Senan’s lose to strong Richmond side

Richmond 18   St Senan’s 10

ST Senan’s stunned Richmond from the very start with their fast, open play, which left the home side defending attack after attack, Their defence held firm as they frustrated each Senan’s attack, keeping them scoreless for the first 15 minutes.
The first score of the game came on 17 minutes, following one of Richmond’s many long clearances, when they converted a penalty awarded to them for Senan’s being caught off-side. Richmond added to their score with a similar passage of play just three minutes later, to extend their lead to 6-0, against the pattern of play.
These setbacks did not panic Senan’s into changing their game plan and they continued to move the ball well. Richmond were stunned on 27 minutes when Dylan Sonneman gathered the ball inside his own half and ran through their defence to score the game’s first try. Unfortunately for Senan’s, the conversion attempt by Declan Collins struck the upright to deny them the lead.
Senan’s continued to use the width of the field to stretch the Richmond defence and once again it was Dylan Sonneman who found the gap. On 33 minutes he cleverly chipped the ball over oncoming Richmond defenders and ran through to gather and score the Clare side’s second try, which gave his side a 10-6 lead.
The last seven minutes of the half were a little frantic for both sides, each having long-range penalty attempts drift just wide of the target, so it was Senan’s who went in to half-time with a 10-6 lead.
Richmond came out for the second half determined to stifle Senan’s free-running play and this disrupted Senan’s. The frustration saw them concede penalties in the 13th and 17th minutes of the half. Richmond took advantage to regain control of the match when both kicks found the target and they opened up a 12-10 lead.
Senan’s could not produce any of the free-flowing play they had been so effective with in the first half and two further converted penalties for the home side in the 22nd and 32nd minutes gave them the victory with a 18-10 scoreline. This denied Senan’s what many felt would have been a well-deserved losing bonus point.
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, Aidan McMahon, Brian Collins and Duane Horkin.

Scariff 22   Ballincollig 19

SCARIFF sealed their second win of the season with a hard-fought win over Ballincollig at the Cork club’s venue.
Ballincollig took the lead after sustained pressure and led 13-3 coming close to the break.
A try just before half-time from James Kelly, combined with his earlier penalty, left the score at half-time at 13-8 to the home side.
A second try from Kelly just after the break, converted by Trevor Kelly, and a third try by Robbie Madden, converted by James Kelly, gave Scariff a 22-13 lead with 10 minutes left on the clock.
Scariff survived a late scare from the home side. Two late penalties from Ballingcollig brought the margin to within three points with five minutes to go.
However, Scariff held out for a much-needed victory, which moves them to mid-table before the next round of matches this weekend, when they will have a home tie with Castleisland.
Scariff: Joe McGrath, Colin Bugler, David Harte, Dara McNamara, Darren McNamara, Joe Brody, Robbie Madden, Pat Minogue (captain), Tom Cronin, James Kelly, Michael Madden, Steven Madden, Kenny Mason, Trevor Kelly, Conor McNamara.
Replacements: Eoin Brown, Conor Minogue, Tyrone Elliot, Marcus O’Neill, Rory Slattery and Bernard McGrath.

U-17 league win

Ennis 10   Thomond 5

ON Sunday, Ennis’ U-17s played host to Thomond in the North Munster League at Drumbiggle.
Ennis got the first score through very strong running by the backs with an excellent finish by James Woods.
Thomond restarted and put pressure on the Ennis pack and moved close to the Ennis line. However, there was excellent defence and the ball was turned over.
Ennis moved up the field and with some excellent support play recycled the ball quickly and went through a few phases in the Thomond 22, before running in a try in the corner by Cian O’Ceallagh. This left the score at 10-0 to Ennis at half-time.
From the start of the second half, Ennis were put under pressure from a revitalised Thomond but the home side continued to defend their lines. Thomond eventually scored in the corner but did not make the conversion.
The contest was very tight with some very strong physical exchanges but Ennis held out to win with some excellent commitment from all the squad. Ennis face Young Munster at home this Sunday in their final league game.
Ennis: James Woods, Eimhin Courtney, David O’Callaghan, Oliver Welaratne, Brian Cahill, Marcus Casey, Oisín Tiernan, Ronan O’Halloran, Chris Hanrahan, Shane Hanrahan, Tom O’Loughlin, Brian Carey, Elle Mundu, Liam Quinlann, Padraic Neylon.
Subs: Johnny Kennedy, Conor Cassidy, Cian O’Ceallagh, Ciarán O’Connor and Eoin Sexton.

Ennis U-12 blitz

MISSING a number of top players due to various other commitments, it was a testimony to the strength of the Ennis U-12 squad that they were able to field three competitive sides in Limerick on Sunday.
One of the core values of mini-rugby is that all participants get game time. This provided a great opportunity for a number of players to have more leadership roles on the field and further develop the players in terms of taking responsibility. Two sides travelled to Old Crescent and one to UL Bohemian’s.
In the Old Crescent blitz, Ennis played against Garryowen, Old Crescent, UL Bohs and Bruff.
The UL Bohs blitz was also strong, with Shannon, Bruff, Thomond and hosts UL Bohs making up the contingent. U-12 coach, Paul Neville said, “Having probably the largest squad, certainly in North Munster, and being down a number of key players, we continue to provide stiff competition for the top Limerick sides”.
Training resumes again on Friday evening at 6pm in Lees Road. A number of Galway sides are visiting Lees Road on Saturday morning (Corinthians, Ballinasloe and An Gaelteacht) playing against the Ennis U-11 and U-12 sides.
The squad at Old Crescent was Aaron Hennessy, Martin McCormack, Eoghan Wallace, Elias Kunz, Barry Neylon, Conor O’Mahony, Conall Kellegher, Sean Dolan, Caiman Whelan, Evan Toomey, Gavin Flynn, Sean Andreassen, Luke Griffey, Gavin Cosgrove, Paul Tuohy, Eldon Nolan, Eoin Clancy, Stephen Dolan, Aidan Jordan, Edward Purcell, Oisín Mangan, Morgan Garry, Ben Ryan, Mark Barry, Michael Reid, Oisin O’Looney and Liam Cosgrove.
The squad at UL Bohemians included Daragh Slattery, Shane Vaughan, Liam Wall, Eoin Martin, Oisín McMahon, Gavin Carr, Sam Hynes, David Kelly, Ben Leyden, Ricky Mulcair, Eanna O’Donoghue and Ian Malone.

Ennis 15   Bruff 0

ENNIS U-13s played Bruff in a friendly fixture last Sunday at the Showgrounds. Played in ideal conditions, but on a sticky pitch, both teams were evenly matched with most of the first half played between the 22m lines.
The deadlock was broken after eight minutes when Ennis’ captain Mark Cabey was at the end of a good passing move and he raced 40m to touch down in the left corner. The first half was keenly contested with both teams electing to keep the ball in hand and it made for a tough battle up front, with Mark Fitzgerald, Stephen Magliocco, Ciaran Kean, Eoin Ó Ceallaigh and Stephen Hogan making good ground when in possession.
Ennis made some changes at half-time and it paid dividends almost immediately when Ian Kerin collected a kick on his own 22m line. He sped past a scrambling Bruff defence to score at the other end of the field. Scoring was finished off by Ikem Ugwueru, who ran through the Bruff 13 channel, unhindered by the despairing tackles. Bruff never got close to the Ennis try line due to a well-organised defensive line.
Ennis will play Old Crescent next weekend in a league fixture at Rosbrien in Limerick.
Ennis: M Haugh (I Kerin), S Hogan, D Kirwin (I Ugwueru), C Keane, C Chapman (C Farrell), E Grace, E Ó Ceallaigh (C McGann), C Sheehy (A Culligan), S Magliocco, J Colleran, E Leen (T Hannon), D Kelly, M Cabey, M Fitzgerald; R Corey, R Cahill, N O’Brien, C Talty.

U-10 blitz

LAST Sunday, Ennis hosted an U-10 rugby blitz in Lees Road. In attendance were teams from Gort, Old Crescent and Young Munster, with 90 children participating in a very successful tournament.
Ennis fielded three teams, the Ennis Reds, the Ennis Blacks and the Ennis Barbarians. All teams competed well in all nine games that they played.
The Ennis players were George Harrington, Brian Crowley-Hayes, Ruairí Murphy, Ciarán McMahon, Patrick Kennedy, Aaron Kelly, Sean O’Brien, Tony Butler, Cian Galvin, Mark Halpin, Luke McMahon, Patrick Browne, Rueben White, Jack Dever, Kai Young, Ben Geraghty, Ethan Coughlan, Gavin Guthrie, Famous Isiesi, Dylan O’Brien, Joe Keane, Sean Keane, Patrick Kearney, Jason Geraghty, Darragh O’Callaghan and Brian Barry.