Connemara 20 - Nenagh 21     

After losing their last four matches Nenagh were very keen to stop the slide to the bottom of the table and playing Connemara, a team one place below them on the table, seemed to be the ideal opportunity to do this. Little did they know the manner in which this was to come.
Connemara were out of the blocks quickly despite the fact that they were the away team and had travelled on the day .The early pressure however was short lived and after 7 minutes Nenagh were in for a try. Nenagh seemed to get control of the game at this stage and things were not looking good for Connemara. Thoughts of the first half against Bruff came to mind. Nenagh went further ahead in the 19th minute with a penalty making the score 10-0.
Connemara put their first points on the board in the 28th minute with a Troy Nathan penalty. In the 33rd minute Paddy O Toole went in for a try after some very good play making the score 10-10.
In the 37th minute Nenagh went back into the lead from a penalty that left the score 13-10 at half time.
Nenagh started well in the second half and were rewarded with 3points from a penalty after 5 minutes, 16-10.
At this stage Connemara started to come more into the game and were rewarded with a well worked try in the 15th minute of the second half. This was scored and converted by Troy Nathan, 17-16 to Connemara. In the 23rd minute of the second half Troy Nathan put Connemara further in front with a penalty from the half way line which he took back another yard before he kicked it straight between the posts, 20 -16 to Connemara with 17 minutes to go.
Connemara had the smell of success at this stage and were giving it everything but Nenagh were not beaten yet and did not want to be beaten at home. Time was running out and with a minute to go Nenagh got possession and chipped a ball over the line on the right hand side of the pitch. The next part was in slow motion. Connemara had all the time in the world to touch it down but some how or other a Nenagh player got through to touch down. Nenagh missed the conversion making the score Nenagh 21 – Connemara 20.
The time was up Connemara had gifted Nenagh their first win in five matches. The Connemara supporters were in shock and the road home never seemed so long.
Having said that, one fatal error does not take from the performance Connemara will need to put this behind them before they travel to Derry next week.  Derry beat Nenagh 20 -14 in Nenagh. (P. Walshe)

Connemara 0 – Sligo 3     10-02-08

Connemara U18’s played Sligo on the 10/02/08 in their penultimate league game.
From the start it became obvious that this would be a forwards game. The Sligo outfit started well putting the Connemara pack under pressure at the breakdown. That pressure yielded a penalty for Sligo on 15 minutes which was converted into a strong wind.
After the first 20 minutes the Connemara forwards started to find their feet. Using the strong breeze some good kicking from Chris Casey and David McDonagh took us to good positions,  but some very hard defending by the Sligo back row  kept us out. 
With the score 3-0  at half time   and facing a strong breeze , the Connemara forwards showed their abilities  with a superb ,controlled display.  The rucking and mauling was first class and but for a few basic errors would have converted that dominance into scores.  In fact the referee didn’t allow what seemed to be a good score by replacement Ian McDonagh mid way through the half.
Try as we might Sligo held on for the win.
The last league game for the u18 is away to Castlebar on the 17th Feb.  A must win game.
The first round on the cup is on 24 Feb at home against Ballyhaunis. The turn-out for the Sligo game was excellent and we hope that the remaining training sessions and games are well supported. (R. King)

Connemara 30   NUIG 7     9th Feb. 2008

Losing 7-0 after the first 20 minutes Connemara scored 6 tries and 3 conversions unanswered and had a great all round team performance. Paddy Madden scored 3 tries. Eoin Bourke Jonathon Young and Tiernan O Halloran got one each. Barry Gibbons captained the team from the front and the rest of the squad were: John Bolger, Cathal King, Mike Ward, Martin Mannion, David Mullen, Ronan Keane, Chris Casey, Conor O Malley, Fiachra Coyne, Stephen Smyth, Stephen Prendergast, Sulluvan Morroisse.
Next fixture in 2 weeks.  (J. Malone)

Connemara 36 – Monivea 7   8th Feb. 2008

With great excitement the under 13 team travelled to Monivea on Friday night 08/02/08 as it was a first for many of them to play under floodlights.
Last year they were defeated by Monivea and were determined to make amends this year. We started very strongly and ran every ball at the Monivea backs and after about 5 minutes we had our first score on the board. Connemara played some lovely rugby from then on with the forwards winning a lot of ball from the rucks and the backs moving it wide at every opportunity. They managed to run up a few more tries before half time, the best one when our outside center passed out wide to the winger and then looped round to receive the return pass and had the presence of mind to cut back inside to score near the posts…… A wonderful try at any level…well done. Even though we ran up a good score there was a lot of tough defending to be done especially so in the second half. All this pressure by Monivea paid off and they scored after 15 minutes.
Another good win lads….well done.
The Connemara squad was:
Thomas Mac Donncha.
Connor Clarke.
Mikie Walsh.
Jack Shannon.
Thomas Joyce.
Mark Gavin.
Cathal Heanue.
Stiofán Mac Donncha.
Stephen McDonagh.
Oisin Heffernan.
Sean Coohill.
Emmet Madden.
Patrick King.
T. J. Berry.
Roddy O’Donnell.
James M. O’Toole.
Cian Laffey.
Kevin Ryan.
James P. O’Toole.
Jack Moran.
Alan Conroy.
Christopher Joyce.

A special thank you to Peter Brittain complete with arm in a cast for coming along to help out with the first aid and demanding all evening  (to no avail) to be allowed  play .Thanks PB, looking forward to having you back in action. Thank you also to the two under 11 players Darren Burke and Mathew Gavin for coming along.

A very special thank you to parents Tina Shannon and Helen Laffey for giving up their Friday night to travel on the bus with the team.

(S. Coyne)

Connemara 28 Castlebar 3   10th Feb. 2008

It was good to get back to winning ways after disappointing away losses to Ballinasloe (19-7) and Monivea (28-14) in the league. The lads started well with the forwards taking on some good ball and linking well with the backs. It wasn’t long before the pack powered over the Castlebar line with Ian McDonagh claiming the touchdown. Shane Sweeny converted very skillfully from near the touchline. Shortly afterwards Derek Heanue burst through for a fine try after some good continuity. After more pressure Eugene Conroy scored another try. Shane converted both tries to leave the score 21-0 at half time.
In the second half we got a bit sloppy and took the foot off the pedal a bit against what was admittedly a weak Castlebar side with only 14 men. Castlebar converted a penalty and some poor tackling could have easily led to them scoring a try. We got back into it and finished strongly with Ian scoring a good breakaway try which Shane converted. We take on Ballinasloe in the next round away- this will be a far tougher challenge in 2 weeks time. ( F. Wood)

The Junior League Division two match  – Creggs v Connemara – due to be played today, Sunday 3rd February, has been called off due to flooded pitch.

We would like to ask the help of all players within the club to keep an eye out for a pair of missing football boots which were worn by the referee on St. Stephens Day clash of Captains v Presidents. The boots are/were a size 8 (no joke) - they weren’t new but weren’t very old either. The ref has assured us that there was a bit of life still left in them and he’s finding it hard to find another pair of adult 8′s. It’s very likely that they may have been accidentally mistaken for a pair of boots owned by one of our youth or mini players. Any info would be appreciated.