Pairc Shileain was the venue this morning for our Senior hurling team's first competitive game of 2020 when they hosted Holycross in the opening round of the County Senior hurling league. Much like the O'Riain final 126 days ago there was nothing between the sides from first whistle to last. After a low scoring opening quarter the sides were tied at four points apiece with Shane Doyle (2) and Andrew Ormond contributing from play. Brackens were reduced to fourteen men when Lorcan Egan was somewhat unfortunate to receive a straight red card following a challenge after 25 minutes. Further points from play from Ormond, Cathal Scully and Lyndon Fairbrother left us trailing by the minimum at break. (0-9 to 0-8 ). Despite being the man down Brackens showed great desire throughout the second half and matched the Abbey boys point for point. Ormond (2), Shane Scully, Conor Cadell ( just as he did on his Senior Football debut last week ) and Fairbrother all chipped in with points from play with the latter also adding eight minors from placed balls over the hour to leave the sides tied at 0-19 points apiece at the long whistle. It may have been the opening round of the League but if the same desire is displayed everytime we pull on the Brackens jersey we'll have more good days than bad. Round 2 sees us head for Dolla next Sunday morning with an 11.30am throw-in.

Team and Scorers: Darren Russell Martin Delaney Tom Murphy Michael Egan James Bergin Lorcan Egan Eoin Fitzpatrick Cathal Scully (0-1) Adrian Bourke Shane Scully (0-1) Dylan Moloney Davy O'Shea Andrew Ormond (0-4 ) Shane Doyle (0-2) Lyndon Fairbrother ( 0-10,8f ).

Subs Used: Conor Cadell (0-1) Jack Kennedy Jack Fogarty