Club Notes

This week’s club notes come from Thurles, Bruff and Newcastle West RFC.

Thurles RFC

Notes by Brian Scanlon

Mitchelstown RFC Vs. Thurles RFC – Munster Junior League

Mitchelstown RFC 7 – 12 Thurles RFC

The Thurles First XV travelled to Mitchelstown in Cork on Sunday last as they resumed League action for the first time since the Christmas break. It was a fine day at the Cork venue but with the poor weather conditions over the past number of months, it made underfoot conditions very difficult to contend with. Thurles kicked off the first half playing down the slight hill and started well, despite the poor underfoot conditions, the Thurles backs were making good ground in attack and were unlucky early on not to cross in the corner but for a last ditch tackle from a Mitchelstown defender saving the home side.

Thurles kept the pressure on in the opposition half & were reward with a penalty, Thurles pointed towards the posts but the kick dropped short, the Thurles chase, led by Dwayne Stanley, Mark Cummins & Ciaran Ryan put pressure on the home defence and forced a turnover. Thurles secured possession from the scrum and after some great work from the forwards, Eoghan O’Dwyer cut back on a great inside line and barged over to open the scoring, 0-5 to Thurles.

As the game restarted and progressed, a lot of the play was taking place around the middle of the park, the front row of McCormack, Nugent & Telford were holding their in the scrums despite the difficult conditions and Dwayne Stanley was leading the pack excellently, always looking for work and keeping the tackle count ticking over.

The home side were rewarded a number of consecutive penalties which allowed them to bring play inside the 22. Following a number of lineouts, Mitchelstown eventually snuck over, Thurles had defended excellently but with the ground so cut up, it was almost impossible to get grip in the boots to stop the momentum of the home sides maul, they converted their try to sneak ahead: 7-5.

Following the restart, Thurles upped the tempo and controlled the game leading up to half time, the pack were combining excellently with the backs as Thurles put pressure on the home defence. The half time whistle arrived with the score still at 7-5, Thurles had three guilt edge chances to cross the line in the final 10 minutes of the half but the final pass let them down on each occasion.

Thurles received the kick off as the second half got underway, they picked up where they left off at the end of the first half. The second row pairing of Luke Kelly & Shane McHugh continued to blossom with both men carrying a lot of ball and both with high tackle counts throughout the game. The half back pairing of Holohan & Dwyer kept the back line fed with ball as they made their way up the field, looking to take the lead once again.

Thurles kept pressing the home line in search of a try, Conor O’Hagan was causing a lot of trouble in the centre ably backed up & supported by the back three of Coman, Maher & Sweeney who were dangerous in attack and defended well all day.

Thurles eventually got the score they were looking for, a great team effort laid the foundations for Eoghan O’Dwyer who found a gap in the defence, he was stopped short of the line but like any good wing forward, Mark Cummins was on his tail to receive the pop up from Eoghan to crash over the line to the right of the post’s, Aidan Dwyer added the extra’s for the maximum, 7-12.

For the remaining quarter of the game, Thurles rarely got their hands on the ball in a position of any threat as a lot of the 50/50 calls were going in the way of the home side. Mitchelstown threw the kitchen sink at Thurles, who were reduced to 14 men twice in the final 20 minute period.

Thurles were able to call on the quality of Shane Moloney & Stephen Kirwin in that period to add some fresh legs. Thurles to a man, defended like their lives depended on it and didn’t give the home side an inch, driving them away from the try line time and time again, whether from lineouts or scrums, Thurles shut Mitchelstown out. As the pressure told, the home side attempted to go wide, the excellent line speed from Thurles forced a knock on and drew a close to what was a great battle between two sides in difficult playing conditions.

This result moves Thurles into second position in the table, just 5 points off leaders Crosshaven, who were defeated last weekend, allowing Thurles gain some ground. Thurles’ next fixture in the League is a home tie against Mallow this coming Sunday with a 2.30pm kick off, all support would be greatly appreciated for this important fixture.

The players & management would like to thank the large travelling support who made their way to Mitchelstown on Sunday, it was great to have all the voices on the side-line during the final minutes of the game, it was much appreciated.

Thurles Scorers: Eoghan O’Dwyer & Mark Cummins (1 Try Each), Aidan Dwyer (1 Conversion). Thurles Starting XV vs Mitchelstown: 1. Ger McCormack 2. Shane Nugent 3. Seamus Telford 4. Shane McHugh 5. Luke Kelly 6. Dwyane Stanley 7. Mark Cummins 8. Ciaran Ryan 9. Seamus Holohan 10. Aidan Dwyer 11. Darragh Sweeney 12. Eoghan O’Dwyer (c) 13. Conor O’Hagan 14. Kevin Maher 15. John Coman; Replacements Used: Stephen Kirwin & Shane Moloney

Thurles Women’s XV 22 – 5 Clonmel Women

The Thurles women’s rugby team moved into first place in the league following hardfought victory over local rivals Clonmel RFC.

On a dry but cold and windy Sunday afternoon Thurles had home advantage over Clonmel in what was to prove to be a hard fought victory for the home side over their high flying neighbours. For the opening quarter of the game Clonmel and Thurles were evenly matched in most facets of the game with Clonmel having the lions share of territory but failing to score with ball in hand.

The opening score came on 20 minutes when a miss timed pass from Clonmel was skillfully intercepted by the Thurles outside centre Aisling 0 Hagan who ran from just outside her own half of the field to score under the posts. The resulting conversion was slotted over by Scrum Half Christine Coffey bringing the score to 7-0.

From here Thurles increased the intensity becoming more dominant in the scrum against a formidable Clonmel front row that included the vastly experienced Wendy FitzPatrick and Mary Gorey. This intensity was rewarded when No 8 Ciara O Dwyer broke down the centre of the park with a terrific run and offloaded to Gemma Dunican to score out wide on the left hand side. The conversion was narrowly missed by Coffey leaving the score at 12-0 to Thurles.

Following the restart, Clonmel stepped up a gear forcing some ferocious defending by Thurles but there was no stopping Clonmel’s loose head prop going over from 1m to score what would be Clonmel’s only score of the game. 12-5 after 35 mins.

With the Thurles front row of Jean Ryan, Nicola Sweeney and Maria Woodlock becoming more dominant with each scrum, it wasn’t long before the Thurles winger Gemma Dunican was released to cross for her second try, 17-5.

The second half continued in much the same fashion as the first had ended. Clonmel continued to fight for every single ball, as usual but it was Thurles who had the final say with a wonderful team try from full back Hollie O Dwyer following a well-planned break from the back of the scrum by Ciara O Dwyer.

The conversion was just wide and the game finished at 22 – 5 to Thurles. All in all, the game was played in good spirits with The Pack and Ciara O Dwyer in particular having the upper hand for most of this highly entertaining contest.

Thurles: 15 Hollie O Dwyer, 14 Stephanie Moore, 13 Aisling O Hagan, 12 Niamh Coman, 11 Gemma Dunican. 10 Aisling Byrne 9 Christine Coffey, 1 Jean Ryan, 2 Nicola Sweeney, 3 Maria Woodlock, 4 Laura Carroll, 5 Joanne Harrison 6 Miriam Harrison 7 Jane Ryan, 8 Ciara O Dwyer Subs. 16 Grainne Fennelly. 17 Maria Whelan. 18 Catherine Kearney, 20 Megan Woodlock.

Clonmel: 15 Lisa Corcoran, 14 Lilian Kelly, 13 Aileen Sugrue, 12 Sarah Garrett, 11 Louise ryan, 10 Rachel Kelly. 9 Eileen Ryan, 1 Mary Gorey, 2 Catherine Hogan (introduced for Fitzpatrick, 3 Wendy Fitzpatrick, 4 Emily White, 5 Caroline Quirke, 6 Helen Quirke, 7 Louise Fitzgerald, 8 Kate O Loughlin.

Training continues every Wednesday and Friday at Thurles at 7:30. New players always welcome.

Newcastle West RFC

Notes by Martin O’Sullivan

Fixture – Munster Junior League Div 1

Sunday Feb 11th

Richmond v Newcastle West RFC in Richmond @ 2.30pm

Munster Junior League Div 1

Newcastle West RFC 20 – Kilfeacle – 21

A repeat of the thoroughly entertaining All Ireland Junior Cup Semi Final didn’t disappoint in terms of excitement and commitment, but the result went against us again. Both teams must be credited with showing huge commitment and playing fine rugby on one of the only good dry days we’ve got this winter. Kilfeacle opened the scoring with a converted intercept try and added a penalty on 23 minutes to extend the lead to 10-0. Sean Ivess opened the Newcastle West account with a brilliant individual try to reduce the lead to 10-5. Both teams exchanged penalties before Kilfeacle got over for their 2^nd try of the game right in the stroke of half time. The conversion was missed and the visitors went to the break with a commanding 18-8 lead. NCW dug in and imposed themselves on the game in the second half with both teams contributing to a brilliant and exciting second half. NCW reversed the tide of penalties in the second half and Sean Herlihy was flawless with the boot, adding 4 more three pointers in the second half. The last of those was with time almost up and put NCW into the lead 20-18 for the first time in the game. Kilfeacle were give one last chance to re-take the lead with a penalty at the ruck and they made no mistake. The Tipp side took the points in a great game and another superb advertisement for junior rugby.

Scorers Sean Ivess, 1 try. Sean Herlihy, 5 penalties

U18s (Notes by John Hennessy)

BANK OF IRELAND U18 MUNSTER CUP GROUP2

NEWCASTLE WEST/ESTUARY R.F.C-13 SKIBEREEN R.F.C – 24

Last Saturday we welcomed Skibbereen to our Kilelline grounds. This was a good game of rugby. We scored from a penalty in the first ten minutes. we then played most of the half under pressure Skibbereen got a penalty after 15 minutes and levelled it up 3 to 3. The next 20 mins saw Skibbereen run in two tries from good grubber kicks from their out half leaving it 17 to 3 at half time. At start of second half we pinned Skibbereen in their 22 but were twice penalised for holding on. Eventually we worked our way back into their 22 with our forwards holding ball before spreading it wide for Milan Hopp to touchdown the conversion was missed we felt we were back in it 17 to 8 but we got turned over quickly. Skibbereen ran in a try through good work of their own. They converted leaving it 24 to 8. We were to score a consolation try by Emmett Wrenn in the corner with 5 mins to go conversion was missed leaving the final score 24 to 13. squad as follows: Evan Donovan Paudie Flavin Ryan White Tiernan Mason Milan Hopp Michael Murphy Adam Flanagan Cormac Nash Charlie O Doherty Stephen Lyons Eamon Ambrose Jack Kenny David O Donovan Emmett Wrenn Liam Molyneaux Chris Walsh David Condon Cillian Fitzgerald Jack Grimes Michael Broderick Alan McGrath Oliver Lynch Daniel Normoyle Liam Mcloughlin.

U16s (Notes by Darren Normoyle)

Newcastle West/Estuary – 15 Castleisland – 5

On Sunday morning last out U16s played hosts to Castleisland. It was an absolutely perfect morning for rugby with the sun shining and the pitch firm. Having already played our opponents in a challenge match earlier on in the year, we knew that we were in for a tough afternoon. The match started out with us on the back foot after a mistake on the kickoff. We ultimately held Castleisland out and eventually cleared our lines. Good work from our forward led to us winning a penalty on the sideline. Andrew Mortell slotted over the ensuing penalty with a kick that Jonny Sexton himself would have been proud of. Unfortunately we once again failed to deal with a restart. A blocked down clearance handed possession back to Castleisland and after going through the phases and getting it wide they went over the line in the corner to leave the score 5-3. It would stay this score until half time.

In the second half, we really started to dominate but just could not finish off the chances we carved out for ourselves. Passes weren’t sticking and we could not turn our possession into points. But the lads never let their heads drop and kept at it. They were eventually rewarded when Jack Corkery touched down under the posts. Jack Kiely then added the 2 pointer to put us back in front. We never looked back again and kept our foot on the pedal. Strong carrying from David Walsh, Sean McMahon and Eddie Murphy got us up the pitch and Bobby Donovan got his name on the score sheet when he powered his way over the line. The game wasn’t over though and Castleisland came back and camped in our 22 for the last 10 minutes of the match. But for great defence, especially from Mike Cremin who tackled everything that came near him all day long, we could have had a nervous last couple of minutes. But we withstood the onslaught and the game finished 15-5.

Panel: Jack Kiely, Cormac Lyons, Sean McMahon, Eddie Murphy, Oliver Flanagan, Andrew Mortell, Ruadhan O’Connor, Bobby Donovan, Cormac Browne, Bryan Mortell, Eouenn Ferron, Darragh Lyons, Mike Cremin, Jack Corkery, Conor Power, David Walsh, Kevin O’Connell, Jack Duggan, Padraig Walsh, Chris O’Riordan.

U8s blitz in UL Bohs (Notes by John Hennessy)

We travelled to UL Bohs on Sunday morning with a few players missing through illness. But we travelled with 5 players we played 2 games and won both games all 5 players played well and thank you to UL Bohs for giving us a few of their players. The highlight of the day was Paul O’Connell yes the Irish rugby legend refereed our last game. Well done boys Tries were scored by Conor O Dwyer Paddy O Sullivan Rhian Fitzgerald. Great tackling from Jacob Magner and Ben O Regan preventing tries. Well done and thank you to UL Bohs for a great morning. Our squad was Paddy O Sullivan Corner O Dwyer Jacob Magner Rhian Fitzgerald Ben O Regan.

Membership

Membership for Adults, Players, Families and Youths is now payable on line. You can pay your membership by going to our website page www.Newcastlewestrfc.com or on our Facebook page Newcastle West Rugby Football Club on left side of face book page you will see Pay Membership click on this and it will take you to payment options for membership. You can contact us on Facebook or any committee member if you have any issues and we will be glad to help you out.

Lotto Results

LOTTO RESULTS: 02/02/18

NUMBERS: 16 21 22 23

NO WINNER OF JACKPOT: 3,400

LUCKY DIPS 30 EURO EACH

WINNER SELLER

UNA HAYDEN TONY HAYES

TOMMY GREANEY MICK LANE

MARY BYRNE SILVER DOLLAR

JOHN MURPHY LEES BAR

ALAYNE DOAK DONNELY TOM MULCAHY

JERRY LANE PAT COLLINS

PROMOTERS PRIZE: TOM CORBETT

NEXT DRAW: 09/02/18

VENUE: THE FORGE

Bruff RFC

Notes by Seamus Sheahan

UBL Round 13

It’s hard to believe that there’s 13 rounds gone already in this season’s league campaign. Bangor were the visitors to Kilballyowen last weekend and probably left Bruff knowing they were lucky to take 2 league points from a 10-10 draw. Both teams are in the hunt for promotion with Bangor sitting in 4^th place in the table with Bruff occupying 5^th spot. It is all very much to play for with only 6 points separating the top 6 teams and 5 games to go.

It was Bangor who took the spoils when the sides met in November coming out on top by 13 points to 11.

Bangor got off to a good start on Saturday going into a 0-3 lead after only a few minutes. Bruff hit the front after 15 minutes thanks to a try from winger Mark Cosgrove who picked up a grubber kick which beat the onrushing Bangor defence. These were to be the only 2 scores of the opening half with the score 5-3 to Bruff at half time.

Bangor boost the best defence in all 5 divisions of the UBL so it was no surprise that it was hard to break the try line of the Co Down outfit. It was the visitors who scored next scoring a converted try with 15 minutes remaining on the clock to make it 5-10. Bruff enjoyed a good spell of possession after the Bangor score but it wasn’t until the last play of the game that the equalising score came. Bruff won a penalty close to the line and elected to kick to the corner. The initial drive was sacked but the Bruff forwards did what Bruff forwards do best and regrouped to set up a further attack. The ball was eventually dotted down by veteran prop Dave Horan to make sure Bruff came away with a share of the spoils and 2 points that keeps them in touch with the front runners.

Next up is a trip to the capital to play 8^th place Seapoint on February 17^th.

Bruff Team: 15 Graham Whelan 14 Mikey O Grady 13 Jack O Grady 12 Sean Darcy 11 Mark Cosgrove 10 David O Grady 9 Cian Clifford 8 Sean Hartigan 7 John Clery 6 Maghnus Collins 5 Tadgh O Dwyer 4 Michael Cooke 3 Brendan Keogh 2 John Hogan 1 David Horan 16 Brian Bulfin 17 Paddy Clery 18 Conor Fitzpatrick 19 Tony Cahill 20 Eric Finn

Other Results: U13’s lost 13-17 to Young Munster

U16’s won 15-10 vs Carrick-Dungarvan