The favourites for the Clare Senior Hurling Championship 2011, SIxmilebridge, have won their opening game of the competition.
Hwoever, their performance against Clarecastle last evening left a lot to be desired.
A quiet opening period burst into life in the last ten minutes when Derek Quinn netted for Clarecastle, meaning the teams entered the break level on 0-6 to 1-3.
Clarecastle maintained this momentim in the second half and five points from five minutes, two of them from Tyrone Kierse, saw the Magpies lead by 1-08 to 0-10 and further scores from Darragh Moloney, Conor O Gorman and Shane Golden put Clarecastle two clear with eight minutes to go.
Two scores for the Bridge levelled matters though and it seemed that a draw was the likely result until Niall Gilligan converted a late 65 to give the Bridge a one-oint win, on a scoreline of Sixmilebridge 0-15 Clarecastle 1-11.