GBC U16s played Piltown in the first round of the league on Friday evening. Playing against a slight breeze, GBC opened the scoring with a point from play from Sean Ryan in the first minute. Piltown pointed three frees before Dylan Lanigan steadied the ship with a good point from play. Piltown’s goalkeeper pointed a long range free, putting them ahead, four points to two. Their full forward broke through the GBC defence and fired a shot on goal from close range. Bill Cuddihy brought of very good reflex save and the resultant 65 was pointed.
Following some good combination play between Ger Doheny and Tommy Ronan, Sean Ryan put the ball over the bar to make it 5 points to 4 in favour of Piltown. A pointed free by the Piltown goalie, followed by a point from a free by Sean Ryan, brought an evenly contested first half to a close; GBC (0-5) Piltown (0-6).
Aided by the breeze in the second half, GBC upped the work rate, with Conor Flynn, Colum Prendiville, Tommy Ronan and Davy Hoyne gaining the upper hand, particularly from puck outs. Jamie Lawlor was causing problems for the Piltown defence, while James Everard won valuable possession. Dylan Lanigan put over his second point and within a minute, Davy Maher split the posts from 50 yards. Geordan Davis then scored three excellent points in succession to leave GBC ahead by 11 points to 8. Piltown pressed for a levelling goal, but great fielding from Tom Dunphy and Evan Walsh kept them at bay. Ciaran Hogan faught hard for possession and scored a top class point before Dylan Lanigan produced the score of the night with a long range point from near the sideline on 52 minutes. He was on the score sheet again within a minute and Sean Ryan pointed two frees before the final whistle sounded. The final score was GBC 16 points, Piltown 9 points.
Above all this was a solid team effort; subs George Murphy, Luke O’Brien, Peter Murphy and Aaron Brennan played well and will compete for places.
GBC: Bill Cuddihy, Evan Walsh, Tom Dunphy, Ger Doheny, Tommy Ronan, Conor Flynn, Davy Hoyne, Colum Prendiville, Davy Maher, Ciaran Hogan, Dylan Lanigan, Geordan Davis, James Everard, Jamie Lawlor, Sean Ryan, George Murphy, Luke O’Brien, Peter Murphy, Aaron Brennan, Killian Egan.
Scores: Sean Ryan (0-7, 5 frees), Dylan Lanigan (0-4), Geordan Davis (0-3), Ciaran Hogan (0-1), Davy Maher (0-1).