MULLINGAR RUGBY FOOTBALL CLUB
BUILDING A COMMUNITY SINCE 1925.
MULLINGAR RUGBY FOOTBALL CLUB
BUILDING A COMMUNITY SINCE 1925.
Menu
OUR U16 BOYS MARCH INTO LEINSTER RUGBY YOUTH CUP FINAL
April 26, 2018
By Site Editor
U16 Youth Cup
Semi Final
NUI MAYNOOTH
Sunday 22nd April
MULLINGAR 43
BOYNE RFC 25
In a replay of last years cup final Mullingar faced Boyne in the semifinal of this years U16 Cup. The match was played in NUI Maynooth on a perfect pitch with the only issue for both teams to contend with was a strong crossfield wind. The match promised to be a fine contest and it didn't disappoint with 10 try's in total. Mullingar started strongly and dominated the first 10 minutes of the game and it eventually yielded results with Mark Flynn scoring out wide to leave a difficult conversion attempt which went wide. From the resulting kick off Mullingar failed to exit and turned the ball over, Boyne eventually forced a penalty which they kicked to leave the score at 5-3. Some good kicking left Mullingar deep in Boyne's 22 and eventually Fionn O'Hara found a gap to score under the posts, he also kicked the conversion to leave the score at 12-3. This seemed to spark Boyne into action and some hard running saw them cross the try line to make the score 12-10. Hugh O'Neill was injured in the lead up to the try and had to leave the field, this seemed to destabilise Mullingar and Boyne dominated the rest of the half with two more unconverted trys to make the half time score 20-12.
Half time allowed Mullingar to regroup and sort out some issues and further trys soon after the break from Fionn O'Hara and Mark Flynn put them back in the lead26-20. Boyne would not quit though and they scored a try from a well worked lineout maul to get back within a point but this would be their last score. A further penalty from Fionn O'Hara and a fine break away try from Conor Gibney meant Mullingar went into the final10 minutes with a 36-25 lead but fine defence held Boyne at bay and eventually Mullingar got their hands on the ball and they won a penalty 5 metres out and they elected to take a scrum, a fine breakfrom the back of the scrum meant that Gerry Duffy-McAndrew got the final score of the game to finally kill off any hopes of a comeback.It was a fantastic team performance from Mullingar with fine individual contributions which lead to this win, particularly impressive was the resolve to bounce back from a losing scoreline a thalf time and the work rate and intensity in defence in the second half.
Mullingar must now wait to see who the other finalist will be, the other semi final was contested today between Tullamore and Tullow but it ended in a draw.The final has been scheduled for Monday May Bank Holiday but there may some scheduling difficulties as Tullow must contest an All-Ireland Final next Saturday which is coincidentally been held in Mullingar at 1.00pm.
Squad: Liam Shaw, Oisin Burke,Michael Conlon, Evan Molloy, Dylan
Farrell-Daly, Conor Mooney,Hugh O'Neill, Lee Crowley-Lyons Fintan
Larkin, Sean Cronin,Gerry Duffy-McAndrew, Adam Bauer, Adam Treanor,
Fionn O'Hara,Conor Gibney, Mark Flynn, Sam Caslin, Rory
O'Sullivan-Sexton,Lee Ryan, Jamie Daly, Shane Williams, Brian
Farrell, Ethan Heffernan