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St Senan’s make impressive start

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St Senan’s 17
Crosshaven 11

St Senan’s laid siege to the visitor’s try line for the first five minutes but had a number of strong pushes for the try line thwarted by a strong Crosshaven defence in this rugby league tie.
The visitors managed to clear this pressure after a while and counterattacked, winning a penalty just inside Senan’s territory, but the kick fell short of the target.
On 33 minutes it was Crosshaven who opened the scoring, against the flow of play, with a penalty kick from half way. Despite some further strong play, Senan’s found it impossible to breach the resilient Crosshaven defence.
Crosshaven started the second half boosted by their three-point lead and soon extended this to six when they converted a penalty in front of Senan’s posts.
Following this early setback, St Senan’s soon had Crosshaven on the back foot and once, again laid siege to the visitors try line.
Some good strong play by Senan’s forwards opened up the visitor’s defence allowing Darragh McCoy to run in Senan’s first try, Declan Collins found the target with his conversion kick and Senan’s took a well deserved 7-6 lead.
Senan’s continued with their domination of the game and added to their score with a well-struck penalty by Declan Collins on 28 minutes extending their lead to 10-6.
Following this, Crosshaven had their best period of possession in the game and this time it was the Senan’s defence that showed its strength. Moving the ball well, it looked as though Crosshaven would break through but when Fernando Gallant intercepted a Crosshaven pass 20-yards inside his own half he raced for the Crosshaven line to score Senan’s second try which Declan Collins converted to give Senan’s a 17-6 lead on 35 minutes.
Crosshaven put in a strong finish to the game and reduced the deficit on 39 minutes with a well worked try in the corner but the conversion attempt failed to find the target.
Earlier in the day Senan’s underage teams also won. The U-13s defeated UL Bohs, 25-24, with tries by Gary Cusack, Ronan Dooley and Luke Cahill, while Stephen Moran added two conversions and two penalties.
St Senan’s U-15s beat Estuary 29-0, with tries by Darragh Leahy (2), Jason McMahon, Shane Birchall as Darren McNamara added three conversions and a penalty.
St Senan’s: Pa Ryan, Fergal Lawlor, Timmy Larkin, Aaron Skerritt, Aidan O’Callaghan, Jamie Keogh, Ian Fitzgerald, Mike O’Connell, Darragh McCoy, Noel Hoban, Brian Collins, Neil McDonagh, Ger McNamara, Barry Murphy, Declan Collins.
Replacements: Jake Egan, Fernando Gallant, David Webb, Tony O’Brien, Paul O’Halloran.

League games

This weekend all four Clare junior sides are listed for league action. In Division 1, St Senan’s will be in Cork to play Old Christians.
Ennis entertain Mallow in Division 2 while in the same division, Scariff travel to play Youghal. in Division 3, Kilrush will have home advantage against Killorglin. All four gams will kick off at 2.30pm.
In the Gleeson league on Saturday, St Senan’s will entertain UL/Bohemians at Slattery Park at 2.30pm.

U-13
Ennis U-13s had an emphatic win over Bruff in their first league game of the season at the Limerick club’s venue last Sunday. In a tough first half, with Ennis playing against the elements, Bruff scored an early try. This shook a sleepy Ennis team into action and they recovered to score a good try which they converted to leave the score 7-5 at half time.
The second half was all Ennis. Playing with the aid of the elements, they proceeded to dominate in all parts of the field and went onto score four more tries to leave the final score 31-5 at full-time. An excellent performance from Niall O’Brien with three tries, together with tries from Cathal Talty and Luke Carmody gave Ennis a great start to their league campaign.
The U-13s have an outing against leading Connacht side Galwegians in a friendly fixture at Ennis RFC headquarters on Saturday at 12 noon.
Training for the U-13s continue on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, 5.30pm to 7pm at the rugby club.

U-14
Ennis U-14s went down, 10-12, to Galwegians in their friendly fixture at Lees Road. on Sunday. The next outing for the U-14s is in the North Munster League at home to Garryowen this weekend.
Training for the U-14s continues at the rugby club on Wednesday and Friday evenings, 5.30pm to 7pm.

U-15
The U-15s continued their winning ways by defeating Presentation from Limerick by 32-12 in their second North Munster League outing of the season. In a hard fought game, Presentation provided formidable opposition in the loose and at the breakdown but the Ennis pack dug deep and after gaining control in the scrum, they dominated the opposition to give an excellent platform to a new-look backline.
After a late call-up, new out-half Shay Malone performed well to control his backline and distribute the ball effectively. Tries from Alan Birchfield, Paudie Carmody, Darragh Ryan, David Flynn and Karl Cullinane helped Ennis to an emphatic victory, making it two from two in the league so far. The next league outing is away to St Mary’s in Limerick on October 16.
Training for the U-15s continues on Wednesday evenings, 6.30am to 8am at the rugby club and Saturday mornings at 10am at Lees Road.

U-19
The U-19s lost 7-22 to Garryowen at the sportsground on Sunday. Ennis scored first with a try from out-half Sean Lynch who also kicked the conversion. The lead was short lived when the Ennis forwards failed to secure the restart and Garryowen scored in the corner. Garryowen scored a second try before the break which was converted to leave the score 12-7 at half time.
Even though Ennis played most of the second half in the Garryowen half of the field ,they failed to turn their pressure into points. Garryowen scored a breakaway try to stretch their lead to 17-7. Ennis did create a number of chances but were unable to convert due to some handling errors and the fact that this was their first game of the season. Garryowen scored their fourth try just before the final whistle. Ennis travel to play Old Crescent on Sunday at 12.30pm.
Training continues every Wednesday and Friday evening at 8pm and anyone interested in playing can contact George Guilfoyle on 087 9157618.

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