Weekend Match Reports November 16th & 17th 2019
U16’s
The U16s played a Tralee-Listowel combination at O’Dowd Park on Sunday morning in good conditions for rugby. A much improved performance from the Killorglin side saw them dominate possession throughout the game but unfortunately fail to turn this in to scores, while the opposition were more clinical when chances presented themselves. Playing a controlled and measured game up front Killorglin had the better of breakdown and set piece thanks to an industrious performance from the pack with Ben O’Dwyer, Peadar Whelan, Donnachadh O’Connor and Adam Casey standing out. Tralee-Listowel however made the most of their opportunities and when a mishandled long range kick forced an attacking scrum on the Killorglin 5 meter line their eye-catching outside centre danced through the cover to break the deadlock just before half time and leave the score at 5-0. The home team managed to get some parity of possession in the second half and extended the lead to 12-0 courtesy of their forwards and from there on started to play the clock. Killorglin continued to have lots of ball but seemed to lack the cutting edge and precision to convert this to scores until Aona O’Shea broke from his own half to bring the play inside the home 22. A series of pick and goes from the pack drew multiple penalties and would have resulted in a penalty try if Killorglin man of the match Aona O’Shea had not managed to wriggle through the pile of bodies and dot down for the try. Final Score Tralee-Listowel 12 Killorglin 5.
Team: Joe Cronin Langham, Eoghan Joy, Killian Spillane, Donncha Crowley, Colin Griffin, Tom Garry, Aona OShea (c), Mike Teahan, Ben O’Dwyer, Peadar Whelan, Cathal Daly, Joe Final, Donnachadh O’Connor, Enda O’Shea, Adam Casey. Subs: Shane Moriarty, Kevin O’Callaghan, James Prendiville, Dylan McDonough, Cillian Riordan, Noah Diosee, Cathal Curran, Thomas Hilliard, Derry O’Sullivan.
U18.5
Killorglin faced into the latest round of games with a much anticipated fixture against near neighbours Killarney.
The match was a good clean battle amongst two fine rugby teams. Killarney struck first with a penalty from Ciaran O’Brien. Shogie O’Sullivan soon cancelled that out with a penalty for the home team after 15 mins. Soon after though Killarney got into the Killorglin 22 capitalized on a rare defensive error to score under the posts. Ciaran O’Brien kicked the conversion and the score was 3 – 10. Before half time Killarney won one more penalty which they converted to lead by 10 at half time. The second half proved to be scoreless despite the effort of both teams who both played a good brand of rugby. The score however finished up at Killorglin 3 – Killarney 13. A great team performance despite the result in the end. Next game is against Tralee/Listowel in Listowel on 23rd November at 11.30 am
Seniors
Killorglin seniors made the journey to Youghal for second time for quarter final of Martin O’Sullivan Cup with 5 changes to the team that started 2 weeks ago. Youghal kicked off with a strong wind behind them. They were awarded a penalty early on but the kick for posts drifted wide. From the restart, Killorglin went on the attack. Following a lineout in Youghal half, Shane O’Neill burst through for a try near posts that Luke O’Shea converted to put Killorglin ahead after 8 minutes. Two minutes later Killorglin doubled their lead. Timmy Lynch got the ball and the Youghal defence drifted in anticipation of him passing. Clever Timmy spotted the gap opening like parting of the Red Sea, accelerated through to score near the posts with conversion by Luke O’Shea.
No further scores until half an hour when during a Killorglin attack, Luke O’Shea kicked a drop goal. Shortly before half time Timmy Lynch burst through again. He threw a pass that Shane O’Neill did very well to catch close to the ground near the line and with great presence of mind swung his arms forward to touch down. Luke converted to put Killorglin ahead 24 – 0 at half time
Youghal threw everything at Killorglin from the restart but some strong defensive work particularly by centres Daragh O’Shea and Josh Morell kept them scoreless. Seamus Doyle picked up a spilled Youghal pass to sprint half the pitch to score. With 30 minutes of second half gone, Killorglin passed across the line to winger Seamus Doyle who ran close to the touchline to score again with conversion by Luke O’Shea. Five minutes later Killorglin scored from a close in lineout through Timmy Lynch. In the dying minutes, Youghal got an interception try under the posts to leave final score at 41 – 7 in favour of Killorglin. The semi-final will be versus Waterford City on 15th December in Ballymalis. Before that, there is a home league game v Bantry next Sunday 24th November at Ballymalis