are brilliant to drive on the young fellas. I think our young players learn a lot from them by example and encouragement so that’s what you want as it was a key factor last year and hopefully this year again so we can develop even more seniors out of it.
“We just had to be mindful this year not to overdo it so I suppose we just started later and started slower. We probably had a block of work done earlier last year so we were probably playing catch-up the whole way through the Clare Cup and we’re just about getting back to where we thought we should be. It certainly has been slower this year but being honest lads were tired after a long season last year so we didn’t want to be rushing them back in and lost out on a couple of weeks. But we seem to be getting everyone on the field again and everyone is getting up to championship pace hopefully”.
And they’ll need all that freshness and intensity to survive in a group that includes the 2023 finalists Clonlara and Crusheen along with 2022 intermediate winners St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield.
“It’s very tough, we played all three teams last year and they were all very tight games. Barefield are a real coming force and are building on the minor finals that they’ve contested in the last few years all the time. They seem to be bringing through young players quicker than most other teams and I feel that they’re going to be back in the shake up again in another year or two so they’re a team that we didn’t want to see in our group that’s for sure.
“We just always seemed to be drawn against Crusheen too and they bring the same vigour every year. They’re just ultra competitive and absolutely love championship hurling so that’s going to be another humdinger. And up first we have our neighbours Clonlara who we also keep meeting but every time we do, they are tight, tight games. They will be bitter over last year’s quarter-final as they played very well on the day and we definitely rode our luck in that game there’s no doubt about it. We eventually came out on the right side of the result but it could easily have gone to extra-time or else Clonlara could have snuck it. So I don’t see anything different this year”.
Not many do but it’s interesting to note that the “Bridge only lost one of their six championship matches in 2024 and that in the final itself against a momentum-fuelled Feakle.
“I mention that Crusheen love championship hurling and to be fair to the ‘Bridge, this group of players have always loved big championship games and the young lads that have slotted in around them seemed to enjoy the pressures and challenges that come with championships too. So that was great to see last year so we just hope to God that we can replicate that drive that was there last year and see can we get a few wins on the board. But I suppose we’re starting at the toughest possible level on Friday”.
Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chiosóg houses the familiar derby between this pair for the third consecutive season, with Liddy knowing exactly what to expect from the 2023 champions.
“The quality they have down there is a credit to them because they seem to produce a top quality minor or two or three year in and year out now. Every club would love to be in the position that they’re in and they’re stacking them all together to make a really good senior team. Even the young guys that we on the Clare Under 20’s this year, they’re going to be leaders in that group because they’ve only been developing their legs over the past year or two so the likes of Diarmuid Stritch and Michael Collins and those are going to be leaders this year. And they also still have the old warriors like [John] Conlon there driving it on. So you’d obviously put them down as firm favourites for the championship but I suppose that’s the challenge that we have to match and embrace this Friday”.
