U 16 League
Coolmine 15 Barnhall 10
Coolmine came out narrowly on top in their opening league fixture against a good Barnhall side. Both sides were willing to have a go, with attacking rugby prevailing in perfect conditions. The game went down to the wire with a late try for the home team being enough to secure the win.
With Coolmine’s lineout misfiring, Barnhall applied early pressure & were rewarded with a converted try. Five minutes later, after some good phases Conor Kiernan squeezed over wide left after David Porter was stopped just short. Barnhall continued to dominate territory & possession and only some stern defence from the home team kept them at bay. Luke Maguire relieved the pressure on the home side with some excellent breaks from deep. It looked like Barnhall were set to score in the right corner shortly before half time. As the Barnhall player bent to touch time, Robert O’Farrell came from nowhere and his man & ball tackle saved the day.
Half Time: Coolmine 5 Barnhall 7.
Early in the second half, Barnhall converted a penalty to put them into a 10-5 lead. The next ten minutes were evenly matched, with both sides putting some good phases together. A clever Barnhall move up the right almost resulted in a score when they moved the ball back left. Full back Hugh Hogan & winger Conor McMahon put in a number of excellent cover tackles to keep their team in the game.
Half way through the first half, Coolmine seemed to up the pace. The forwards generated some go forward ball with Conor Kiernan, Andrew Lane & Sean Thompson carrying strongly. The backs handled well & came close to scoring on a number of occasions. Winger Conor McMahon showed excellent footwork to score in the corner after some good combination play by backs & forwards. Coolmine continued to remain on top, but as time ran out, it looked as if the spoils were about to be shared. After some good phases from left to right, it looked as if Andy Lane had run out of numbers. However Robert O’ Farrell had other ideas when he called an inside pass from Andy. He cut a delicious line, shrugged off two tackles & scored just right of the posts.
The home team saw out the final two minutes to earn a very hard fought win against a sporting Barnhall time. Thanks to referee Ray Mooney for refereeing this excellent game.
The next league game is away to Wanderers on 25th October.
Full Time: Coolmine 15 Barnhall 10
