Killarney U14s field Black and Red teams in Cup and Plate
A busy weekend saw us field teams on Saturday and Sunday in the West Munster U14 Cup and Plate. We opened with a trip to Tralee on Saturday to face their U14 team that had won the U14 West Munster League undefeated.
Due to a couple of unforeseen injuries (a scrum half's fingers and a car door are a bad combination) and the enticements of other activities - we had to field a 13-man team, playing RL style without wing forwards. With no subs, our 13 played the full game.
The match itself was a tight affair. Scores in the first half were hard to come by. Tralee opened after 15 minutes with a try in the right corner that they couldn't convert. They soon added a second when a knock forward was gathered by Tralee's second row who raced to the Killarney tryline. Killarney Black came back into the game - and were held up short by great Tralee defence that forced a penalty for holding on. Half-time: Tralee 12 Killarney 0.
Killarney opened the second half in the wrong way - defending too narrow off a lineout and allowing Tralee in in the corner. With a decent lead, Tralee were able to use their excellent outside half to kick long and pressure us on the line outs in our own 22 through their outstanding number 5 and No.8, rather than running the ball from deep and risking a turnover at the ruck. We stayed in the game through good defence, excellent tackling by all players and by having a slight edge in the scrum through our props Tom Chambers (LH) and Scott Carlton (TH).
We got some reward in the last 10 minutes scoring 2 tries through Shane O'Sullivan when we put the ball through the hands - possibly a tactic we need to try more! We were still on the attack on the Tralee 5 metre line and looking for a third score when we lost the lineout and Tralee were able to kick the ball dead.
While disappointing to lose - and when is it not? - we competed well in all areas and pushed Tralee hard. In a competitive and tough game, we had to recognise that Tralee set the bar at U14 this year and we can see clearly the standard required. It's always invidious to highlight individuals but in addition to to those already mentioned credit is due to Hugh and Connie for some hard carrying, and Leon and Mark for some great tackling in defence
Killarney Black - Tom Chambers, Luis Caruz, Scott Carlton; Alfie Barrett, Connie Counihan; Shane O'Sullivan; Bryan Walsh, Dara Stack; Daire Kingston, Hugh Dorrian, Mark Kennelly, Leon Bowler; Colm Janot;
On Sunday, we took a - relative - leap into the dark by fielding a different XV in the West Munster U14 Plate. We hosted an Abbeyfeale/Listowel combination. On a bright, sunny but chilly morning, a younger, and generally more inexperienced team were always going to find it tough going against the best of two clubs. Nevertheless, we managed one excellent try - Ciaran Doyle crashing home in the corner after we'd applied good pressure to the Abbeyfeale/Listowel tryline. In the second half , Abbeyfeale/Listowel were able to throw on reinforcements and take advantage of tiring bodies.
We pushed for a second try and some strong runs by Adam Lynch, TJ Healy, Pierce Leslie and Ciaran Doyle almost saw us in again - unfortunately, inexperience showed when having sucked in the defence to defend the rucks we didn't spot the overlap on the right that would have resulted in a second try. But this is the experience and knowledge you get from playing matches. Credit goes to captain Ciaran for great leadership of a novice team, Adam, TJ, and Pierce for their ball-carrying and willingness make ground, to Jack and Ignacio for some eye-catching tackling, and to Jack (again) and Muiris for some great attacking runs with ball in hand.
Killarney Red: Ciaran Doyle, Adam Lynch, TJ Healy, Jack Donoghue, Muiris O'Donoghue, Tomás Swords, David Butler, Luke Courtney, Gearóid O'Connor, Ignácio Moreno, Pierce Leslie, Jake Leahy, Alex Sheahan, Colin O'Shea, Eivind Caulfield Dreier, Eanna Coffey
Our sense of achievement was somewhat tempered by the actual results - but whilst the lads who played will be disappointed on a larger scale this was a great step forward for the club to be able to field 2 teams at U14. To see 29 boys playing at the weekend is very satisfying, and we all recognise that win or lose (or occasional draw) in sport there's nothing like playing the game.
