Scariff lose out narrowly to Castleisland

Castleisland 13   Scariff 12

SCARIFF lost out to a strong Castleisland side by the narrowest of margins in Craven’s Field in Scariff on Sunday.
Castleisland started very strong and had the Scariff pack under huge pressure, with a series of scrums on the Scariff line. Scariff soaked up the early pressure but eventually Castleisland, with the aid of a strong wind, broke through the Scariff defence to score in the corner.
A penalty late on in the first half left the half-time score 8-0 to the visitors.
In the second half, Scariff went on the attack from the outset. With most of the possession throughout the half, they were rewarded with a try from James Kelly after good passing between the backs and forwards.
Kelly converted his own try, leaving the score 8-7 after 10 minutes.
Poor concentration in defence allowed Castleisland in for a second try midway through the second half, extending their lead to 13-7.
However, Scariff reacted quickly with Colin Bugler coming close to scoring a try. Scariff’s pressure did pay off with a try through Darren McNamara after good work from Michael Madden.
Scariff travel to play Bandon this weekend.

Scariff: Joe McGrath, Colin Bugler, Bernard McGrath, Dara McNamara (captain), Rory Slattery, Conor Minogue, Darren McNamara, Robbie Madden, Tom Cronin, James Kelly, Michael Madden, Steven Madden, Seamus Noonan, Trevor Kelly, Conor McNamara.
Replacements: Marcus O’Neill, Tyrone Elliot, Sean McGrath, David Harte and Joe Brody.

Ennis U-17s win

Ennis 32   Young Munster 10

ON Sunday, Ennis U-17s notched up an impressive win over Limerick side Young Munster in their final U-17 league game at Drumbiggle.
Ennis made a strong start and got the first score, a try by Shane Hanarahan, who went in under the posts after strong work from the forwards. It was converted by Oisín Tiernan.
Ennis continued to apply pressure from the restart, with some excellent offloading in the centre and strong running from their captain, Ronan O’Halloran, who scored between the posts, putting the home side 12-0 ahead.
However, Young Munster fought back and with a good forward drive they scored their first try and were unlucky to miss the conversion. Again from the restart Ennis were put under pressure and Young Munster scored a second try to leave the score at half-time at 12-10.
Ennis started the second half strongly and won a penalty on the Young Munster 22, which Oisín Tiernan scored. After this, the Ennis team got on top and scored another three tries with some excellent play and good ball being won by the forwards, who gave a strong platform to the backs.
Three tries were scored by Brian Cahill, Oliver Welaratne and Cian O’Ceallagh, giving Ennis an impressive 32-10 win.
Ennis will now qualify for the U-17 Pan Munster League after Christmas.

Ennis: James Woods, Cian O’Ceallagh, David O’Callaghan, Oliver Welaratne, Brian Cahill, Oisín Tiernan, Ronan O’Holloran, Chris Hanrahan, Shane Hanrahan, Marcus Casey, Tom O’Loughlin, Brian Carey, Conor Cassidy, Liam Quinlan, Padraic Neylon.
Subs: James Crowley-Hayes, Ciaran O’Connor, Johnny Kennedy, Michael McNeillus, Eoin Sexton and Seamus Quigley.

U-15s remain unbeaten

Ennis 36 Kilrush 0

ENNIS U-15s aimed to maintain their unbeaten run as they travelled to Kilrush last Sunday. Kilrush challenged strongly in the early stages and neither team was giving any quarter until Alan Birtchfield broke from the back of a scrum on Kilrush’s 22 and went over close to the posts to open the visitors’ account. Michael Lyons converted.
Ball-handling errors on both sides and poor turnovers kept the game tight. Ennis probably had the best of the opportunities at the scrums but were being constantly turned over by Kilrush at the breakdowns. However, close to the end of the first half, Ennis had their best period of play and after winning successive phases, Paudie Carmody downed the ball under the post for the visitors, once again converted by Lyons.
Ennis faced into a stiff breeze in the second half and Kilrush sought to capitalise on this by kicking long and turning the Ennis defence. Brian Malone at full-back dealt capably with everything that was thrown at him and led the line in the counter-attack. Ennis kept the ball in hand and this paid dividends early in the second half with centre Shay Malone powering over for another try.
Ennis’s work at the breakdown improved as the half progressed and the pack started to dominate, led by flanker David Flynn and the indomitable Jason Smith. A well-worked move from the scrum led to another breakaway try for Paudie Carmody. Ennis continued to pressure Kilrush, resulting in further tries from Alan Birchfield and Oisín Kelly, who had another fine game at blind side flanker. The final try was converted by Ross Kelly.

Ennis: Jason Smith, Cillian O’Gorman, Liam Halpin, Liam McCarthy, Sam Skerritt, Alan Birchfield, David Flynn, Oisín Kelly, Mikey Clinton, Michael Lyons, Shay Malone, Paudie Carmody, Brian Malone, Karl Cullinane, Conall Curtin.
Replacements: Rob Austin, David Buggy, Barry Heagney, Caolain Meaney, Jordan Ryan, Darragh Ryan, Ross Kelly, Jamie Reddan, Adrian Walsh, Aaron Leyden, David Reynolds, Demyd Yatsenko and Tadhg Kelliher.

Ennis U-13s

Old Crescent 3   Ennis 26

ENNIS maintained their 100% record in the North Munster U-13 League last Sunday by beating Old Crescent at Rosbrien. It was an evenly contested game for the first 12 minutes until Ennis took a scrum against the head and number eight, Niall O’Brien, picked and made a great 60m run to touch down under the posts.
David Mescall converted for the full points. Ennis continued the first half on the front foot and were rewarded just before half-time with another converted Mike Ikem try after some good interplay with the backs to put Ennis in the driving seat and 14-0 in front.
Old Crescent didn’t lie down and took the game to Ennis in the second half. They turned over a great deal of ball with some excellent counter-rucking. This rewarded them with a penalty under the posts for an offside infringement and it was tapped over to get them on the score sheet.
However, this was their last real scoring opportunity of the match as Ennis regained dominance in open play and after Mark Cabey was unlucky to be pushed out of the field in the try area, he was instrumental in setting up Luke Carmody for Ennis’ third converted try with 15 minutes remaining.
Their scoring was rounded off by Alan Culligan after Stephen Hogan made some good ground but, as Mescall’s conversion just dipped under the post, the final score stood at 26-3.
Ennis’ front row of Gareth Kelly, Jack Colleran and Connor Sheedy did well on the day.
Ennis will now play Garryown in a fortnight’s time and it is a game that will have a huge bearing on where the league title goes, as they are also currently unbeaten.

Ennis panel: E Ó Ceallaigh (C Cahill), I Ugwueru (R Fitzpatrick), L Carmody (try), R Cahill, M Cabey (S Hogan), D Mescall (three conversions), D Ó Sé, G Kelly (M Fitzgerald), J Colleran (S Magliocco), C Sheehy (A Cleland), E Leen (D Kelly), R Corey, C Talty, N O’Brien, A Culligan, E Grace, I Kerin, B Rynne, S Knox, D Kirwin and T Hannon.

Ennis U-12s host Galway teams

MANY fixtures in all codes were called off because of the inclement weather on Saturday but after a number of inspections, the facility in Lees Road was deemed fit for play.
The Ennis U-12s demonstrated their progress. Against top visiting sides from Galway, Corinthians and Ballinasloe, Ennis fielded three evenly balanced teams and remained unbeaten throughout the morning. With 45 eager children turning up for play, they did not have to wait long to get stuck in.
As the conditions underfoot deteriorated, it was not a day for the light-hearted and free-flowing rugby. The Ennis forwards dominated the breakdown and with powerful performances from Eoin Clancy (player of the blitz), Aaron Hennessey, Darragh Slattery, Eldon Nolan, Liam Wall, Martin McCormack and James Nugent and some great finishing from Joseph Connaughton, Morgan Garry, Turlough Barrett, David McNamara, Shane Brennan and David Kelly, it was a good all-round performance.
The next couple of months will see this side move towards full 15-a-side rugby. Training is on Friday at 6pm in Lees Road, while the next outing is to Galway in two weeks.
The following played for Ennis U-12s: Tom O’Brien, Oisín O’Looney, Joe Spellissey, Joseph Connaughton, Conall Bolger, Oisín Mangan, Oisín McMahon, Ben Ryan, Michael Reid, Luke Griffey, Evan Toomey, Turlough Barrett, Shane Vaughan, Luke Moriarty, Zak McDonagh, Edward Purcell, Eldon Nolan, Martin McCormack, Stephen Dolan, Gavin Carr, Conall Bolger, Gavin Flynn, Gavin Cosgrove, Liam Cosgrove, Darragh Slattery, Gerard Kavanagh, Eoin Clancy, Shane Brennan, David McNamara, Barry Neylon, Eanna O’Donoghue, JP Neville, Conall Kelleher, Conor O’Mahony, David Kelly, Elias Kunz, James Nugent, Conor Grogan, Lorcan Clancy, Eoin Martin, Morgan Garry, Sam Hynes, Aaron Hennessy, Aidan Jordan, Paul Tuohy and Liam Wall.

U-11 blitz

ENNIS U-11s played host to three Connacht teams at Lees Road last Saturday, Corinthians, An Gaelteacht and Ballinasloe. In total, 39 players turned out for three Ennis teams. The heavy underfoot conditions did not help but all players got stuck in from the start. In total, Ennis played six games and gave a very good account of themselves.
On Saturday, the Ennis U-10 team travelled to Galway to play a blitz in Corinthians. Ennis, Ballinasloe and the Gaelteacht all travelled to participate.
Ennis fielded two teams, the Ennis Reds and the Ennis Blacks and all teams competed well. However, due to weather conditions, the games eventually had to be called off.
The Ennis team comprised George Harrington, Brian Crowley-Hayes, Ruairí Murphy, Ciarán McMahon, Aaron Kelly, Tony Butler, Cian Galvin, Mark Halpin, Patrick Browne, Rueben White, Jack Dever, Kai Young, Ben Geraghty, Ethan Coughlan, Gavin Guthrie, Famous Isiesi, Dylan O’Brien, Jason Gerraghty, Darragh O’Callaghan, Donnagh O’Sullivan, Adam O’Sullivan, Cian Hayden, Darragh Whelan, Sean McGrath and Brian Barry.