St Senan’s RFC struggle in league opener

Tralee 46 St Senan’s 10

St Senan’s travelled to Tralee last weekend to face the local team in their first league game of the new junior rugby season.
The game started well for Senan’s and the strength of their forwards won them a penalty after just three minutes. This was converted by Declan Collins. This early lead was followed by some good play by both sides, giving both opportunities to add a score. However, after 13 minutes it was Tralee that succeeded in breaching the Senan’s defence with a chip that let their forwards in to score their first try. The conversion gave the home team a 7-3 lead.
Senan’s reacted well to this setback, keeping Tralee pinned back in their own half of the pitch and looking the stronger of the two teams in driving forward but could not turn this dominance into scoring opportunities. On 24 minutes Tralee broke through, forcing the Clare side to concede a penalty that allowed the home team to extend their lead to 10-3. Gaining renewed confidence from this breakthrough, the home side found space on the wing, scoring a well-worked try that when converted extended their lead to 17-3. St Senan’s mounted a number of forward drives after this but found the try line impossible to reach. The half ended with the home side holding a 17-3 lead.
Tralee started the second half the stronger of the two teams and soon extended their lead to 22-3 with an unconverted try after just four minutes. This latest setback seemed to spur Senan’s into action and it was they who had the lion’s share of possession for the next 10 to 15 minutes but still they couldn’t break the strong Tralee defence. When Tralee broke through after 22 minutes for their fourth try and add the conversion to lead 29-3, the game was over.
Soon after Ger Hall scored a consolation try for Senan’s, converted by Jake Egan, to reduce the score to 29-10. This was the last score for Senan’s but Tralee went on to add three more tries, converting one of these to finish 46-10 victors.
This week, St Senan’s will have home advantage against Thurles.

St Senan’s: David Dunne, Brian Collins, Chris Sloan, Barry Murphy, Conor Moran, Declan Collins, Darragh McCoy, Ger Hall, Ian Fitzgerald, Mark Butler, Aidan O’Callaghan, Aaron Skerritt, Dave Lee, Fergal Lawlor, Tony O’Brien.
Replacements: Fran Duggan, Gary Crowe, Jake Egan, Ed Slattery, Paul O’Halloran, David Webb, Matt Halpin.