Club Notes: Week Ending 13.11.16

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

Old Crescen RFC Club Notes
Courtesy of Frank Larkin

Old Crescent U12s enjoy great day out at Mini Rugby Festival in Bruff
Old Crescent U12s had a great day out at the James Keating Mini Rugby Festival on the October Bank Holiday Monday in Bruff. Old Crescent entered two equally balanced sides with 34 kids from the club taking part. Old Crescent Blues got to the semi final of the Shield, while Old Crescent Whites went on to beat St Mary’s in the final of the Plate.

Old Crescent players and coaches at the Festival in Bruff above, at back l-r, Billy Farrell, Caimin Dolphin, Michael Keating, Glen McLoughlin, John Hassett, John McLoughlin, and Colum Carr. Middle l-r, Robert Farrell, Oran Flanagan, Donal Kenny, James Keating, Gearoid Lowery, and Brian Hassett. Front l-r, James Dolphin, Ben Touhy, Hugh Maher, Billy Kelleher, and Ben Flanagan.

Newcastle West RFC Notes
Courtesy of Martin O'Sullivan

Munster Junior League Division 1: Newcastle West 29-10 Old Christians
A tougher afternoon than the score line suggests on Sunday last in Cullinagh. Old Christians proved a tough nut to crack hence the frustrating lack of a winning bonus point. The visitors' defence was excellent and limited us to 2 tries but they were on the wrong side of the refs whistle for penalties that gave us some comfort on the scoreboard. Old Christians took the lead with a penalty in the opening minutes but once Newcastle West got to grips with the contest we looked like we could take the win.

Two Sean Herlihy penalties gave us a 6-3 lead on 21 minutes before Niall Kennedy finished off a searing break and excellent kick ahead by Sean Neville. Sean added the bonus and kicked another penalty before the break to leave it 16-3 and give us some breathing space. It was however short lived after the half time water as Old Christians ran in their own converted try to bring it back to a once score game. Again discipline deserted the Cork side and they gave us 2 penalty chances that Sean Herlihy pinged over from good distances. With the score 22-10 and the game going into the final minutes, Tommy Kelliher made the most of a defensive error and went in for the try. Sean’s conversion was the last score of the game Old Christians deserve the credit for keeping us out on a few occasions. A valuable win and Cullinagh is again becoming a tough place for visiting teams.
Scorers: Niall Kennedy, Tommy Kelliher 1 try each. Sean Herlihy 5 penalties & 2 conversions.
Panel: Sean Ivess, Niall Kennedy, Sean Neville, Cian Hinchy, Michael O’Leary, Tom Kelliher, Sean Herlihy, Shane Magner, Sean Corbett, Alan O’Riordan Padraig Fogarty, Gerald Griffin, Hayden Dillon, Brain O’Doherty, Kealan Head, Eoin Sheridan Miller, James Guinea, Sean Murphy, Declan Moloney, James Corbett, Keith Ryan,

U18s: Newcastle West/Estuary RFC 45-3 Kilfeacle RFC
Last Sunday in Cullinagh we hosted a Kilfeacle team that were only a shadow of their former glory and came away with a comprehensive victory.

NCW/E kicked off and led by Captain John Forde the pack competed fiercely. On 10 minutes after some good driving by Donncha Scanlon and John Walsh, Conor Brosnan broke through a gap in the line and made 15 yards to score our first try. Unconverted. On 20 minutes the forwards had sucked in the cover in the centre of the field and good line running by Liam Tierney, David Donovan, and finally John McCoy was the one to touch down. The kick was well converted by Charlie O’Doherty from near the line. Just 3 minutes later Adam Flannagan was over the line again but got held up. On 32 minutes John Forde made a huge break before offloading to Conor Brosnan who powered through for his second try. Unconverted. On the stroke of half time Kilfeacle got on the scoreboard with a well taken penalty. Patrick Cremin, Dawid Marcinjak and Michael Murphy in the pack dug out a lot of hard yards and we were confident going onto the second half.

We are lucky to have a good panel and 8 changes were made during for the second period. Nevertheless it only took 10 minutes before Conor Brosnan completed his hat trick of tries for the afternoon. Converted by Charlie O’Doherty. On 16 minutes Evan Donovan crashed over from close in to take a good try converted by Charlie O’Doherty. Stephen Lyons chased down a box trick from our scrum half and tackled the opposition before he could make ground. Cormac Nash and Ryan White were running very good support lines. Jack Kelly played a very solid game to steady up the back line. With the game well under control Adam Flanagan and Liam Tierney returned us two tries. Both converted by Charlie O’Doherty.

We are now at the business end of the conference with an away game to Bruff in Killballyowen on Sunday 13th November. Training important Wednesday 7.30pm.

Team: Donncha Scanlon, John Forde (captain), Conor Brosnan, Patrick Cremin, Dawid Marcinjak, John Walsh, Adam Flannagan, Michael Murphy, Charlie O’Doherty, Stephen Lyons, Stephen Hennessy, Liam Tierney, Eamon Ambrose, David O’Donovan, John McCoy, Padraig Flavin, David Condon, Evan Donovan, Cormac Nash, Ryan White, Jack Kelly, Liam McSweeney, Emmett Wrenn.

U13s: Newcastle West/Estuary 26-17 Kilfeacle RFC
The U13s travelled the long journey to our good friends Kilfeacle on Sunday for a friendly match. It was a great morning for a game and we travelled with a 23 strong squad. The boys were slow to start after the long journey and after a couple of simple handling errors the home team found themselves 12-0 up. This and a few good words from the coaches and supporters seemed to kick the boys into action! The forwards started to dominate and link to the backs well. After a lovely pick up from the back of our scrum Alan Finnegan kicked ahead of himself only to collect in the corner and power over before finishing under the posts. John Whelan added the conversion. The boys continued to dominate in all positions and were held up twice over the line. Kilfeacle started to come back in the game and after a good passage of play their outside centre powered through our lines to score under the posts for a converted try. Half-time 19-7 to the home team.

Some changes were made and Newcastle West came out with all guns blazing! Pressure was put on the home team straight away with some tough attack and defence especially from JJ Condon and Aaron Neville who were giving there all. After a long period of being on top Alan broke their lines again before linking with Emmet Rigter who crossed the line in the corner for try no 2. Newcastle West kept up the pressure again crossing the line to be held up. And then against the run of play and after an unforced error we conceded another converted try. This did nothing to dampen the boys spirits who from the kick off took it straight back to them! Long periods of us being in Kilfeacle's 22 lead to a spirited last five minutes of constant pressure on the oppositions try line which saw Alan come up short, to be followed up by James Lyons just missing the try line but setting up the ruck which Paul Begley capitalised on to snatch the ball and scurry across the line!! Final score 26-17. Well done boys the performance wasn't reflected in the score and all your hard work is starting to show!!! Tries: Alan Finnegan, Emmet Rigter, Paul Begley cons: John Whelan 1

Training for all Mini Rugby is each Sunday in Kilelline 10:30 am to 11:30 am.

Please continue to support all out teams in their Sunday fixtures and remember that memberships are still available from your Coaches or in Kilelline on Sundays. Feel free to call up on Sunday morning for a cup of tea/coffee/hot chocolate and browse in our Club shop.