Immaculate Ennis Shade Epic U18 Cup Decider

The U18 Cup final brought together two teams either side of the Shannon, as Ennis played the nominated home team against Garryowen, and in a stunning game the Clare outfit held on for a 27-26 victory to win the Bank of Ireland Munster U18 Cup

Ennis opened the scoring early with a David Mescall penalty before at the other end Garryowen captain Harry Byrne made it level at three apiece. The sides traded in kicks early on, Mescall adding a second to restore Ennis’ initial three-point lead.

From there the Clare side began to exert their pressure, and were camped on the Garryowen line before centre Ben Moloney snuck in to intercept, and sprinted the length of the famous Limerick ground to hand Garryowen their first try.

The second try may not have been as spectacular, but proved to be just as important as the Limerick side spread the ball out wide before hooker Derry Gleeson stretched out in the corner, however Byrne was unable to finish a difficult conversion.

That left the scores 13-6 at half-time, added to just beyond the interval by Harry Byrne’s fine penalty from just inside the Ennis half, the ball having already been blown off he kept his nerve to reset and strike his side into a 10 point lead.

Ennis had been threatening previously in the game, and after Ikem Ugwueru sucked in two defenders before playing in David McNamara who showed fine feet to round the Garryowen defence and touch down in the corner, Mescall slotting a fantastic conversion from the sideline.

The Dooradoyle outfit regained their composure however, and the ever-dangerous Gleeson showed his speed by blitzing through a chink in the Ennis armour and sliding in under the posts to allow Byrne the easy conversion and cancel out the earlier Ennis score.

This run has been a special one for Ennis, and they refused to give up. They were held up on the line but from the resulting scrum an opportunistic Alan Culligan took advantage of a napping Garryowen defence to nip in over the line, Mescall with the conversion and we were back to a three point gap.

That was doubled soon after as the scores poured in, Byrne with yet another penalty, his third, to make it 26-20 heading down the stretch. A frenzied close to a fantastic afternoon’s rugby saw Ennis push for a go-ahead try, and a fantastic effort it was when it arrived.

The ball went out wide to McNamara, who showed brilliant intuition to grubber off his right foot as he was being pushed out into touch, collected by scum-half Zack Whelehan to touch down under the posts, and give Mescall a comfortable conversion to complete, handing the Clare side a one-point lead.

Garryowen have been a constant danger though, and could have retaken the lead again soon after, but from a difficult angle Byrne could only put his penalty attempt across the posts and wide.

The young man, who had played so well throughout the final was tasked on two occasions to put his team ahead, but despite two sweet strikes both kicks tailed away to the left, and Ennis held out to win a historic title.