Below par effort from Ennis

Ennis 12
St Mary’s 16
A below-par performance by Ennis resulted in a four-point defeat in front of their home support on Sunday.
Visitors St Mary’s started strongly and landed a penalty in the opening minutes. They followed with a try under the posts, which was converted as they took a 10-0 lead.
Midway through the first half, the home side took a grip on proceedings and dominated from here to the break, landing two penalties from Bryan Murphy. During this period of dominance, Ennis made a number of line breaks but failed to capitalise and went to the break trailing 6-10.
On the resumption, St Mary’s again got on top and extended their lead with two penalty efforts from Sean Lyons.
Again, Ennis got on top and they had plenty of possession but, as in the first half, they failed to capitalise as they lacked support when they made a number of line breaks. The Murphy brothers, Bryan and David, converted penalties to close the gap but St Mary’s held on for victory, which sees them move to second place in the league table.
Ennis: Dylan Tynan O’Mahoney, Saran Butler, Brandan Grant, Damian O’Connor, Niall Nevin (capt), Bryan Murphy, David Murphy, Steve Dunne, Conor Mahoney, Dara Killeen; Frank Holly, Pa Harding, Mike McInerney, Liam Ryan, Kieran Reid.
Replacements: Joe Molony for Ryan; Enda Galvin for Dunne; Noel Downes for O’Connor.

St Senan’s 23 
Clanwilliam 11
St Senan’s made their intentions clear from the kick-off in this home league tie on Sunday when Ian Fitzgerald gathered and ran at the opposition before moving the ball across the line for Declan Collins to kick over the approaching Clanwilliam players for Barry Murphy to chase down.
Clanwilliam conceded a penalty from this attack and Senan’s chose not to kick for the posts, as a strong crosswind would have made it very difficult. They kicked for touch and won the line-out, forcing Clanwilliam to concede another penalty and once again Senan’s chose the line-out option. This time Clanwilliam managed to clear their lines and push Senan’s back to half way. Senan’s regained control and forced Clanwilliam to concede a number of defensive scrums; a strong Senan’s pack had the upper hand in the scrums and pushed the visitors back over their own try line for Daragh McCoy to get the final touch on the ball for their first try under the posts. Declan Collins made no mistake with the conversion and opened up a 7-0 lead for the home side.
This lead was soon reduced as Clanwilliam pushed into Senan’s half and scored from a long-range penalty. Gaining confidence from this passage of play, Clanwilliam put Senan’s under pressure again and forced them to concede another penalty, which they converted, moving to within one point of the home side at 7-6. Senan’s pushed forward deep into Clanwilliam territory, winning penalties on 26 and 30 minutes, Declan Collins kicked both of these to extend Senan’s lead to 13-6. Senan’s continued to pressurise the visitors and finished the half with another penalty conversion to go in at half time 16-6 leaders.
The second half started with both packs battling for territorial advantage and Clanwilliam came closest after 12 minutes when they were encamped on Senan’s try line for an extended period but the Senan’s defence held tough, clearing their lines to relieve the pressure. The second-half deadlock was broken on 26 minutes when, once again, a strong Senan’s pack drove the Clanwilliam scrum back over their try line for Ian Fitzgerald to score Senan’s second try, which Declan Collins converted to give the home side a 23-6 advantage.
Both sides battled away in midfield but found it difficult to create any clear-cut scoring opportunities until the 35th minute when Clanwilliam found space out wide to run in their first try, the conversion kick missed the target and left the visitors trailing 23-11.
This week, Senan’s take on Richmond at 2.30pm on Sunday in Richmond Park.
St Senan’s: Pa Ryan, Fergal Lawlor, Tony O’Brien, Aaron Skerritt, Aidan O’Callaghan, Jamie Keogh, Ian Fitzgerald, Mike O’Connell, Darragh McCoy, Noel Hoban, Barry Murphy, Neil McDonagh, Dylan Sonneman, Fernando Gallant, Declan Collins.
Replacements: David Webb, Eamonn Martin, Eamonn O’Donoghue, Michael Cusack, Jake Egan.

Ennis 42
Young Munster 10
On Sunday, the Ennis U-17 team played Young Munster in Limerick in the North Munster League.
Ennis got off to a strong start with a try by Shane Hanrahan, with some excellent support play after a strong break made by Ronan O’Halloran.
Ennis continued to put pressure on Young Munster and were rewarded with another try after 10 minuets. Ennis finished the half strongly, scoring further tries before half-time through Oisín Tiernan, James Woods, Eimhin Courtney and David O’Callaghan. All the tries we converted by Oisín Tiernan.
Overall, it was a strong performance from the team, who worked as a unit, with the forwards giving the backs the platform to run the ball and produce some excellent scores.
They face Thomond at home on Sunday in the next round of the league.
Ennis: James Woods, Eimhin Courtney, David O’Callaghan, Oliver Welaratne, Brian Cahill, Oisín Tiernan, Ronan O’Holloran, Chris Hanrahan, Shane Hanrahan, Tom O’Loughlin, Brian Carey, Elle Mundu, Liam Quinlann, Padraic Neylon.
Subs: Johnny Kennedy, Conor Cassidy, Cian O’Ceallagh, Eoin Flynn, Ronan McLernon, Ciaran O’Connor, Ben Maloney.

Ennis 38
Thomond 20
Ennis maintained their unbeaten run in the North Munster U-15 League in what proved to be their most challenging but entertaining game to date. The opening minutes were fiercely contested at the breakdown and with second-row forwards Liam McCarthy and Liam Halpin winning the breaking ball, a quick feed to winger Brian Malone sent him racing to the corner to open the home team’s account.
Due to an early injury, hooker Rob Austin was replaced by Cillian O’Gormain. Thomond rallied and after exerting continuous pressure, they proceeded to reply with two tries, one converted, and a penalty leaving the score 15-5 in their favour at half-time.
After the interval, one of the many superb line breaks by No 8 Alan Birchfield resulted in the ball being moved quickly by the backs for a converted try under the posts by out-half Michael Lyons. Ennis now began to dominate the exchanges at the breakdown, led by excellent performances from flankers David Flynn and Oisín Kelly. Flynn proved to be the thorn in Thomond’s side and drove over strongly for a well-deserved try, which was subsequently converted.
The game was now turning in the home side’s favour and Flynn scored another try in the corner. With the half-back partnership of Mikey Clinton and Michael Lyons orchestrating the attack, the home team scored what was probably the best try of the game with an eight-man move, which was finished by Paudie Carmody.
Thomond were now reeling from the continuous Ennis pressure and big tackles from Lorcan Casey, Darrgah Ryan and the irrepressible Jason Smith forced a turnover, which was pounced on by Oisín Kelly, who drove over the line for try number six. There was, however, still a sting in Thomond’s tail and despite great defensive efforts from full-back Shay Malone, winger Karl Cullinane and replacement scrum-half Conall Curtin, Thomond ran in a well-worked try in the corner.

Shannon 12
Ennis 14
Ennis U-13s scored a last-gasp victory over Shannon at Coonagh on Sunday afternoon. Having elected to play against the elements in the first half, Ennis were down 12-0 with an uphill battle on their hands going into the second half against a very well organised Shannon team. The first half was a rearguard action except for a controversial decision not to award Alan Culligan a try after two minutes when he crashed over for a touch down but was turned on his back by the time the referee had caught up with play.
Ennis came out for the second half knowing that their unbeaten run in the league was at stake. This resulted in a converted try for Cathal Talty with 15 minutes to go after some relentless waves of attack. Ennis were now firmly in the driving seat but no matter how close they came to the line, that elusive score would not come.
Ronan Corey and Ikem Ugwueru were stopped on the line and as the minutes ticked away it looked like it wasn’t going to be their day. However, with three minutes to go, Ennis were given a good attacking position with a scrum 15 meters out after a knock-on. This looked like their last chance and with some deft passing along the back line, Luke Carmody raced in to level the game. David Mescall coolly converted and Ennis held on for victory.
Ennis now have four league wins out of four but have very tough games against Old Cresent, Young Munster and Garryowen in the coming weeks. They play Bruff next weekend in a friendly.
Ennis panel: E Ó Ceallaigh (C Cahill), I Ugwueru (M Iwalewa), C Talty (try), R Cahill, C McGann, D Mescall (2 cons), D ÓSé, G Kelly, J Colleran, C Sheehy, C Keogh (L Carmody (try), E Leen (T Hannon), R Corey, N O’Brien, A Culligan; J Connolly, J Hartigan, J Warren, A Cleland, C Chapman, M Fitzgerald, E Grace, S Hogan, D Kelly, B O’Reilly,
I Kerin, S Magliocco, B Rynne, S Knox, M Cabey, D Kerwin, C Brannock, C Keane.

Ennis U-8s in Kilrush blitz
Ennis were well represented in Kilrush last Sunday morning when the U-8s competed in a blitz at the Kilrush grounds. The Ennis players showed impressive skill against stiff opposition in Kilrush and Young Munster.
Ennis players involved included: Daire Corey, Conor Cleland, Jack McNamara, Jack Scahill, Conan Brodie, James Doherty, Diarmuid Toner, James McGrath, Cian and Fiachra Kirby, Luke Ayers, Fíonán O’Sullivan, Daniel Quinn, Sam Monthill, Seamus Queally, Jack Lynch, Zac Guilfoyle, Noah McConway.