A draw and a loss for U21 footballers, but plenty of experience gained.

Last Friday and today, Bank Holiday Monday saw us play away to Midleton and Fr. O'Neill's respectively.

The game conditions ranged from a crisp, still night on a 4G surface in Midleton to a windy and bitterly cold afternoon in a heavier Aghavine.

It was great to see such a high number of players available and willing to play, and many benefitted prior from two night of football training on the astro, and two nights of boxercise and physical conditioning in Bartlemy Hall across January.

Importantly, the game saw last year's senior hurlers like Denis Cashman and Louis Roche, and juniors like Cillian Barry and Kieran Cotter finally get a chance to try out the new rules and become dual adult players representing their club at the much changed and faster game. They have joined the unavailable Cormac Barry and Conor O'Riordan in this regard.

A plethora of minor players - Jack Lynch, Shane O'Dowd, and Mattie Kenny, Gary Quirke, Darragh O'Farrell and Adam Kelleher as goalkeeper all showed up well and this bodes well for adult level in the coming years also.

The team was backboned by last year's junior footballers - Ronan O'Riordan, Ciaran O'Dowd, Adam Hynes, Cillian O'Sullivan, Ryan O’Callaghan, Gearoid Gubbins and allowed last year's fringe junior players Eldon O'Connor and Oran Kielty to get more game time again.

The two games also enabled Ronan Barry and Gearóid O'Connell showcase their ability in the back line, Cillian Barry and Shane Prendergast in the middle third, as well as Rudi Gharib and Seán Dowling up front.

Importantly, the two games taught us lessons regarding the physicality needed at adult level, as well as the need to stay switched on, react well and fast on the whistle, contest every ball as well as keep possession as a priority. However, having said all that, there were some nice passages of play when we were composed on the ball and used space and movement well.

The final scores were Midleton 4.09 Bride Rovers 4.09, and then Fr O'Neills 3.09 Bride Rovers. The development league will conclude with a home fixture against Glenville next Saturday 7th Feb at 2pm in Pynes.

We wish a quick recovery to Adam Hynes and Shane O'Dowd who picked up hand injuries against Fr O'Neill's.

The panel of 22 players who featured to date in the competition were...

Adam Kelleher, Ronan O'Riordan, Ronan Barry, Ciarán O'Dowd, Adam Hynes, Denis Cashman, Kieran Cotter, Gearoid O'Connell, Cillian Barry, Cillian O'Sullivan, Ryan O'Callaghan, Garry Quirke, Mattie Kenny, Shane O'Dowd, Oran Kielty, Eldon O'Connor, Gearóid Gubbins, Frank O'Flynn, Seán Dowling, Jack Lynch, Shane Prenderdast, Darragh O'Farrell, Rudi Gharib and Louis Roche.

The management group were Mike Hogan, John O'Dowd, James Bermingham and Pa O'Driscoll with periodic expert advice from Davy Barry.