Club Notes: Listowel RFC

This week’s club notes from Listowel RFC.

Courtesy of:- Karen Mulvihill, Listowel RFC

Listowel U14s boys beat Tralee in a friendly in Tralee on Sunday morning. It was an open exciting match despite the strong wind. Listowel played with the wind in the first half and had a dream start. Ethan O’Connor stole the ball at an early ruck. The ball was moved quickly through Cale Sweeney, John Carmody, Kevin Lowney and Shane Healy. Joseph Murphy received the ball on their 22. He showed great pace to round the centre and power as he crashed through the final defender to score a superb try. We hoped that this would set the tone for us but Tralee took control for the next 10 minutes and only some great defensive work from Conor Ferris, Liam Quilter and Aaron Mulvihill kept them at bay. Murtie Moriarty lifted the siege when he broke from a scrum on our 5 metre line and made it to their 22 before being bundled into touch. With good field position and the wind at our backs we dominated the remainder of the half. Murtie continued his remarkable scoring record with 2 more tries before half time with Kevin Lowney converting both. The second half turned it a fierce battle as we struggled to move the ball forward into the teeth of the gale. Tralee scored under the posts and converted to put themselves back in the game. Slick handling from John Carmody and Denis Dowling created space for Shane Healy. He beat numerous defenders to set up 2 more try scoring opportunities. These were superbly executed from long range by Ethan O’Connor and Kevin Lowney to gave us comfortable lead. A late try from Tralee gave them some hope. However, powerful surges from Oisin Horgan and Kian Dowling set the platform for  Murtie Moriarty to crash  over for his third try to seal the victory. It was a great win and hopefully sets the performance level for the rest of the season. The outstanding performers on the day were Kevin Lowney and Murtie Moriarty.

The TLC U15 girls traveled the long road to play away in Carrick on suir where they were met by a strong opposition of equal  strength and flare.This led  to another spectacular  game of rugby , the type of rugby that we as coaching staff and spectator's are getting used to from our U15 girls side. Conditions were dry but windy and both teams heald their own in the first quarter. Action was intense at the break down and during set pieces, where  both teams defended well . Carrick were the first to  break through and scored a try, and half way through the 2nd quater scored another .This did not slow the TLC drive and attack as we pinned Carrick deep in side their 22 witch resulted in a great try by our number 9 Alex Kelly assisted by her forward pack .Second half started with much of the same with strong defending from both sides.The game was flawed by some controversial  refereeing  decisions which resulted in what seemed to be a solid grounding of a TLC try by our number 4 Hanna Betts disallowed as a knock on .Soon after TLC took another hard blow when we lost 2 players  Marykate Reidy (14)and Clare Beasley (7)to injuries within 10 min of each other .TLC battled on again and were dealt a killer blow when Carrick scored a 3rd after another controversial decision. The game ended 15  – 5 but this was not a true reflection of a very competitive game.

It all started very early on Saturday morning with the trip from Listowel to Carrick-on Suir. The u18 girls kicked off at 2pm playing into a strong wind in the first half. Keeping ball in hand up front, it did not take long before Ciara Shine crashed over for the first score. We were dominant in the set piece where Dearbhla Canty, Hayley Bets, Viv Ahern Ciara Shine and Sarah Jane Kelly were controlling scrums and line outs at will. Carrick did manage to cross our line but were superbly held up.Any opportunities Carrick got were quickly stifled out by some superb defense from both forwards and backs. Great emphasis was placed on discipline at the breakdown and it paid off throughout the game. Our forwards were excellent in taking control upfront,with Dearbhla making huge dents in the Carrick defense with strong runs through the middle. The forwards continuously stopped Carrick from crossing the gain line, even driving Carrick back on a number of occasions. Our backs had a lot of front foot ball to play with, and  the brilliant Aisling Brosnan made numerous breaks just ending short of the try line. It was very unfortunate that Aisling had to leave the field just before half time with an ankle injury.Carrick deserves praise for a great defensive effort in the first half and playing the conditions well, as we were continuously driven back with some monstrous kicks. The half ended with Listowel/Tralee leading 5-0.The second half started much similar as the first, and with the conditions favouring ourselves , it did not take long for Muirne Wall to spot a gap in the defense, and the rest as they say is history. We were 12-0 up and looked like a team in full control., but things changed dramatically shortly afterwards, when Carrick managed to score 2 breakaway tries from their own half. All of a sudden it was 12-12 and Carrick had the momentum.It was relentless attacking from Carrick bringing their big powerfull backs more into the game. We were now on the back foot scrambling in defense. The loose trio of Caolainn Healy , Kayla Donnely, Briony Kelly were excellent at stopping anyone coming around the corner with Caolainn topping the tackling count as she does most weeks (you definitely know when you are tackled by this girl).It looked as if it was only a matter of time before they would score,but our defense held out, and special praise must go to the backs ,Aoife Corcoran, Muirne Wall, Ella Kelleher, Molly Cluney, Diana O’Keeffe and Katie Ahern for tackling themselves to a standstill in the second half. There was nothing left in the tank after a long and tiring day except the script was to be re written again when against the play Muirne Wall got the ball on half way after some excellent clearing at the breakdown, only to switch direction and face 3 defenders who she left clasping at air and the rest as they say is history! The girls from Kerry are in the Final.

Good luck to all our members doing their exams and check out facebook for our weekend fixtures.