Club & School Notes: Week Ending 10.03.13

This week’s Club/School notes come from Carrigaline RFC, Kilfeacle & District RFC, Galvone National School, Young Munster RFC and Waterpark RFC.

CARRIGALINE RFC – Courtesy of Niall O'Shea

Carrigaline took their biggest prize to date last weekend when they captured the J2 South League in front of a large crowd in Mahon last weekend. Having lost the final to Dolphin last year, Carrigaline were determined to make their mark on the league this year. Carrigaline played with a strong wind in the first half but lost Sean Lucey to the sin bin after three minutes. Despite being a man down the Carrig defence held and the score was 0-0 after 20 minutes. Both packs were evenly matched and the first half was evenly contested with neither team dominating. Carrigaline put pressure on the Con line a few times but unforced errors and a strong Con defence prevented Carrigaline from scoring. The breakthrough came on the stroke of half time when John Tait scored after several phases on the line. Sean Lucey added the conversion and Carrigaline took a 7-0 lead into the second half.

Both teams were well supported with supporters both young and old braving the early morning chill to cheer on their respective teams. Mahon is always an exposed and Con had the advantage of the wind in the second half Con played played for territory with the long ball, but Tony O’Keeffe, Sean Lucey and Ciaran O’Shea secured almost every ball for Carrigaline and made yards each time they ran. Despite several injuries, the Carrigaline squad defended with pride and held the line in the third quarter, turning over the ball from several Con attacks. As the game entered the final ten minutes the Carrigaline pack dominated but were unlucky not to score after several attempts from the Con five metre line. After several attacks they were happy to take three points from a penalty to put the game out of reach of Cork Con.
The game finished 10-0 to Carrigaline, with the small club recording their first league title in 19 years competing in Munster Branch competitions. Five of the current players were there when Carrigaline appeared in their first final in 2003. Back then the club had only the bare bones of one adult team Fast forward a decade and Carrigaine now boasts almost 200 mini and age grade players, along with two adult teams. And what about the five players from 2003, well they now have four trophies to their name, and a few more to work towards before the end of the season.

Carrigaliine RFC Squad

GALVONE NATIONAL SCHOOL

Win Heineken Cup Tickets with Galvone N.S.

Galvone N.S. in association with Munster Rugby are holding a charity raffle to raise much needed funds. The prize is two tickets to the Heineken Cup Quarter Final Harlequins v Munster on Sunday 7th April 2013.

Prize includes: Fly with the team – 4 star accommodation – match transfers – airport transfers and taxes.

Tickets Cost €;5 each

Draw takes place at 12.30pm on Tuesday 19th Match 2013.

Tickets available from:

Fennessys – 31 William Street, Limerick.
Spotted Dog – O’Donogue Ave., Limerick.
Patsy Nicholas Bar – 5 Gerald Griffin Street, Limerick.
WJ Souths, 4 Quinlan St., Limerick.
Claughaun Bar, Dublin Road, Limerick.
Limerick Sports Store, William Street, Limerick.
Morrisons Bar, Ballysimon Road, Limerick.
Flannerys Bar, 17 Upper Denmark Street, Limerick.
Galvone NS, Kennedy Park, Limerick.

Pupils from Galvone National Schools pictured with Munster players Marcus Horan and Niall Ronan

KILFEACLE & DISTRICT RFC – Couresy of Denis Wade, PRO

Kilfeacle's lose to Old Christians

Old Christians RFC 22
Kilfeacle and District RFC 20

Way back in August, most observers of Munster Junior rugby probably would not have predicted that at this stage of the season Kilfeacle and District would be travelling to Old Christians in the league with a realistic chance of a top four finish. Kilfeacle and District RFC may not be the biggest club in the league, we may not have the longest history or the resources and membership that other clubs have but what “the little club on the hill” does have is a fantastic sense of family. We are delighted with the endeavours and achievements of our community-based club however, such achievements are only achieved through tireless never ending endeavour by many volunteers behind the scenes none more so than the management and backroom staff of the firsts and seconds teams. Week after week the players receive the plaudits for their efforts and rightly so. However too often we leave it unsaid, soon behalf of the committee and everyone involved in Kilfeacle and District RFC, I would like to congratulate everyone involved and say that we appreciate that it is because of their skills and endeavour that the teams are performing in the manner in which they are.

Travelling to Old Christians is never an easy task and as ever we entered this match knowing that if we didn’t perform well in all facets that we would not come away with the desired result. This game was proving to be an even bigger challenge because of selection concerns, with a large number of our first team regulars ruled out for many different and varying reasons. The game started in bright, dry cold conditions with a strong breeze favouring the home side in the first half. Kilfeacle’s forwards consisting of Simon Barry, Ricky Barry, Diarmuid O’Donnell, Keith Kearns, Ger Luby (Pack Leader), John Doyle, Ricky Witney, Brian Leahy, Jack Sullivan, Sean McGrath, and Alan O’Mahony (returning from a vigorous and demanding training camp in Wales, where he impressed under lights) struggled as a unit in the early stages of the game because of so many positional and personnel changes. Immediately the home team took the game to the visitors. Old Christian’s dominance presented the opportunity of the first score of the game a penalty after six minutes but the attempt missed the mark. It wasn’t long however before Old Christians opened the scoring with a well worked try after eight minutes which they were unlucky not to convert. Kilfeacle started to come more and more into the game and on the fifteen minute mark leveled the score when Diarmuid O’Donnell finished a fine team move by touching down in the corner. Kilfeacle now enjoyed a spell of concerted pressure and the backs, J.J. Cooney, Wallace Burke, Diarmuid Carr, Pat Ryan, Charles Walshe, Shane Morrissey and Bernard Callaghan followed up ten minutes later with a try scored by Shane Morrissey which Wallace Burke was unlucky not to convert. Old Christians came back into contention with a converted try in the dying seconds of the first half, leaving the score 15-6 at the interval in favour of the home side. Old Christians didn’t lose any impetus because of the half time break and looked the better team for the first twenty minutes of the second half. However it took them 18 minutes before they added a penalty which they followed eight minutes later with another converted try which increased their lead to 22 points to 10. To the travelling fans relief Kilfeacle were finishing the better of the two. The lineout which, up to now, had misfired was working well and Kilfeacle were marginally on top in the scrums. This meant that Kilfeacle were retaining the ball better which was reflected when Charles Walshe scored a try which was not converted. Talk amongst the travelling supporters was of a bonus point and a draw if the fourth try came. The fourth try came when Diarmuid Carr finished in the corner and when Shane Morrissey hit the upright with the conversion attempt everyone knew that it wasn’t Kilfeacle and District’s day however they had done enough to secure 3rd place in the league. A fantastic result considering how the year had started.

“This has been, so far, a great season, I don’t think we have exceeded our expectations because we have always known what we are capable of,” first team coach James Hallissey said. “We have been more consistent throughout the whole season, which is something we haven’t previously done. We have done well as a squad to get where we are. All season, we’ve been working on skills, fitness and working as a team, that’s something that we really had to work at and the squad to a man has put the effort in. We haven’t been perfect at it all season but we are definitely moving in the right direction. But, we’ve been working in those situations and still communicating and we know that if we stick together as a team we are capable to step up to any challenge. We wish Old Christians the best for the rest of the season and thank them for their hospitality on the day.”

Our first team have next week off while we wait to see who our opponents will be in the Munster Junior Cup. The team hope that their supporters will continue to come along to Morrissey Park and support the “Boys in Blue”.

Juvenile Training Continues

Both mini and youth Rugby training continues at Morrissey Park, (the Hill), in Kilfeacle every Friday at 19.00hrs.With a primary focus on fun, safety, learning the skills and improving the all-important agility, balance and co-ordination of each child we welcome back our regular players and we extend a warm welcome to any new players who would like to come and play for the Blues. The underages of Kilfeacle have experienced quite a degree of success over the past number of years and it is envisaged this year will be no different. Children from the ages of 6 and upwards are most welcome and importantly parents of the children are encouraged to come to the sessions, meet the coaches of each of the grades, meet the other parents and generally integrate within the groups. So see you all in Kilfeacle every Friday at 7.

WATERPARK RFC

Waterpark RFC would like to congratulate their U15 team, winners of the East Munster U15 League.

YOUNG MUNSTER RFC – Courtesy of Olivia O’Sullivan, PRO

League leaders Lansdowne continue to dominate

Lansdowne exacted revenge for their away defeat to Young Munster in December with a bonus point success for the league leaders on the back pitch at the Aviva Stadium last weekend.

27-3 down at the break, our only score was from a Shane O’Leary penalty as the home side racked up the tries to secure the bonus point early in the second half. Consolation tries for Young Munster came from Darragh O’Neill and Hugh McGrath and were both converted by Mike Prendergast leaving the final score 37-17.

At 53 points, Lansdowne are now 14 points ahead of second place Clontarf with 39 points, and Garryowen on 36, with Young Munster in fourth on 33 points.

Final score: Lansdowne 37 – Young Munster 17

Young Munster hope to return to winning ways this weekend after two tough away trips to Dublin. We travel to Dolphin this Saturday for the January refixed match that currently sees the sides with a game in hand on the league table.

Both sides will be eager to take the points with Young Munster still pushing to climb position, and Dolphin, currently in seventh position in the league table, trying to further widen the gap between them and the three sides at the bottom.

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Controversial exit from Munster Junior Cup

Young Munster played Garryowen in Dooradoyle on Sunday for the Munster Junior Cup and both teams were enjoying a closely-fought encounter with Young Munster just two points ahead at half-time on 14-12. Both Young Munster’s tries coming from Derry O’Connor on the wing and the conversion by Shane O’Leary.

Garryowen went ahead 18-14 with two penalties before Shane O’Leary got one back for the visitors after the ref issued a yellow card to Garryowen for playing the ball on the ground. The next score came from the outhalf again, as O’Leary used his quick feet to get through the Garryowen defence and run in a try under the posts which he duly converted. Young Munster were up 24-18 with the clock on countdown as the ref sent one of our players to the sin bin. The following minutes saw two further yellow cards issued to the visitors, on recommendations from the sideline official on the home side to the referee, who proceeded to award Garryowen a penalty try from the same series of offences giving Garryowen the lead. Young Munster tried a late rally in the dying minutes as Shane O’Leary attempted a drop goal under pressure but the kick was just right of the posts and the final whistle sounded to end the game 25-24.

Final score: Garryowen 25 – Young Munster 24

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Fixtures:

Saturday 9th March

AIL Div 1A: Dolphin v Young Munster, 2.30pm Musgrave Park

U21 SW Conference: Young Munster v UCC, 2.30pm Tom Clifford Park
****kick off for U21 game may change due to Irish match****

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Mickey Hehir R.I.P.
by Johnny Brennan

The recent death of Michael Hehir, after a short illness, ended a long association with Young Munster RFC. Born in 1939, he spent most of his life in the construction business. He became involved in the club in his early days and held various positions such as treasurer. Many weekends he could be seen in Greenfields always ready to help out with pitch and grounds and offer his vast experience with any work to be done assisted by his right man Pat ‘the Banker’ Flynn. He also often drove senior players to Galway, Cork, and Dublin. He will be sadly missed at Greenfields. To his family we extend our deepest condolences. RIP.

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Clubhouse open Sundays and available for functions

The clubhouse at Tom Clifford Park is open every Sunday with all pints just €;3.50. To enquire about having functions in the clubhouse contact Frank Corr 087-2901015.

Ladies Night

On Friday 22nd March, a Ladies Night will take place in the Young Munster Pavilion, for a ladies-only night of fun and frolics! Music with DJ John Crofton, raffle with lots of spot prizes. Doors 8.30pm, limited tickets €;10 available from Anne Marie 086-1599018.

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Underage Results Sunday 3rd March

U13 Cup: UL/Bohs 15 Young Munster 10

U17 Cup: Young Munster 28 Thomond 3

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Underage Fixtures Sunday 10th March

U14 Cup: Old Crescent v Young Munster, Rosbrien time tbc