Leinster Youths U17 League Division 1

FINAL

Saturday 23rd March 2019

Wexford Wanderers RFC

Mullingar 22

New Ross 12

LEINSTER LEAGUE CHAMPIONS 2018/19

This match wasplayed on a fine, sunny day in Wexford RFC with conditions ideal fo rrunning rugby. Mullingar made the early running, with Liam Shaw breaking the defensive line to leave him with a 70 metre foot race to the New Ross try line, he rounded the full back with ease but was eventually hauled down by the New Ross defence 10 metres short of the line. Mullingar support was slow in getting there and a penalty was awarded to New Ross. Mullingar were not discouraged and a few minutes later after several hard carries by the Mullingar pack scrumhalf AdamTreanor was able to dive over from short range as the New Ross pillar had deserted his post.

More Mullingar pressure forced New Ross to clear their lines with a kick to touch,Adam Treanor took a quick throw in to Rory O’Sullivan Sexton who dragged the New Ross defence out of position and after a quick ruck, Fionn O’Hara switched play to the blindside where Mullingar players were lining up to score, a long pass found its way to Evan Molloy who cantered in to score a try. O’Hara missed the conversion to leave the score 12-0.

Mullingar's confidence was high now and they were keen to attack from everywhere but a misplaced pass allowed New Ross to establish field position in the Mullingar 22 and several phases later they scored a converted try to get the scoreboard moving. Their confidence was now up and they scored another try before half time to leave it all square at 12-12 going into the interval.

Mullingar regrouped at half time and came back out with renewed vigour for the second half but it was a New Ross error that let them in for the next score, New Ross dropped the ball and Fionn O’Hara hacked it through, regathered and his momentum carried him over the try line. Mullingar had now spotted that there was space in the backfield and several chip through’s lead to nothing but finally one bounced right, with Fionn O’Hara again the beneficiary. The score was now 22-12 but balanced on a knife edge and New Ross were not lying down without a fight but some strong tackles by Sean Cronin, Dylan Farrell Daly and Gerry Duffy McAndrew stymied the flow. Hugh O’Neill was particularly prominent at this stage of the game with at least three turnovers at ruck time, Dylan Farrell Daly also made some big carries to take the fight back to New Ross.

Overall this was a fine performance from a squad of players who have had a tough season with some difficult moments but have showed admirable resilience and today it was rewarded. Well done to everybody who played during the season and this Mullingar team can now look forward to a cup semi final against Navan safe in the knowledge that this is already some silverware in the bag.

Team: Oisin Burke, Evan Molloy, Liam Shaw, Fintan Larkin, Gerry Duffy McAndrew, Dylan Farrell Day, Sean Cronin, Hugh O’Neill, Adam Treanor, Fionn O’Hara, Adam Bauer, Mark Flynn, Conor Gibney (Captain), Lee Ryan, Rory O’Sullivan Sexton, Michael Conlon, Lee Crowley Lyons, Jamie Daly, Ethan Heffernan, Cian Farrell, Rian Conroy