U15s v Terenure

And so it begins ……

 

After a stellar pre-season, with wins over Barnhall, Malahide, St Marys and Clontarf in the bag, the first league game of the season, against Terenure, finally arrived on Sunday 11th. This run of victories hadn’t come without a cost however. There were a number of players unavailable for selection for the first game including Peter O’Farrell and Tien (concussion) and Chris Agnoli (Fractured Hairline!!). There was still a strong squad to pick from however, and the coaches had their work cut out for them in this regard.

The starting 15 lined up against a strong looking Terenure outfit, and the first couple of minutes were spent settling into the game. Coolmine settled first. After some good forward play. The ball was quickly moved along the line and out to the left, where Dean was left unmarked and when the final pass arrived, he made no mistake, scoring just to the left of the posts. Louis stepped up and coolly slotted it between the posts. 7-0 after 4 minutes.

Terenure all of a sudden looked nervous. After a dud kick-off, Coolmine immediately had possession of the ball on the half way line and moved the ball forward ominously through their forwards. Ben was proving a handful and made ground every time he had the ball, ably supported by the rest of the pack. A break from the 22 was made by Justin and there was no stopping him as he went in for the 2nd try just to the right of the posts. Again, Louis made no mistake with the conversion. 14-0 and only 7 minutes gone.

2 minutes later it was the turn of Ben. Terenure were in possession but a strong tackle and subsequent ruck forced the turnover, and Colgans strength and speed were not going to be denied. A couple of minutes on, and playing in an unfamiliar back row position Max Gerhardt joined the party. It was one of those runs we have all become accustomed to from the fullback position, but it proved just as efficient when starting from the thick of things. With the score at 35-0, the one man Kiilian show began. In a scintillating 11 minute spell, the former Ashbourne man crossed the line 4 times, with Terenure having no match for his speed and some clever lines. The pick of these was the 4th, where Justin drew the final defender beautifully before laying off the pass for the finish just to the right of the posts. Louis converted all bar one of these to leave the score at 54 – 0, and there were still 3 minutes left in the first half.

There was no let-up though and Conor Kelly showed his strength to get over just before half time. As the referee’s whistle blew, it was 61-0

With the game so one-sided, Coolmine made a total of 13 substitutions for the 2nd half, which gave some of the ever improving squad a well-earned chance for some game time. As was to be expected, such a significant change to the team structure left a few gaps initially with the new look Coolmine outfit, and Terenure took advantage of this, going in at the right corner, with their big forward unstoppable. The conversion was missed, but they were on the board after 2 minutes of the 2nd half. The game then settled down and both teams had their chances, but there wasn’t to be another score for 18 minutes. During this time however, Fionn played in a strong and composed fashion and was impressive throughout (player plug sponsored by Linda).

After 20 minutes, one of the few players that started the game, Justin, crossed the line for the final time for Coolmine. Harry stepped up to take the conversion, but unfortunately just at that time, a huge wind picked up and the ball flew agonisingly wide (and under) the posts. Terenure had the final say with a converted try in the final minutes, but with the score at 66 – 12, it hardly mattered. 

While its early days, one can only look forward to the season ahead. The next competitive game is against St Marys on the 25th. C-O-O-L-M-I-N-E

 

 

 

 

U15s v Greystones

Greystones upset the odds

Coolmine Under 15s travelled to Greystones with confidence high after some great results in the last few weeks. Having seen off the stiff challenges of both Barnhall and Cill Dara in the previous 2 weeks, and with Greystones on a pretty ordinary run of results, there was an expectation that the morning was going to go well.

The first blot on the horizon was the”pitch” that the game was assigned to. With a slope on it that Chris Bonnington would have struggled with, and not a hint of green as far as the eye could see, it wasn’t worthy of the title. 

The muddy conditions brought to mind the Battle of the Somme to many of the parents watching (obviously not from personal experience). Still, it was the same for both teams, and the coaches and team didn’t let it get in on them during the warm up.

Greystones won the toss and chose to play both downhill and with the breeze. Coolmine kicked off and the conditions and the environment quickly set the agenda. For the first 10 minutes, Coolmine couldn’t get out of their own half. They regularly won possession, but the muddy ball meant there were more handling errors in this period than you would expect in an entire game. Scrum followed scrum, followed knock on followed scrum. It was tough going for the forwards and it was obvious that it wasn’t going to be a day for the backs. There were some displays of great defence during this period. Dean stopped his man metres from the line and Max also executed a great stop on their big wing, to keep it scoreless

The one break for Coolmine came from Ben Colgan who got the ball off the back of another scrum and broke the line. He just got to the Greystones half before being stopped, but unfortunately it was only a short respite.

The best attack came from Greystones after 27 minutes. They worked the ball into the left corner and were patiently recycling the ball but super defending of the initial attack as well as the 2 penalties awarded by the ref ensured the home team didn’t cross the line. 

Max made a break just before half time, but his pass inside was judged to be marginally forward and that signalled the end of the half. 

Coolmine were definitely the happier team with the scorelessfirst half. It could not be overstated how difficult it was to deal with the conditions. The underfoot conditions ensured that it was nearly impossible to run the ball out of this part of the pitch, and the wind against ensured that kicking wasn’t an option either. These were going to be in Coolmine’s favour for the 2nd half.

Mick made 3 substitutions, all forwards at half time.

The change of direction had an immediate effect on the game. Almost immediately, Greystones were under pressure from the kick off. Coolmine went through a phase of “buffalo” balls and their patience was beginning to pay off as they move towards the Greystones 22. However an unfortunate knock on returned possession to the opposition. The best move of the match followed. The Greystones 10 took the ball and ran straight at the Coolmine defence. A delightful kick over, which he ran on to and fielded spelt trouble. With only one to beat, he made no mistake and dotted down under the posts. 7 – 0.  “That wasn’t in the script” was how Stewart succinctly summed the moment up.

Coolmine piled on the pressure after the kick off. With quarter of an hour gone, they were parked in the left corner. 5 good phases followed, but the ball just wouldn’t cross the line. 4 minutes later it did. Greystones were under pressure again, and in attempt to clear the ball they attempted to kick up field. Conor Dunne managed to get his hand to it and knock it down. A couple of passes later and the ball reached Cillian who ran the final 15 metres and got in at the left. Thien attempted the difficult kick from the touch line, but didn’t quite have the distance. The 7 – 5 score line guaranteed that a frenetic final 10 minutes were in store. Despite the heavy ground neither team felt the need to bring on fresh legs so both teams were beginning to tire. Penalties were mounting up, and it was probably because of this that the crucial moment in the game came at the 29th minute. Coolmine had been parked in the Greystones half, and were focussed on getting over the line. Greystones went offside and the ref gave the penalty to Coolmine, almost straight in front of the posts. Nobody thought to take the kick and they ran it again. The Greystones defence were up to the job this one final time and 30 seconds later the ref was blowing the final whistle.

A great performance again from the guys, and on a different day and under different conditions, the result might have been different. The league is still very much alive however, as a surprise draw between Barnhall and Wanderers in the other game in the league, means that the game next week is a winner take all affair. C – O – O – L – M – I – N - E

Coolmine 57 - Malahide 0 U15s

Coolmine 57 – 0 Malahide Saturday 14th November 2015

“The Biggest game of the season so far!!”. These are the words used by coach and team manager Ciaran to describe the game against Malahide in his call to arms on WhatsApp. The team duly responded with a larger than normal turnout for the Friday evening training session. Drills for the forwards and backs went well. Areas for improvement were highlighted and worked on. A steely determination was palpable among the group as they left that evening. 

Saturday came and with it came the rain. Would it ever stop? Is there any chance that the game will go ahead? How could the pitch possibly be playable? Many a pint was had on the Saturday night on the basis that these questions would be answered negatively the following morning and a lie in would replace this eagerly anticipated match.

But NO. The grounds man had performed miracles, and at 9.30, confirmation was received that we were going to war at midday. Warm up commenced at 11, and the referee for the day called the captains together during this session and explained what he wanted. No foul play, no back chat, no repeated fouling. How one of the captains must now be wishing that he had actually listened. The game kicked off and the first few minutes were spent with the teams getting to grips with each other. There were a number of silly penalties for issues around the ruck in the early minutes. An issue with the ball size brought the game to a halt for a few minutes. Seemingly all the Malahide Under 15’s balls are size 5, but Coolmine’s are only size 4. Agreement to use the smaller specimen was eventually brokered and the game continued.

After 10 minutes, Coolmine were piling some serious pressure on the Malahide forwards. One penalty followed another, and despite repeated warnings by the ref, the fouls continued. The yellow card was out and the Malahide man was off for 10 minutes. Amazingly, one of the other Malahide players thought that this would be a good time to directly question the referee’s parentage, which unsurprisingly earned him a spell in the bin as well. With 15 against 13, the first score had to come and through sustained pressure Ben Griffin eventually broke the line.

The numerical advantage was cruelly exposes a couple of minutes later when Max Gerhardt fielded the restart in his own 22. With one of those jinky runs, he proceeded to run the ball back under their 

posts with hardly a hand been laid upon him. Coolmine continued to press, but their next score came just before half time, when Malahide were back to full strength. Several patient phases of play from 10 metres out were eventually rewarded when Ben Colgan broke through the line for the final score of the first half. Coolmine 21 – 0 Malahide.

Unfortunately for Malahide, the 2nd half started where the first left off. Probably one of the most popular scorers of the day got the first try of the 2nd half, when Jack Fitz used his strength to bundle 

the ball over in the right hand corner. With a tricky wind to deal with, Louis eventually lost his 100% 

kicking record with only the first missed conversion of the day. 4 minutes later, Max crossed the whitewash in the right corner after some lovely back play that involved Liam and Conor Dunne as well.

Malahide began to show some fight and were close to crossing the Coolmine line for the first time, when the ball was lost and some quick play released Dean down the left wing. With only one player 

to beat, he was cynically tackled with a straight arm to the neck that left him poleaxed on the ground for several minutes. Thankfully there was no serious damage done, but the ref had no alternative than to issue a 3rd yellow card of the day to Malahide. From the ensuing penalty. Conor Kelly received the ball and made tremendous yards through the middle of the pitch and looked like he might make it himself at one point. Desperate tackles eventually saw him brought to ground but Ben Griffin was on hand for his 2nd and Coolmines 6th.

With 15 minutes left, and the game as good as over, Coolmines ruthless streak remained. Good work by Fionn on the 18 minute mark, saw him make some good yards before releasing Harry on the left, 

who worked hard to cross the line under a mountain of Malahide defenders. Max got the first hat-

trick of the afternoon, with another fantastic solo run, but Ben Griffin wasn’t to be denied either and with 3 minutes remaining he also crossed the line for the 3rd time.

Final score 57 – 0 to Coolmine. Size 4 or Size 5. I think it’s obvious who has the bigger balls !!

.

Coolmine 36 - Navan 0 (U16s League)

Coolmine proved too strong for Navan in an emphatic win at Ashbrook. The game was played in awful conditions but the excellent pitch held up very well. After twenty minutes Navan were well in the game with the only score being an unconverted try after five minutes. 

However three tries for the home team in the final ten minutes of the half put them in a commanding position. Coolmine went on to control the second half and ran out comprehensive winners.

 

The team are now two from two in the league & next week travel to Wanderers for what is sure to be a very interesting tussle.

 

Wicklow 22 Coolmine 0 Leinster League Div 1B

Wet and Windy Wicklow Woes

This was not an easy day for the squad who have had a superb run up to now. No matter what way we look at this, the home side were hungrier from the get go and wanted this more.

While the conditions were truly awful to start with, their more weighty pack made the difference in what was never going to be a rugby spectacle.

They started with almost a full press forward game and with wet conditions aiding the forward play our scrums came under pressure early on.

Aided by a wind that sheared diagonally across the pitch, the first half was spent almost entirely in our half.

We made hard work of our clearances and their back row left little to take around the fringes.

Emboldened by their strong scrummaging they opted for the corner when awarded a penalty for Coolmine going in at the side.

The resulting drive from their take-down in the lineout wasn't met quickly enough by us and they steamrolled in for their first try: 7-0 to the good with conversion.

We weren't clicking like normal and spent much of the half defending, some times quite well, others not so. 

There were a couple of flashes of that high tempo game we've made our own in that opening period but the slippery conditions made hard work of any fast play and inevitably ended up in a set piece where we were struggling.

It wasn't all one way in the scrum with Coolmine getting a couple over on Wicklow as well but their back row and back three kept the pressure on both at the break down and out wide and we failed to get any rythm going. 

A brighter period for Coolmine coincided with the brighter weather which cleared up but the big boot of their full back kept us pinned back in our own half and a knock on in our 22 gifted them a scrum. From this they were awarded a penalty - 10 - 0 to Wicklow 

Coolmine go back up into again and pushed hard, winning a penalty which went to their corner but the ball was adjudged not straight which confounded us watching the game and they were let off. Probably the best chance of the game for us to score as we had played much better for that period.

A big scrum almost won us the ball back and we up the pressure but they managed to clear all the way back to our 22.

A scrum to them in front of the posts and a try worked from it, was a bit of a spirit crusher as we had made all the play before that. 17 - 0 to them.

The second half saw a much improved performance from Coolmine and we shut them out for long periods but we really only edged our way into a scoring chance perhaps twice in that second half.

Greg Culhane put in a storming final 15 with one wonderful solo turnover effort.

I counted about one penalty to us for that period (we opted for the corner) and maybe half a dozen at least to Wicklow. 

They crossed for a scrappy try after what looked like a cross over by them but our protests came to nothing.

22 - 0 it stayed for the rest of the game with most of the play in the middle of the pitch - Wicklow not really able to get anymore on us but Coolmine looking like we didn't have the ammo to test them.

Our one clear chance saw the ball rifled behind the runner into touch on their 5 metre line - it summed up our day.

Malahide won't be any easier.

Need to hit the reset button and get back into our win mode asap.

Final score Coolmine 0 - Wicklow 22

U17s rocket past Ashbourne

Coolmine too strong in the end

After a slow start to the season the Under 17s played  their second fixture at home to Ashbourne. It was a credit to both sides who produced end to end exciting running rugby with some excellent handling skills on display.The Coolmine coaches were delighted that newcomers Sam Bolger, Mike McGuire and Lorcan Byrne all contributed enormously and were fully supported by the returning players Finlay Sharpe and Ben Eustace. 

Coolmine scored three first half tries from a combination of straight running backs and an excellent lineout with a well organised maul to send Jamie Cowan over the line giving Coolmine a halftime lead of 21 -10. The second half saw Ashbourne successfully counterattack to bring the score back to a 28-26 score but with 10 minutes to play Coolmine kicked on with three excellent handling tries involving both forwards and backs. 

David Sheridan’s try of great running, kick chase and great bounce closed the game out. All 18 players got play time with the newcomers bringing a new freshness to the squad. To build on this we need the support of ALL club members to encourage former and new players to join our squad at our 7pm Friday training sessions. 

We play fun, running rugby and we want to take this style on our end of season tour to our coach,Fabrice’s club in the south of France!  

U16 League Coolmine 15 Barnhall 10

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