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DUNDALK u11 SHARKS DOMINATE AT MUNSTER FIXTURE
HIGHFIELD RFC 2 – 7 DUNDALK RFC L-R BACK. Flyn Kiernan, Ronan Greene, Sean Fitzpatrick, Thomas O’Connell, Evan Cronin, Peter Suresh FRONT. Cormac McGuigan, Ryan Duffy, Jack Connolly, Timmy Connolly (s), Iarla Carroll
A squad of ten from Dundalk RFC Sharks u11’s travelled to Cork on Saturday 5th March last for a fixture with their Highfield RFC counterparts on what was a perfect morning for rugby. Dundalk players, having spent over 3 hours making the journey down on the morning, were raring to go and exploded into action when the referee blew the whistle for the start of the match. Some good early possession and quick hands out wide saw winger Flyn Kiernan dart over the line for the first. Highfield responded with sustained pressure but couldn’t penetrate the Dundalk line, and some fine rucking and ball protection from Dundalk second row Cormac McGuigan which rewarded him with turn over ball where he duly ran at and crashed through the Highfield defence for Dundalk’s second. Thomas O’Connell at out-half was dictating play and managing his back line very effectively, and a quick pass off the scrum saw O’Connell hold the ball out in front of him and swerve past half a dozen Highfield players with typical panache to record Dundalk’s third. Highfield didn’t take the drubbing lying down, and responded with a driving maul to record one of their own. A brief injury to Ronan Greene saw substitute Timmy Connolly take to the field, and Highfield were undone again shortly afterwards by a long mazy run from Dundalk inside centre Sean Fitzpatrick who was impossible to catch, and who ran in Dundalk’s fourth. Score 4 – 1 to Dundalk at half time. The sides swopped ends, and Highfield put out their second team of ten players, but the writing was on the wall for the Munstermen as the Dundalk front row trio of Evan Cronin at loose-head, Peter Suresh at tight-head, with the meat in this particular sandwich in the form of Ryan Duffy as hooker, caused untold problems for their opposite numbers, allowing Jack Connolly at scrum-half to cleverly pluck the ball out of a Dundalk scrum, pass and receive again at the right instant, and then make a diagonal dash from just outside the 22 to score in the corner. The Highfield lads were now attacking at every opportunity, but the tackle rate, defensive work and kicking out of the danger zone from Dundalk, made it impossible for their opponents to break the siege, until eventually a fine passing move caught the Dundalk backs off their defensive lines to allow Highfield in for their second. Five minutes to go, and after some good recycling, a series of clean Dundalk passes saw second row Iarla Carroll collect the ball and run at the opposition from just inside the half-way, where his running strength and hand-offs allowed him to shrug off numerous tackles and punch a hole through the Highfield line, and place the ball down for Dundalk’s sixth. Some further fine scrummaging work and quick passing off the scrum out wide, saw outside centre and flying machine Ronan Greene, take hold of the ball, and despite the attentions of half a dozen Highfield opponents en-route, he had only one thing on his mind. With the ball firmly up his jumper, he side-stepped and meandered, this way and that, to eventually cruise over the line with all the time in the world to put the icing on the cake for Dundalk. Final Score, Highfield 2 – 7 Dundalk. The lads enjoyed some first class hospitality from Highfield afterwards and then retired to the team hotel for a wash in the pool before gathering themselves up for a bit of grub and then making the short trip across town to a floodlight Musgrave Park to see Munster record a 38 to 17 victory over their Magners League opponents Newport Gwent Dragons. Afterwards the Munster team emerged from the dressing rooms, with the likes of John Hayes, Denis Leamy, Doug Howlett, Mick O’Driscoll, Paul Warwick, Peter Stringer and new recruit Danny Barnes signing autographs and posing for photographs, it was the culmination of a magical feast of rugby in Cork for the Dundalk lads, and capped off what was a great end to a perfect day. |
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