Unlucky St Senan’s pipped by league leaders

ST Senan’s and Skibbereen fought out a very close and hard battle in Division 1 of the Munster Junior League at Jimmy Slattery Park on Sunday with the result in doubt up to the very last kick, when Jed McNamara just missed the posts with a 40m effort.
Senan’s got off to the worst possible start when trying to run the ball out of their 22. A dropped pass was pounced on by Skibbereen’s John O Sullivan who had a clear run in under the posts for the opening try and an easy conversion by David Shannon followed.
Playing against the breeze and under severe pressure, the home side kept their shape and only conceded one more score. The Cork club were awarded a penalty when Senan’s backs were caught offside at a ruck and again David Shannon converted to leave the score at half-time at 10-0.
With the breeze at their backs, Senan’s completely dominated the second half and Skibbereen rarely got past the halfway line. Senan’s had a chance to open their account when they were awarded a penalty after 10 minutes. However, they opted instead to kick to the corner and subsequently lost the resulting lineout and the winners cleared their lines.
Pa Ryan, Tim Larkin and David Webb had the visitor’s front row in trouble in the scrum and the maul was also working well and putting Skibbereen under all kinds of pressure. This led to a penalty for tackling the man without the ball which Declan Collins converted to leave seven points separating the sides. With 10 minutes to go, Barry Murphy broke out of the St Senan’s 22 and threw a pass to Fernando Gallant who did very well to hold on to a ball thrown behind him and he raced into the Skib 22. The pack arrived and drove on to the try line where the maul was pulled down illegally and the referee finally lost patience with the Skibbereen pack and yellowed carded one of their forwards.
From the resulting penalty, Senan’s moved the ball wide and Eamon O’Donoghue finished with a try in the corner. Declan Collins was just wide with the conversion attempt to level the match. Senan’s sensed they had a chance of victory and piled on the pressure but just couldn’t break the line and the last chance was the long-range penalty which went narrowly wide. They had to be satisfied with a losing bonus point.
St Senan’s next match is against Galbally who are also near the top of the league.

St Senan’s: D Collins; F Gallant, N McDonagh, B Collins, B Murphy; N Hoban, D McCoy; P Ryan, D Webb, T Larkin; A Skerritt, A O’Callaghan; P O’Halloran, J Keogh, I Fitzgerald.
Subs: E O Donoghue, J McNamara, T O’Brien, D Sonneman.

 

Impressive win for Ennis U-13

Ennis 17   UL Bohemians 15

ENNIS U-13s had a home league game against UL Bohemians on Sunday morning at Lees Road in ideal weather conditions but on a damp pitch.
UL Bohemians raced into the lead after five minutes with an unconverted try in the corner from Philip Harty after very good retention of the ball from the kick-off. This was a wake-up call for Ennis who managed to turn the possession tide in their favour and shortly after being held up over the line, Alan Culligan burrowed through a goal line defence for a well-deserved try with 12 minutes on the clock. David Mescall converted with a difficult kick from the left wing to nudge Ennis ahead.
The home team kept the pressure on from the resulting kick-off and after some impressive interplay by the forwards, where Cathal Talty and Niall O’Brien were rampant, Luke Carmody made a break up the middle and ran in under the posts for Ennis’ second try after 16 minutes, making for an easy tap over for Mescall.
UL Bohemians didn’t falter and replied just before half-time with another unconverted try leaving the score 14-10 in favour of the home side.
The second half continued at a frantic pace where both teams showed excellent handling and tackling skills. In this very physical contest of resolute defences and where possession was vigorously contested, neither side backed down so scores were hard to come by.
The deadlock was smashed with eight minutes remaining when Bohs struck for a third try after a great breakdown the right wing, but, as they missed the conversion, it gave them a tenuous one-point lead.
Ennis kept their composure and with four minutes remaining, were handed the winning score when the visitors were penalised for offside, 40m from their line. However, due to indiscipline, Bohs were marched back another 10 putting Mescall within his range and from just left of the post, he slotted home the winning score. Ennis hung on for the remaining minutes and were relieved to have their noses ahead at the full-time whistle. This was a thrilling contest where both teams could be proud of their intensity and skill level.

Ennis: C Cahill, I Ugwueru, L Carmody, R Cahill, C McGann (Inj M Cabey), D Mescall, D Ó Sé, G Kelly, J Colleran, C Sheehy, C Talty, E Leen, R Corey, N O’Brien, A Culligan.
Subs: J Warren, A Cleland, H Black, C Chapman, M Fitzgerald, E Grace, T Hannon, M Haugh, S Hogan, C Kearns, D Kelly, C Keogh, I Kerin, S Magliocco, S Maher, B Rynne.  

U-17s go down to Bruff

ENNIS U-17s went down fighting to a very good Bruff side on Sunday last at the Showgrounds. After a very poor start, Ennis trailed by 14-0. The home side did enjoy plenty of possession but it was all inside
their own half and from two mistakes in these areas, Bruff punished Ennis with two tries.
Ennis, however, rallied and drove into the Bruff 22 and from a resulting line-out, they mauled Bruff over the line for a good try from the pack.
In the second half, Ennis played very much better and controlled the game. They had Bruff rattled and were unlucky not to get scores when dominating field position and possession.
Again, Ennis did very well at line out and gained parity at the scrum but were outgunned at the breakdown For Ennis Brian Carey, Padraic Neylon, Tom O’Loughlin and Elle Mondu played very well in the pack, with Oisín Tiernan, Brian Cahill and Mike McNelis playing well in the backs.

League action

AFTER a short break, the Division 2 and 3 junior leagues resume this week. In Division 2, Ennis travel to play Kinsale, while Scariff will have Newport as visitors to the East Clare venue. In Division 3, Kilrush travel to play Fermoy. All games kick off at 2.30pm.