U16′s News — Connemara 12 – Monivea 0
Connemara 12 – Monivea 0 18th November ‘07
Monivea started strongly but we soon got to grips with them. Our lineout functioned well giving some good clean, fast ball to our backs. Shane Sweeney and Jack Vaughan kicked intelligently against the hill and the wind with Cathal Molloy and Eoghan Brady chasing well. Monivea attacked deep into our own half on several occasions. A very strong defensive scrum won a vital turnover with the front row of Dave O’Reilly, Colin Reilly and Michael Prendergast putting their opposite numbers under severe pressure. At this stage before half time we were making good inroads in their defense with piercing straight runs by Ciaran Molloy and Derek Heanue. Alan O’Malley and Eugene Conroy were winning quality ball in the lineout. From a line out near their line we mauled and rucked through a few phases with Ian McDonagh touching down after we mauled over their line -a great team effort. We missed the conversion to lead 5-0 at half time. Monivea started the second half strongly. Some strong runs by their centres exposed our defense a couple of times but some excellent strong tackling by Thomas Roche, Dave O’Reilly and Eugene Conroy saved our bacon. Thomas, Shane and Jack kept Monivea pinned back in the lake corner with some fine chips and kicks. We attacked with some good continuity, the lads all supporting each other well inthe rucks and mauls. After several failed attacks, Derek Heanue cut a lovely line back inside to break the defense and score under the posts. Shane converted to make the final score 12-0. A good squad win, especially when we were missing two strong players in Tommy Coyne and Dylan Davis. Their two young replacements Charles O’Donoghue and Michael Prendergast deserve special mention for acquitting themselves so well in a tough debut. We would also like to wish Tommy Coyne a speedy recovery after his more serious injury. (F. Wood)
