Scariff progress in Webb Cup

Scariff 22   Richmond  10

Tries from Joe McGrath, James Kelly and Tom Cronin, with two conversions from Cronin and a penalty from Trevor Kelly helped Scariff to a 22-10 victory over Richmond.
Conditions made any sort of continuity play nearly impossible, as the pitch cut up badly from kick-off after the heavy rain that fell earlier in the day.
Richmond had a strong first half, leading at the break 5-3. Scariff, however, did have try-scoring chances in the first half but handling close to the line let them down.
Richmond went further ahead early in the second with a try in the corner. After this Scariff took the upper hand and spent most of the remainder of the second half in the Richmond 22. The pressure paid off with tries from Joe McGrath, James Kelly and Tom Cronin.
This weekend, it is back to business in the league with a tough home fixture against promotion-chasing Kinsale.

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

League action resumes

It will be back to league action on Sunday when St Senan’s will entertain Tralee in Division 1 while Scariff will take on Kinsale in Division 2. In Division 3, Kilrush will travel to play Shandon.
On Saturday, St Senan’s will have St Mary’s as visitors in a Webb Cup fixture.
Ennis U-17s into quarters
On Saturday, Ennis U-17s qualified for the quarter-finals of the Avonmore Munster League with a win at home against Clonmel. The game was played in poor conditions, which continued to deteriorate as the game progressed.
The visitors started strongly, with some very strong work from their pack but Ennis dug deep and started to turn the game around. Ennis started to apply the pressure and Oisín Tiernan scored the first try.
Ennis continued to apply the pressure, with the elements in their favour, and this was rewarded with a strong break from Shane Hanahran, who gave a good offload to Ronan O’Halloran. He scored the second try, which was converted from a difficult angle. The third try came from a well-worked move from the backs and strong running in the centre for Brian Cahill to score under the posts and the conversion was added.
Ennis turned over with the score at 19-0 and they knew it would be difficult in the second half, playing against the elements, which were deteriorating all the time.
From the re-start, Ennis continued to apply the pressure and were unlucky not to score. Clonmel started to apply a lot of pressure and the home side battled to hold them out but Clonmel crossed the line after about 15 minutes. Ennis continued to dig deep and showed a great team effort to keep the score at 19-7 when the final whistle sounded.
Ennis will now have to travel to Cork to play Sundays Well in the quarter-final, the date and time has yet to be confirmed.

Ennis: Cian O’Ceallagh, John Kennedy, David O’Callaghan, Brian Cahill, Michael McNeilus, Oisín Tiernan, Ronan O’Halloran, Marcus Casey, Shane Hanrahan, Eoin Stapleton, Tom O’Loughlin, Brian Carey, James Crowley-Hayes, Ciaran O’Connor, Padraic Neylon.
Subs: Chris Hanrahan, Elle Mundu, Conor Cassidy, Eoghan Flynn, Barry Lynch.

U-12s in Dublin

All 54 U-12 squad members travelled to Dublin last weekend, where they played a number of games. 
On a perfect, dry February day it was decided to play three 50-minute games rather than the normal blitz format. This was a new experience for the Ennis players. It also allowed a more match-like structure rather than shorter games. Old Wesley provided two opposing teams and Seapoint the other.
It was significant that Ennis more than held their own in the three games, winning one, drawing one and being narrowly defeated in the other. Ennis Red dominated their encounter with Old Wesley with a scoreline of 12 tries to five after a slow start, which saw them trail two tries to nil at one stage. Aaron Hennessey and Oisín Mangan scored three tries each, with two more scored by James Nugent and Liam Wall and further additions from Joseph Connaughton and Frank Roche.
Ennis Black were very unlucky against the other Old Wesley team, going down by three tries to two. Eoin Clancy and Sean Dolan scored two great tries to keep Ennis level, only for a breakaway try to win it for Wesley. The Ennis game against Seapoint proved to be the outstanding encounter and finished on a five try each scorline. Ennis might well have won this, having led by a couple of tries but making a lot of changes unbalanced the team slightly. Shane Brennan, Paul Tuohy, Marc Barry and David McNamara scored for Ennis.
Then it was off to Lansdowne Road for the big match between Ireland and Wales. With seats in the northern section of the arena, the Ennis players were within touching distance of the players at pitchside.
Unfortunately, while they cheered their heroes on, it was not enough as a last-gasp penalty for Wales ensured Ireland started the Six Nations with a defeat.

Ennis: Daragh Slattery, Stephen Dolan, Martin McCormack, Lorcan Clancy, Harry Talty, Aidan Jordan, Eoin Martin, Jack O’Reilly, Paul Tuohy, Sam Hynes, August Steenstrup, Conor Grogan, Sean Andreassen, Marc Barry, Ben Ryan, David McNamara, Shane Brennan, David Kelly.
Ennis Red: Barry Neylon, Aaron Hennessey, James Nugent, Liam Wall, Eldon Nolan, Eanna O’Donoghue, James Baker, Luke Griffey, Oisín O’Looney, Frank Roche, Oisín Mangan, Joseph Connaughton, Gerard Kavanagh, Luke Moriarty, Caiman Whelan, Ben Leyden, Ian Malone, Joe Spellesey.
Ennis Black: Ross O’Flaherty, Elias Kunz, Eoin Clancy, Jack Hanrahan, Conall Bolger, Shane Vaughan, Edward Purcell, Conor Mahony, Sean Dolan, Conal Kelleher, Tom O’Brien, Turlough Barrett, Evan Toomey, Zak McDonagh, Gavin Flynn, Gavin Carr, Orin Moore.