Provincial Rugby Roundup

The line-up for the Junior Clubs Finals day on the 13^th March was completed with both semi-finals in the Junior Clubs Challenge Cup and Shield being decided this weekend.

The Clubs Challenge Cup will be between Clanwilliam and Newcastle West, the Shield Final will see St. Mary’s play Thurles and in the Martin O’Sullivan Cup, Bantry Bay will face Youghal. Kick off times will be confirmed later.

The big talking point was Newcastle West’s 36-0 away win at Kilfeacle, where the home side were totally out played. Darragh Fox, John Walsh, Sean Herlihy and Cian Mulcahy scored tries for the winners and Charlie O’Doherty kicked four penalties and two conversions.

Clanwilliam booked their place in the decider with a 16-7 home win over Mallow. Darragh Crowe scored a try for Clanwilliam and Niall Leahy kicked a conversion and a penalty. Owen Glynn replied with a try for Mallow which Dave O’Sullivan converted.

In the Shield semi-finals, Thurles edged out Kanturk 5-0 with Rob O’Donovan scoring the all-important try in the fifth minute.

Five penalties from Paul Loughran earned St. Mary’s a 15-7 victory over Ballincollig at Grove Island. Eoin Sweeney gave Ballincollig an early lead with a try which Shane Buckley converted. But four successful kicks from Loughran in the opening half and a fifth after the break decided the issue.

The two league games in Conference C of the Junior League were called off because of Covid and as per the rules a 0-0 result is entered for the Dungarvan v Scariff and Mitchelstown v Waterford City games.

In Conference D four teams will be battling it out next week for the top three spots in the final series of games.

Kinsale jumped up to second place following their 25-12 home win over bottom side Killorglin. Ian Costello scored two tries for Kinsale and Dan Horgan and Mark O’Connell got one each. Dylan Lacey added a conversion and a penalty. Rob Lynch and Andrew O’Reilly replied with tries for Killorglin and Luke O’Shea converted one of the tries.

Charleville moved level on points with Ballincollig after their 20-15 home win over Tralee. The north Cork side trailed 10-6 at the interval with two penalties from Jessie Smith. Mikey Lyne scored a try for Tralee and Seamus Lyne converted and added a penalty. Tries from Jake Madigan and John O’Neill both converted by Smith earned the home side the spoils. A second try from Mikey Lyne ensured a losing bonus point for Tralee.

Killarney have gone top of Conference E after their 36-26 home win over Chorca Dhuibhne. Brian Murphy, Gearoid Breathnach and Seamus Moriarty scored tries for the Kerry Gaeltacht side and Moriarty added a conversion and three penalties.