Longford RFC Mini/Youth Notes 23/11/2015   23/11/2015

Eoin Corcoran wins Longford Sports Partnership Overall Award, Fixtures, U14 & U15 Match Reports...

Longford Sports Partnership Awards 2015

The Longford Sports Partnership Awards were held in the “Sin Bin” on Friday night last. Longford RFC’s nominee was last year’s U18 captain Eoin Corcoran. Eoin was honoured with the Overall award on the night and it was a magnificent achievement for him and Longford RFC. Eoin is currently studying in Trinity College and has played for Leinster U18’s, Ireland U18’s and Leinster U19’s. As if this was not enough Eoin travelled the next morning to Limerick to receive the JP McManus All Ireland Scholarship Award. Congratulations to Eoin and his mother Rose on two outstanding achievements.

Youth’s Results

Longford U14 00 Mullingar 29

Longford U14 22 Buccaneers 15

Longford U15 29 Athboy 19

Longford U16 00 Mullingar 30

Longford U18 12 Tullamore 3  

Youth’s Fixtures

Sat 27th November

Leinster League

U15 v Athboy Home                    

U16 v Cill Dara Home

U18 v Cill Dara Away

Sun 28th November

U13 v Mullingar Away

Watch Facebook for time and venue changes.

Match Reports

Longford U14 15 Wilsons Hospital 25

Longford’s U14 newcomer’s team had their first ever outing on Wednesday night under lights in a thoroughly entertaining and competitive fixture against the first years in Wilsons Hospital.  Played on a perfect surface for open rugby, the team which was made up principally of total newcomers to the game and a few more who have only been playing a year or so gave a fantastic account of themselves with some excellent rucking, handling and passing.

For many of the players it was their first ever game of rugby and when they settled down after a few minutes they were a good match for their opponents.  Indeed, in some areas of play, particularly rucking, they had the upper hand and it was really just the pace of the Wilsons Hospital backline which proved the difference between the two sides.  It didn’t take Wilsons Hospital long to get on the score board and to the intense disappointment of all concerned with Longford U14 it was Longford’s own Mark McHugh (the traitor!) who got the opening score for his school.  Some excellent interplay and handling by the backs brought Longford back into the game with Fionn Hourican tapping a fine overall performance with a try.

Very much to the fore also for Longford was another newcomer to the game, Ciaran McGlynn and he capped an excellent evening’s play with two tries.  Others who featured well for Longford on the night were Maksymillian Napieralski with some great carries into the heart of the Wilsons Hospital defence and Daniel Lynch who ran superbly with the ball in hand.  Ryan Dempsey gave as good as he got playing hooker in direct opposition to Mark McHugh who has long been one of the foremost practitioners in that position in the Midland League area.  Eager for work throughout the game were Kevin O’Neill and Michael Lynch while Josh Carthy at scrum half was an excellent link between the forwards and backs.

All the players can take great heart from what was a very spirited and coordinated performance in what was, for most of them, their are very first full outing on a rugby pitch.

Squad:  Ciaran McGlynn, Cathal Byrne, Michael Lynch, Daniel Lynch, Kevin O’Neill, Maksymillian Napieralski, Shane Gettings, Paddy Lawrence, Ryan Dempsey, Frank Patterson, Fionn Hourican, Charlie Patterson, Jack Sullivan, Christopher Manning, Aaron Farrell, Josh Carthy, Ben Carthy.

Longford U14 00 Mullingar 29

Longford’s U14 newcomer’s squad had their second outing of the week with a friendly fixture away to Mullingar “B” on Saturday and despite being on the wrong end of the score line they acquitted themselves extremely well.  Fielding no less than nine players who had never played rugby until this season, and many of whom were only playing in their second ever game of rugby, they performed extremely well against an opposition who have been playing together continuously as a “B” team since the beginning of the year.  Great credit, therefore, is due to all concerned for their work rate and commitment.

If there was any real difference between the two sides it was in the tackle area.  Longford more than held their own in the scrums and line outs and their rucks were pretty even too but it was just the tackling which let Longford down and gave Mullingar the upper hand.  Again, in fairness to all the new players, tackling is a skill which does not come naturally but the competitive games which they are now getting will serve them well into the future.

Mullingar got off to a flying start and were two tries to the good before Longford rallied and strong carrying of the ball from Paddy Laurence and Kevin O’Neill gave Longford plenty of go forward ball.  Also prominent in the forwards were Fionn Hourican playing in the unusual position of second row while Jack Sullivan was very prominent around the pitch with a number of important tackles keeping Mullingar at bay.  Longford showed a willingness to run the ball at every opportunity with Charlie and Frank Patterson making good ground whenever the ball came their way on what was a bitterly cold day for wingers.  Also improving game by game is Daniel Lynch showing good promise in the centre.

With injuries reducing Longford to the bare 15 Mullingar pulled ahead with a couple of late tries when they had the opportunity to bring on fresh legs from their bigger squad.

Squad: Cathal Byrne, Michael Lynch, Daniel Lynch, Kevin O’Neill, Maksymillian Napieralski, Shane Gettings, Paddy Laurence, Killian Rawle, Frank Patterson, Fionn Hourican, Charlie Patterson, Jack Sullivan, Christopher Manning, Aaron Farrell, Josh Carthy, Ben Carthy.

Longford U14 22 Buccaneers 15

Longford’s U14 squad of more established players had an excellent work out on Sunday against near neighbours, Buccaneers, in what was actually the first fixture between the two sides despite their geographical proximity.  It was very much a game of two halves, Longford dominating the first period in attack but having to produce a determined rear guard action for much of the second.  Indeed, had Longford not improved significantly the quality of their defence from that shown in the first half it would have been an entirely different result on the score board.  Unable to get their hands on the ball in the second period, and facing an onslaught from a very determined Buccaneers side, it was some outstanding tackling from, in particular, Dylan Fay and Jamie Byrne and a huge number of turnovers from Shane Mallon which restricted Buccaneers to a single try over the second 25 minutes.

It was just as well, therefore, that Longford bossed the first half.  Indeed, the tone was set almost from the kick off when a loose kick out of defence was gathered by Mark McHugh and quick ruck ball created the opportunity for Shane Mallon to score in the corner and he increased the lead with an outstanding conversion from the touchline.  With seven minutes gone Buccaneers lost a line out in their 22 and when Mossie McDermott set the ruck JJ Jackson was on hand to capitalise on quick recycling from the forwards when he barged over from a short distance.  Indeed, the quality of the rucking was the outstanding feature of Longford’s play in the first half. They were far quicker to the breakdown and created the platform for much of the attacking play throughout the first period.  Unfortunately, it was Longford’s old failing, lack of concentration and application at a tap penalty, which came back to haunt them, the Buccaneers ball carrier barging over without any attempt at a tackle.  Unfortunately, this has been a recurring feature of Longford’s play throughout the early part of the season and something which needs to be eradicated.

Despite this setback Longford regained the initiative midway through the first period, a fine solo effort from James Doyle sprinting half the length of the pitch following yet another excellent ruck from Daire McManus and Mossie McDermott.

Despite having regained the initiative, and even though they were well on top of the opposition, Longford again conceded yet another soft try from yet another tap penalty, the Buccaneers ball carrier again barging over without a hand being laid upon him.  It was somewhat disappointing, therefore, that despite being totally in command of the game Longford found themselves only 17-10 ahead, courtesy of two unnecessary scores to the opposition.

With the first period in the dying stages Longford got their fourth try of the half.  A penalty kick to the corner yielded a five metre line out and when Mark McHugh quickly popped a short ball to JJ Jackson Buccaneers were caught unawares and he barged over for an unconverted try in the right hand corner.

In fairness to Buccaneers they were a different side in the second half and it was real backs to the wall stuff from Longford which restricted the visitors to a single try.  It was somewhat disappointing that Longford could not get any worthwhile possession, at any stage during the half, but the lack of possession was counteracted by a superb defensive display.  With the backs knocking down their opposite numbers at every opportunity it was the Buccaneers pack which tried gamely to hammer their way across the line.  Time and time again, however, they were repelled with a huge defensive effort from, in particular, Ciaran Shannon and James Doyle.  It was probably inevitable, given the amount of possession they had, that Buccaneers would eventually cross the try line and this they did with five minutes left on the clock.  When their kicker missed the difficult conversion Buccaneers needed a converted try for a draw.  Again, they hammered away at the Longford line but two huge hits from Dylan Fay and Jamie Byrne, allied to some excellent poaching work at the breakdown from Shane Mallon and Conor Cox gave Longford breathing space.  Indeed, while the first half was characterised by some excellent attacking rucks it was Longford’s defensive work at the breakdown in the second half which caught the eye.  Time and time again Buccaneers were penalised for not releasing the ball but this would not have happened unless Longford had a player in close support of the tackler to contest for possession immediately after the tackle was made.

All told it was a very useful workout as Longford move on to phase two of the Leinster League where they will consistently face opposition equal to the quality shown by Buccaneers.

Squad: Gary Kenny, Mark McHugh, Jack McManus, Ciaran Shannon, JJ Jackson, Dylan Fay, Conor Cox, Ciaran McCormack, Ben Carthy, Ultan O’Sullivan, Daire McManus, Mossie McDermott, Shane Mallon, James Doyle, Jamie Byrne, Killian Rawle, Paddy Lawrence, Maksymillian Napieralski.

U15 Leinster League Longford 29 Athboy 19

Longford travelled to Athboy for their final match in Phase 1 of the Leinster league,  A full squad of 26 players turned out which is a tribute to their Coach, Jimmy Murphy for the huge amount of work he has done to keep this team on track.

It was quite a young Athboy side but they were in no way lacking skill and committement.  They showed from the get go that they really wanted to win and were putting in ferocious tackles from the opening whistle.  This is a confidant Longford team and strong pressure by the Longford pack put Gareth in position to pick from the back of a rock steady longford scrum and touchdown in the corner.  Simon Moorheads conversion just missed and Longford were 5-0 after 10 minutes.  Longford pack continued to perform and sustained pressure by Longford saw Gareth run in for a second try which was converted by Simon.  Athboy came back hard and it needed some excellent tackeling by James Brown and Jack Finnegan kept the score at 12-0.

On or about the 20 minute mark, Longford gathered the ball on the Athboy 10 yard line and Michael Dunne passed to Gareth who passed to James Brown.  James upped the pace and broke 3 tackles to touch down in the corner for a fine try.  Longford collected the kickoff and secured good field position when a Longford knock on gave Athboy a scrum on their own 10 yard line.  Some excellent scrummaging by Craig Gorman secured the turnover and Gareth O'Hara picked from the back and after a 30 yard dash scored yet another try to finish the half 22-0

Athboy were not finished and they pressed hard in the second half.  They were rewarded 5 minutes into the half when their pack hammered the Longford defence and scored a try under the posts.  This was converted to put the score at 22-7.  Longford responded immediately and a perfect dropout by Simon allowed Gareth to catch our own ball and break at least 6 tackles to touchdown under the posts.  Simon converted and the score was at 29-7.

Athboy showed great heart and continued to press Longford and managed to score twice more.  Longford were relieved when the final whistle went to finish the game 29-19.  These Longford 15's are showning great charactor and have won their last three outings.  Special mention must go to Ciaran McGlynn who had the top tackle count on the day which will secure him his place on the starting team next week.  Other players to feature well were David Connolly, Michael Dunne and Simon Moorhead.  The second phase of the Leinster league starts next week with the home fixture against Athboy.

 











Powered By: Sportlomo - Online Sports Software
Website Designed By: Sports Manager


powered by Sportlomo.com