Our u16 lads made the journey to Riverstick today to play Sliabh Rua in their County championship quarter final.

This game proved to be a tight affair with both teams giving it their all in tough conditions.

Bantry got off to a good start with a fine Timmy Mulhall point in the first minute with Sliabh Rua responding immediately with a point on two minutes.

Bantry taking advantage of a strong wind behind them were moving the ball quickly into the forwards and were reaping the rewards with three unanswered points from Oisín Murphy,Timmy Mulhall and the lively Dan Joe o Neill.Sliabh Rua kept the pressure on with two more points but again Bantry pushed ahead with great scores from Tom o Donnell,Oisín Murphy and a brace of points from captain Billy Sheehan to put them back in contol.

Again Sliabh Rua kept pressing and they goaled in the twenty eight minute to leave the bare minimum between the sides at half time with the boys in blue leading on a scoreline of 0.9 to 1.5.

The second half saw Sliabh Rua score an early point to level affairs with Oisín Murphy opening Bantry's account in the third minute with a well taken point.Sliabh Rua now with the wind in their favour hit a purple patch and hit 1.3 without reply in six minutes to gain the upper hand and but for a fine save from goalkeeper Luke o Sullivan things could have been much worse for the lads in blue.Bantry now had to dig deep and were defending heroically with Tom Murphy,Shay o Donovan and Paddy Russell putting in a serious effort.A great team move found Tom o Donnell in space and he finished superbly to the net to drag Bantry back into the game in the tenth minute.

This proved to be the turning point and Bantry were now playing some lovely team football.Shay o Donovan pointed in the thirteenth minute followed by an Oisín Murphy free and a fine point from the hard working Jack Manning.

Despite playing into the wind Bantry were now starting to dominate affairs and were limiting Sliabh Rua to few scoring chances.Points from the excellent Oisín Murphy and the tireless Colin McCarthy saw Bantry close out the game to win on a scoreline of 1.16 to 2.10.

This was an outstanding team performance from the lads against tough opposition and they can now look forward to a County semi final against St.Vincents.

Scorers for Bantry

Tom o Donnell 1.1

Oisín Murphy 0.7(3f)

Timmy Mulhall 0.2

Billy Sheehan 0.2

Dan Joe o Neill 0.1

Shay o Donovan 0.1

Jack Manning 0.1

Colin McCarthy 0.1

BANTRY BLUES U16s Sponsored by OKeeffes SuperValu Bantry