Match Report September 7, 2017
On a rainy Thursday evening our seniors took on Castleisland RFC in last seasons final of the McElligott Cup.
The game started well for the men from Killorglin as the held off strong Castleisland pressure and were rewarded with a penalty in Castleisland territory. Luke O’Shea stepped up the mark and slotted the ball between the posts to give the away side a 3-0 lead.
Castleisland did not sit idle, they advanced back up the park through a series of penalties committed by Killorglin. Killorglin managed to dig themselves our of their own end with a little help from errors made by a strong Castleisland side. Slighty against the run of the play Killorglin made a great break up the park, big carries from the Lynch brothers Tony and Rob helped the squad gain important meters. Killorglin spotted an opening on the left wing, Brian Hayes found himself with his hands on the ball meters from the line, he drew in a defender and popped the ball out to his left to a speedy Kyle Byrne who got over the line. A very difficult conversion for O’Shea saw the ball float just wide but Killorglin had an 8-0 lead.
Not long over the games opening try Castleisland conceded a penalty is kickable range. Luke threaded the ball to give Killorglin an 11-0 lead. Castleisland responded strong finding themselves with a lineout 5 meters from Killorglin’s try line. With good use of the maul they got themselves on the scoreboard. Their conversion was wide to leave the score at 11-5 with Killorglin on top.
With 8 minutes left in the first half a common problem for our seniors reared its ugly head…. indiscipline started to set in to the Killorglin squad. Captain Tony Lynch was sent to the sin bin for not being back 10 meters and deliberately playing the ball. Killorglin managed to stand strong until halftime keeping the score at 11-5. As the second half begun and with Killorglin still down a man Castleisland got over for their second try of the game, the conversion was successful and Castleisland took the lead 12-11. Killorglin then conceded 3 penalties in rapid succession before things went from bad to worse for the men from Puck when Rodi Healy was shown yellow for illegally pulling down a maul.
Castleisland took advantage of more Killorglin indiscipline and managed to run over 3 more tries before the end of the game. Killorglin fought hard and kept the heads up until the very end. It was a very tough outing for the first game of the season however the lads will be stronger for it and will look forward to the league.
Our seniors next outing is this Sunday September 17th vs Iveragh in the first round of this years McElligott Cup. The game will be at our home grounds in Ballymalis kickoff is at 2:30pm.