Scariff bow out of Junior Cup in extra time

 

Kilfeackle 28   Scariff 21 (AET)

SCARIFF were unlucky to go down 28-21 after extra time to Kilfeakle in the Junior Cup on Sunday at Scariff.
The visitors went ahead early on with a try and a penalty but Scariff responded well with good pressure from Marcus O’Neill and Kenny Mason. This pressure paid off when Steven Madden went over in corner to make the score 8-5 to the away side midway through the first half. Scariff drew level with a Tom Cronin penalty. One more penalty each was scored before the break to leave the score 11-11 at half-time.
Scariff went on the attack from the start of the second half and were rewarded with an excellent try from James Kelly, which Tom Cronin converted. A further Cronin penalty left the score 21-11 to the home side with 20 minutes to go.
Kilfeakle responded with a penalty to reduce the gap to seven with 10 minutes to go. After sustained Scariff pressure, they were rewarded with a penalty in front of the posts. However, a quick tap was opted for and good Kilfeakle defence resulted in a turn-over ball. Kilfeakle put Scariff under severe pressure and got a try under the posts after numerous scrums to bring the match into extra time.
Kilfeakle scored early in extra time to leave the score 28-21. Mounting pressure from Scariff, however, failed to get them across the Kilfeakle line and the Clare side bowed out of the title race on a day when they did enough to have come out on top.
This Sunday, it is back to league action and the East Clare side travel to play Muskerry in a crucial tie, which they must win to be assured of Division 2 competition next season.

Scariff: Joe McGrath, Colin Bugler, Paul McTiernan, Marcus O’Neill, Daragh McNamara (captain), Conor Minogue, Darren McNamara, Robbie Madden, Tom Cronin, James Kelly, Steven Madden, Eoghan Collins, Seamus Noonan, Kenny Mason, Conor McNamara.
Replacements: Rory Slattery, David Harte, Paul O’Mahony, Niall Bugler, Henry Purcell, Trevor Kelly.

Muskerry 14   Ennis 14

ENNIS and Muskerry shared the spoils in this Division 2 league tie at the Cork club’s venue on Sunday.
Muskerry started strongly and got a try after five minutes. Ennis battled back and two Dylan Tynan O’Mahoney penalties left them a point adrift, 6-7, at half-time.
The Ennis side had the better of the third quarter and a try from Conor O’Mahoney and a drop goal from David Murphy saw them go 14-7 ahead.
In the closing quarter, Ennis had Joe Moloney in the sin-bin and Muskerry piled on the pressure, which resulted in a try for the home side to level the tie.
This week, Ennis entertain Youghal in the league at 2.30pm.

Ennis: Saren Butler; Frank Coffey, Brandon Grant, Paul Lynch, Bary Gleeson; David Murphy, Dylan Tynan O’Mahoney; Conor O’Mahoney, Enda Galvin, Jason Considine; Frank Holly, Dara Killeen; Liam Ryan, Joe Moloney, Kieran Reid.
Subs: Keelan Flynn for Holly; Brian Murphy for Coffey; Damian Forde for  Considine.

St Senan’s v Thurles

ST Senan’s travel to play Thurles in the Division 1 league this Saturday at 3pm and the game will be preceded by an O’Carroll Plate clash between the same clubs at 1pm.

Home tie for Kilrush

KILRUSH will have home advantage this Sunday against Waterford City in a Division 3 league tie at 2.30pm.

Ennis 13   Bruff 8

ENNIS had a heart-stopping win over Bruff in the North Munster U-13 League play-off semi-final last Sunday at the Showgrounds in Ennis.
As Ennis topped the league table with a 100% record, they had home advantage against the fourth placed Bruff who, despite a poor start to the league, had made a late push to reach the play-offs. As this was against a team that had convincingly beaten them, they had nothing to lose in taking the game to the home team and this they did from the kick off, pinning Ennis back in their half for the first 10 minutes and starving them of any meaningful possession.
Good field position and possession resulted in a penalty to the right of the posts and after opting to kick, David Mescall was unlucky to see his effort hit the post and go wide. Ennis maintained their field advantage and after some good interplay between the forwards and backs, spun the ball out wide for Luke Carmody to run in the first try of the game in the left corner. The difficult conversion was missed by Mescall.
From the restart, Ennis seemed to up their performance and keeping possession, rumbled up the field testing the Bruff defence. This pressure resulted in another penalty under the posts for an off-side infringement, making for an easy tap-over for Mescall.
Bruff responded with a well-worked backs move to send the speedy Darragh Costello in for a try in the left corner but Bateman missed the resulting conversion. Ennis were not finished and just before half-time, Carmody scored another try in the left corner after a great 25m run but again the conversion was missed leaving the score at 13-5.
The second half was all Bruff, with Ennis fighting a rearguard action. Bruff held possession for long periods and some resolute tackling from Colleran, Mescall, C Cahill, McGann and Ugwueru, to mention a few, kept wave after wave of Bruff attacks out. Bruff’s outhalf, John Bateman, pinned Ennis back with some great kicks to the corners and their forwards pressurised the resultant line-outs making clearances difficult. Bruff thought they finally scored when Michael O’Grady stretched over the line but was adjudged to have knocked the ball on. With five minutes on the clock, they got a penalty in front of the posts and Bateman tapped it over to bring them within five points for what was a grandstand finish. Ennis brought on Kelly and Leen to bring some fresh legs to a tiring pack with McGann being replaced by Cabey after taking a knock in a tackle.
Ennis gave a great defensive performance but lacked fluency in their attacking play and unusually let Bruff steamroll over them at times at the breakdown. They meet UL Bohemians in the final at St Senan’s grounds in Shannon this Sunday, with kick-off of 12.30pm.

Ennis Panel: C Cahill, I Ugwueru, L Carmody (2 tries), R Cahill, C McGann (M Cabey), D Mescall (1 penalty), D Ó Sé, M Fitzgerald, J Colleran, C Sheehy (G Kelly), M Haugh (E Leen), R Corey, C Talty, N O’Brien, A Culligan; E Ó Ceallaigh, E Grace, D Kirwan, B Rynne, S Knox, T Hannon, S Magliocco, C Chapman, J Hartigan, S Hogan, D Kelly, C Keogh, B Monahan and A Cleland.