Club Notes

This week’s Club Notes come from Thurles RFC and Newcastle West RFC.

Thurles RFC Notes

Courtesy of Brian Scanlon

With none of our senior teams having games last weekend, it was the turn of the senior players of the future to take centre stage and fly the black and white flag for Thurles Rugby Club. First up we’re the U16 Boys who were away to Cashel

Munster Club U16 League

Thurles 24 – 10 Cashel

Thurles U16’s played Cashel in a local derby in the Munster Club U16 league Conference 5 this Sunday. This was always going to be a very competitive game and so it proved. Cashel were first out of the block when their strong running full back James O’Sullivan left a number of Thurles tacklers floundering down town side of the pitch in Thurles only to be hauled down 15 metres short by tremendous covering tackle by Armand Schoemman. The danger wasn’t fully averted as from an ensuing rucks Cashel looked to go wide but Ed Connolly shooting up juggled and held the ball to put Thurles on the counter attack and clear their lines. After a couple of phases Thurles won a penalty 20 metres from the Cashel. A simple rehearsed tap move saw John Shaw crash through the Cashel defence for the first score of the game. Ed Connolly added the two extra points with a sweetly struck conversion into the teeth of a strong breeze from well out on the left.

The first half swayed back and forth with both teams having opportunities. Thurles through their forwards worked a great field position through a number of phases of recycling only to turnover under the Cashel posts. The Cashel backs made a number of breaks but the Thurles last defence was resolute, with Darragh McCahey pulling off a great tackle on his opposite number. Cashel centre Jamie Duncan made a strong break from his own 10m line through the home defence but Armand Schoemann made of a gap of 10 metres to chase him down 5 metres short and turnover for Thurles. The half ended with Thurles holding a slender 7 to nil narrow advantage.

Thurles turned over with a strong breeze at their backs kicking intelligently to keep Cashel hemmed in their own half but it took some 15 minutes of the second half before Thurles registered another score. Hard won field position saw Darragh Kelly held up over the line after a barrelling run. From the ensuing scrum Sam Quinlan picked from number eight and dotted down from 5 metres out.

Ed Connolly again landed the conversion superbly judging the wind to get Thurles out to 14. Cashel responded almost immediately winning a penalty close in and scoring from a quick tap. 14 to 5 for Thurles, Cashel crucially missed the conversion giving Thurles a two score advantage going into the last quarter. Thurles scored next, after putting Cashel under pressure in their own 20 metre area and a loose clearance was fielded by Darragh McCahey who beat a number of defenders to score in the left corner at the club house end to make it 19 to 5. Again Cashel responded quickly and were in again for their second to leave the score 19 to 10 with 5 minutes to go. Thurles from a good kick off managed to put pressure on Cashel in their own 22 turning over a lineout.

The ball was put through the hands and after centre Owen Byrne cut initially sucking in the Cashel cover, a quick recycle through Connolly to McCahey saw him pick up his second via a nice handoff and sprint in from 10 metres for the final act of the game. A great performance by all 18 players who togged out for Thurles was underpinned by a very good defensive display. This allied with good control through phases and solid set piece were the foundations of the win.

Thurles U18 Boys

Thurles 23 – 3.Cashel Fethard

Last Sunday saw Thurles play their second local derby of the weekend, when they travelled to Cashel to take on a combined Cashel Fethard side.

The visitors dominated from the get go with an early penalty kicked over from the boot of Paddy McGrath. Cashel Fethard soon replied with a penalty levelling the sides. Thurles from the kick off put a lot of pressure on the home side who were forced to concede a second penalty which Paddy duly kicked. The Thurles defence was very strong and this forced Cashel Fethard to make mistakes on the day. Dylan Molumby scored a great try from some good forward work and slick hands out across the line to make it 11 – 3 at half time.

The second half started with Cashel Fethard having a lot of possession but Thurles defence continued to be solid . With a good turn over ball from Thurles and some good ball handling skills, Brian O Connell got in in the corner to bring the score to 16-3. There was a lot of dominance from Thurles in the last 15 minutes and out of this came a try for Thurles 1st centre Shane Stapleton in the last play of the game which Paddy McGrath also converted. There were a lot of good performances on the day from Ciaran Murphy Shane Stapleton George Stapleton & Brian O Connell. Man of the match was Ciaran Murphy for his tireless work in defence. Well done everyone.

Newcastle West RFC Notes

Courtesy of Martin O’Sullivan

All Ireland Junior Cup Semi-Final Here We Come

Enniskillen – 13 Newcastle West RFC – 28

By Tim Mulcahy

It may seem like a cliché at this stage but a new piece of history was added to the club on last Saturday when we won the quarter final of the All-Ireland Junior Cup away to Enniskillen, and now prepare for a semi-final on the 9th of December. We departed home on Friday afternoon and overnighted in Cootehill before pushing on for Enniskillen on Saturday morning with a full healthy squad of players.

On arrival at the field the players were delighted and amazed to see the large numbers of supporters who had travelled, in fact it was clearly obvious that we had more supporters than the home side. With Aidan O’Halloran and Declan Edwards running the warmup it was clear that the boys were up for this game and we opened the scoring after eight minutes with a penalty from Sean Herlihy. It was a very tough game up front but Shane Magner, Darragh Joyce and Allan O’Riordan in the front row were not taking a step back from this well organised Enniskillen eight. The veteran Dave Foley got a try in the fifteenth minute from a well worked move which saw him appear again on the wing.0-8 and all going well. Enniskillen responded with a penalty and were coming more into the game.

An attack initiated from a great lineout take by Gerald Griffin saw the ball moved along the right wing and phase after phase before Sean Herlihy laid on a fantastic cross filed kick to see Stephen Kelly touch down in the corner which was converted by Sean .Half-time 3-15.

A change of out-half by Enniskillen saw a different team come out for the next forty minutes and they were rewarded with an unconverted try early in the second half. A number of tactical substitutions were now made with James Kelly, Darra O’Shea & Sean Ivess introduced to give a break to Donal O’Sullivan, Alan O Riordan and Damian Kelly, This created a new momentum and carry-ball became the instruction from the line, an infringement in the scrum forced by excellent pressure from Darragh O’Shea and Sean Herlihy again got the three pointer. James Kelly got a try which Sean Converted and this increased the lead to 8-25

But Enniskillen responded and a high tackle close to our line saw them rewarded with a penalty and a yellow card to us meant ten minutes with only fourteen players. With Martin in the bin the opposition got a try and it was back to the wall time with the score at 13-25.There was a lot of pressure on at this stage with the opposition throwing everything at us and our exit strategies were not working from inside our own twenty two until a huge kick from Darragh Treacy saw the ball kick seventy yards down field and move the game to there half, Sean Herlihy again had the last say when he kicked a long range penalty to put the game out of reach.

Thank you to all the people who made the trip up it was fantastic to have you all there on a day where the Holy Grail moved one step closer.

The semi-final draw has put us on the road again, this time away to Kilfeacle on Saturday December 9th

Newcastle West RFC Squad

Tommy Kelleher Capt. Shane Magner, Darragh O’Shea, Sean Corbett, Darragh Joyce, Damian Kelly, Donal O’Sullivan, Brian O’Doherty, Allan O’Riordan, Dave Foley, Gerald Griffin, Sean Herlihy, Stephen Kelly, James Kelly, Brian O’Sullivan, Sean Murphy, Sean Ivess, Darragh Treacy, Darren Normoyle, Martin Mullane, Keelan Headd, Darra Fox, Jason Woulfe, Alan Roche, Niall Kennedy,

Newcastle West scorers Dave Foley Try, James Kelly Try, Stephen Kelly Try, Sean Herlihy, Sean Herlihy 3 Penalties & 2 Conversions

U18 Notes (by John Hennessy)

Bank of Ireland Munster Cup Conference 2

Newcastle West/Estuary Rfc – 48 Tralee Rfc – 14

On last Sunday Afternoon at 12.30 the Town of the Roses took on the Valley of the wild boars. It was a sunny afternoon, beautiful rugby weather a slight with wind blowing from the town end of Kilelline Grounds. Tralee were coming into this game after a great win we however coming into this game of a hard fought draw. So we were expecting an epic clash between two good teams. It was a good game we kicked off and Tralee looked and were anxious knocking on from the resulting kick off. Our Scrum was strong and steady setting the platform for a good backline move with quick ball out through the backline with Daniel Normoyle sending Emmet Wrenn over in the corner for the Emmets first try the conversion was missed barely dropping under into the wind.

Tralee jitters were showing the outhalf over kicked his restart to dead ball line. From the resulting Scrum good work by Jack Kenny saw us on the front foot with David O’Donovan getting the off load and he in turn off loading to Adam Flanagan. who off loaded to Paudie Flavin Before Killian Fitzgerald dived over for our second try and again the conversion just narrowly sailed wide leaving us 10 – 0 up with 8 minutes gone. We were to come under a small amount of pressure from the next kick off with Tralee gaining a penalty for holding on but again good work by Cormac Nash in the lineout saw us regain possession and move forward the game ebbed and flowed. Michael Murphy broke through their defence with a precision pass from Kieran Carmody who had a great game at scrum half. Onto Michael’s shoulder came Milan Hopp allowing the hard working Ryan white who finished off the great work and movement in the corner the try was converted and we led 17 to 0 with 5 minutes left in the half.

Again the game ebbed and flowed with each time trying to control the ball David O Donovan got injured with 3 minutes left in the half was replaced by Turlough O’Connor. We worked our way back up to their half of the field the instruction from side-line was put next ball out of play as time was up. But alas The boys didn’t listen and Emmet Wrenn got his second try on the stroke of half time and Stephen converted this try with the aid of the up-right leaving us 24 to 0 in front. The talk about at half time was to go out and be even more clinical unfortunately we started the second half a little laid back and Tralee got their first try under our posts with 5 minutes gone in second half leaving the score 24 to 7.

We made a few changes Milan Hopp was replaced by Tom Murphy, Michael Murphy was replaced by David Massey and Paudie Flavin Was replaced by Christopher Walsh. We went through a lull in our game Tralee seemed to be in the ascendency at this point. However came one of two of great tries scored today a great pass from Eamon Ambrose to Stephen Lyons who would made the great man Zebo proud a flick of the legs a shimmy of the hips and he took off like a gazelle been chased by a lioness but he was not for catching running from our own ten meter line to touchdown near the posts and converted the try himself leaving us 31 to 7 in front.

We again made changes with Oliver Lynch replacing Jack Kenny after the latter was like a wrecking ball knocking guys on their backside all over the place, I lost count after 4 word is was 6 but I cannot confirm same. Killian Collins replaced Daniel Normoyle and Liam Mcloughlin replaced Emmet Wrenn with 15 minutes to go. Alan McGrath replaced Kieran Carmody. As the game restarted a great carry by Oliver lynch helped by Liam Mcloughlin ball was recycled well and Alan McGrath giving a good pass out to his forwards Cormac Nash broke through their defence and off loaded to David Massey who was tackled near their 22 offloaded back to Cormac Nash before Cormac passed back inside to Turlough O Connor the try was converted and we led 36 to 7.

From the kick off we broke back into their half with great forward play of a good backs move saw us back on their goal line where Evan Donovan broke a two man tackle to touch down near the post we missed the resulting conversion. From the next kick off we went back into attack with a good carry by David Condon and assisted by Christopher Walsh before Killian Collins broke down the wing and passed inside to Turlough O Connor who offloaded to Alan McGrath who off loaded to Tom Murphy who touch down near the posts we converted the try leaving us 48 to 14 in front with minutes remaining.

Tralee we on the attack from the resulting kick off and got a penalty for our players coming in from the side in total in last 5 minutes they got 6 penalties before they touched down under the posts and converted the try at the final whistle. Leaving the Score 48 to 14. This was a great win for the boys taking out the frustration of the draw on what seemed a confused and bewildered Tralee side who we have had great battles with over the years.

We would like to Wish Tralee the best of luck in the rest of the competition. For us was a job very well done with plays and plan executed to precision. We still not the completed side but this is very close to it. We would again like to thank all the parents for the lovely food supplied for both teams after the game. We also like to congratulate our J1 counterparts who won their Quarter final in Enniskillen yesterday going into an All-Ireland Junior Cup Semi Final for the first time in our history. Our Squad on Sunday was as follows:

Killian Fitzgerald Paudie Flavin Evan Donovan Cormac Nash Eamon Ambrose Michael Murphy Adam Flanagan(C) Ryan White Kieran Carmody Stephen Lyons Milan Hopp Jack Kenny David O Donovan Emmet Wrenn Daniel Normoyle Christopher Walsh David Condon Alan McGrath Turlough O Connor David Massy Oliver lynch Killian Collins Tom Murphy Liam Mcloughlin Conor Finucane

U16 Notes (by Darren Normoyle)

Nenagh Ormond – 27 Newcastle West/Estuary – 17

It was a disappointing trip to Tipperary for our under 16s this past Sunday as we came up short against a strong Nenagh Ormond team. It was the second meeting between the two sides this season so there was a familiarity between the sides that made for an intriguing contest. We got out to a good early lead following tries from Conor Power and Andrew Mortell, both of which were set up by the impressive Jack Corkery. Unfortunately we couldn’t hold our lead and following two Nenagh tries the half time score was 10-10.

We then went down 17-10 shortly after the break. But we pegged them back almost immediately when Sean McMahon finished off a sublime team break. With the game in the balance it was Nenagh who broke the deadlock with a sloppy try to concede from our point of view. This put us in a 22-17 hole and with time ticking by and us throwing everything to try and get the winning score, Nenagh hit us on the break to leave to score line not reflecting the difference between the teams.

We have three big games coming up in the next month:

26th Nov vs Newport (Newcastle West)

3rd Dec vs Kilrush (Shanagolden)

10th Dec vs Ennis (Ennis)

Panel: Bobby Donovan, Cormac Browne, David Walsh, Darragh Lyons, E’ouenn Ferron, Mike Cremin, Jack Corkery, Conor Power, Ruadhan O’Connor, Aaron Heffernan, Jack Duggan, Andrew Mortell, Sean McMahon, Cormac Lyons, Jack Kiely, Oliver Flanagan, Padraig Walsh, Kevin O’Connell, Chris O’Riordan, Jason Corbett, Conor Stack

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

Our lotto draw takes place every Friday night. It’s our primary club fundraiser and tickets are available from various outlets and promotors. Tickets are €2.00 or 3 for €5.00.

Results from Friday November 10th

NO WINNER

NUMBERS: 10, 16, 17, 23

LUCKY DIP €30.00:

Winner Seller

Joe Healy Joe Healy

Gerard Leahy John Hennessy

Peter Shelby Killeline Shop

Padraig Corbett Tom Corbett

Breda White Central Bar

Christina Mackessy Killeline shop

PROMOTERS PRIZE: Pat Collins

Next week’s draw will be in Cronins Bar on Friday 17th November. The jackpot stands at €2,300