Bennettsbridge played Cloneen in the 1st round of the Junior B Hurling Championship on Sunday last in a windswept home ground. Playing against the wind in the first half we were off to a good start with a point from W Murphy in the 1^st minute. This was quickly cancelled out and scores were exchanged throughout the half until the 17^th minute when after much hard work by our full forward line the ball was finished to the net by Ronan O’Connor. From there until half time the Bridge boys kept their noses in front and went in at half time 1-8 to 0-6 in front. This was a very good performance considering the gale that was blowing. The home side might have been the younger and lighter team but their touch and passing was much crisper. The second half started with all the pressure coming from the home side and after just 10 minutes of the 2^nd half the score had changed to 1-13 to 0-6. It took the visitors 24 minutes to raise their 1^st flag of the half and by that time the Bridge had stretched out to 1-19. The game finished with the home side winning 1-22 to 0-8. It was some of the younger players that were most impressive for the home team with Luke Dowling, Ronan O’Connor and Joe Murphy very impressive. Other young lads to impress were Tim Dooley in at full back and James ‘’Monkey’’ Moran showing their style also at full back. The Team was.  B Tynan, A Byrne, T Dooley, B O’Neill, L Dowling, E Fitzgerald, S Byrne, K Brennan(0-8), E Murphy(0-2),D Walsh, P O’Neill(0-5), W Murphy(0-2), R O’Connor(1-2), T Kiely(0-1), J Murphy(0-1). Subs used M Walsh, J Moran, S Hanley(0-1)