Brave Scariff display not enough as Kilfeakle finish strongly

Kilfeackle  19  Scariff  6
Scariff went down 19-6 in a hotly contested Junior Cup game in Tipperary on Sunday. The East Clare side travelled to Kilfeakle as rank outsiders but made their more fancied first division outfit battle to the end on the day.

Scariff’s pack stood up against the Kilfeakle front eight and held their own and overall they dominated large portions of the game.
James Kelly converted two penalties for Scariff.
With 10 minutes to go, Scariff’s Barry Gibbons was over the line, only to be caught and to lose the ball forward. Had they managed to get the touchdown and the conversion it would have left just a point between the sides at the time.
The Clare side was very much in control at this stage of the game.
From the resultant scrum, Kilfeackle launched an attack that ended with a try to seal their victory and a place in the next round.
Scariff will now concentrate on their remaining Division 3 league ties and the drive to win promotion to Division 2. 
Scariff: Joe McGrath, Colin Bugler, Bernard McGrath, Dara McNamara (capt), Rory Slattery, Pat Minogue, Joe Brody, Robbie Madden, Tom Cronin, James Kelly, Barry Gibbons, Eoghan Collins, Kenny Mason, Trevor Kelly, Conor McNamara.
Replacements: Darren McNamara, Steve Madden, Paul McTiernan.

Killorglin 8   Kilrush 10
Kilrush qualified for the semi-final of the Munster Junior Bowl when they accounted for Killorglin at the Kerry club’s venue on Sunday.
The home side made an excellent start when they got in for a try after eight minutes but they failed to add the points from the conversion.
They stretched their lead midway through the first half when they landed a penalty.
Five minutes before halftime Kilrush bounced back into contention when David Smith went in for a try, which Paul Conway converted to leave the West Clare men trailing by just a point, 7-8, at the break.
Ten minutes into the second half, Paul Conway was on target with a penalty and this was enough to give the Clare side a narrow win.
Kilrush: Pádraig O’Malley, Aidan Mescall, David Smith, Martin Hehir, Alan
Hogan, Matthew Flanagan, Brian Johnson, Trevor Downes, Ray Conway,
Brian Saunders, John Tubridy, John Conway, Pat Cussen, Stephen Pender,
Paul Conway.
Subs: Darragh Moloney for David Smith; David Kavanagh for Brian Johnson (70 minutes).

Thomond 27     St Senan’s 10
St Senan’s Shannon travelled to Liam Fitzgerald Park in Limerick on Sunday to compete against Thomond for the O’Donoghue Cup. The cup is competed for annually in memory of Joe O’Donoghue, who was involved with both clubs for many years. This association with St Senan’s is still strong today as a number of Joe’s family are still very involved with the current set-up.
Senan’s suffered an early set-back when flyhalf Declan Collins was stretchered off with ligament damage.
The weather conditions determined that this would not be an open, free-flowing game as wind and rain made ball handling very difficult, so it was no surprise that the first 30 minutes saw both sides encamped in the middle of the pitch with very few clear cut scoring opportunities.
This changed in Senan’s favour on 32 minutes when they won a penalty on the left wing and a good kick by Daragh McCoy opened the scoring for the visitors. Senan’s gained in confidence from this point and on 37 minutes their pack drove over the try line for Dwane Horkin to claim the first try of the game. Once again a good, confident kick by Darragh McCoy added the extra points to give the visitors a 10-0 lead.
A late lapse of concentration allowed Thomond to score a try in the last minute of the half to reduce Senan’s advantage to 5-10 at halftime.
The second half saw the home side score an early try as Senans were slow to react to a long ball. The conversion attempt drifted wide, leaving both sides on 10 points.
Thomond eventually got their noses ahead on 10 minutes with a penalty to give them a 13-10 lead. Both sides continued to struggle with the elements and the game became a war of attrition in the middle of the pitch until the home side broke free to score their third try to take a 20-10 lead. Senan’s had a few opportunities to reduce the deficit but each time the well-formed Thomond defence managed to break down any threat.
Thomond finally sealed victory on 37 minutes when they broke down yet another attacking move and Thomond’s winger showed Senan’s players a clean pair of heels to score their fourth try and finish the game 27-10 victors.
St Senans: Jake Egan, Barry Murphy, Ger McNamara, Dylan Sonneman, Ronan O’Callaghan, Declan Collins, Daragh McCoy, Ian Fitzgerald, Dwane Horkin, Gary Crowe, Aidan O’Callaghan, Aaron Skerritt, Dave Lee,  David Webb, Pa Ryan.
Replacements: Timmy Larkin, Rob Hegarty, Conor Moran, Paul O’Halloran, Mark Butler.

U-11 games
Nine games were played between Ennis and Shannon at U-11 level at the weekend. Both clubs had three very competitive sides pitched against each other, with each team playing three games in the host club’s venue at Drumbiggle.
With the threatened bad weather not prevailing it was a perfect morning for running rugby and so it transpired with some outstanding individual and team performances.
Over 40 players togged out for Ennis. While the results of the games are not the essence of mini-rugby, it is worth noting that Ennis won seven of the nine games and drew one. Collectively, a huge amount of progress has been made this year and this group are turning into a formidable unit.
With a heavy schedule until the end of the season in April, it’s back to training this Friday evening in Lees Road.
The members of the Ennis squad are David McNamara, Philip Talty, Eoghan Wallace, Stephen Talty, Dylan Myhill, Evan Twoomey, Turlough Barrett, Zak McDonagh, Ross O’Flaherty, Harry Talty, Ben O’Donnell, Conor McDaid, Morgan Garry, Oisín Mangan, Elias Kunz, Gerard Kavanagh, Shane Vaughan, Cathel Lennon, James Nugent, Eoin Martin, JP Neville, Frank Roche, Ulick O’Sullivan, Joe Spellissey, Stephen Dolan, Conall Kelleher, Aidan Jordan, Sean Andreasson, Tom O’Brien, Darragh Slattery, Lorchan Clancy, Liam Wall, Luke Griffey, Eoin Clancy, Marc Barry, Ben Ryan and Shane Brennan.