The long season for the U-13’s finally came to a close on Sunday last in glorious sunshine on the hallowed turf of the Corinthians main pitch. The season finished on a high for the young Connemara team in the Connacht Plate final against Galwegians.
After a challenging league which seen the team travel the length and breadth of the province, and results not reflecting the hard work that each and every one put in through the indifferent weather during the winter at training. Although not all the games went the way of the young Black’s but in each and every encounter the lessons learned from the previous game and from training they seemed to stand up and put everything into practice and they improved with each and every game.
The young Blacks took to the field on Sunday last with nothing to prove to anybody about the quality that they possessed within their ranks, the weather was great and the atmosphere within the camp was buoyant,  the game started at a great speed and the young Connemara men were well up for the challenge and after about 10 minutes the Galwegians backs found a small but of space and they managed to make their way in to score the opening try in the corner, they failed with the conversion,  the Connemara lads seemed to wake up at this stage and dominated the possession for the remainder of the half and a great break from his own 10 meter line saw Will Smith run with the ball and he managed to evade numerous Galwegian players to cross the line and touch down under the posts, the try was a great individual effort but was set up by committed tackling and rucking by the team, the try was converted by John F Conneely .  The half time score was Connemara 7 Galwegians 5.
The second half commenced in the same style as the first half had finished but again a momentary lapse in concentration lead to the Galwegian team again crossed the whitewash to score another try in the corner and again they converted which left just left the gap at 5 points, 12-7. Again the fight came back into the belly of the Blacks, and they produced some great rugby in the second half. Time and time again they made their way into the Galwegians 22 and were close on a number of occasions but the final ball didn’t come. Eventually all the Connemara pressure paid off and they managed to cross the whitewash again  with a bulldozing run by Ian Staunton, which was again converted by John F, this gave Connemara a 2 point lead with 10  minutes to go. For the remaining time the game was played between both sets of 10 meter lines with the Boys in Black making tackle after tackle and putting everything on the line to maintain their advantage but alas that was not to happen the referee gave Galwegians a penalty just inside the Connemara 10 meter line and for reasons known only unto him he gave an extra 10 meters.  Following the penalty Galwegians brought the ball out wide and threatened the Connemara line, but the Connemara line held up and absorbed and repelled the attack for about 3 minutes before the young Galwegians eventually went over again in the corner. With that the referee  sounded the fulltime whistle and the season came to an end with a final score of 17-14.

On behalf of all the coaches and all involved I want to thank all the players and their parents for all their dedication and commitment they have shown over the season and to the parents who helped to cook and dish up the food after the games.

James Staunton

If one side looked like a team playing for promotion it was Connemara. The Clifden based side started well with Richard Bourke coming close after a pass from Jack Vaughan. Connemara looked dangerous when they added width to their game, and it dually paid off as Richard Bourke showed searing pace down the wing, Bourke was tackled agonisingly close to the line but the Beach Road native managed to offload to Eugene Conroy who had the simple task of falling over the line. Sean Joyce was agonisingly close with his conversion attempt, but Connemara deservedly led 5-0.

Connemara’s try stirred Barnhall into action but they were hit by a resolute Connemara defence. Connemara hit Barnhall with the proverbial sucker punch soon after. Richard Bourke charged down a box kick just outside his own 22, the ball bounced favourably into the hands of Bourke who went the distance of the pitch for Connemara’s second try. Once again Sean Joyce was agonisingly close with his conversion attempt, 10-0 Connemara and good value for their lead.

It was proving to be one of those days for Barnhall. Their passing lacking any cohesion and they had many handling errors, but Connemara deserve kudos for ruthlessly punishing these errors. Connemara would soon have a third try after a typical inside run by David McDonagh. McDonagh collected an inside pass and powered his way over the line for his sixth try of the season. Sean Joyce knocked over the extras for a 17-0 lead. McDonagh’s try drew him level with Richard Bourke on six tries apiece for the season.

Barnhall’s game improved after McDonagh’s try, with the Kildare side coming close on a number of occasions, but each attack was met by the same Connemara resistance. The half time whistle blew with Connemara leading 17-0.

Barnhall would finally break their duck soon after half with a well worked move. Their conversion left it 17-7 to Connemara. Any chance of a Barnhall comeback was dashed when veteran scrumhalf David Keogh combined wonderfully with Sean Joyce to dive in under the posts to secure Connemara’s bonus point and victory. The final whistle blew with the score 24-7.

In conclusion, Connemara’s season has been extremely positive. Since losing centre Benny Bester early in the season Connemara have focused on developing young local players. Coach Peter Bracken deserves all the credit in the world for the on field results and also his blooding of youngsters. Here’s hoping for more of the same next season.

John O’Sullivan.

Connemara Under 10’s attended their Connacht Blitz in Ballina on March 24th and did very well indeed, winning all their games. They competed with many teams from all over the province and really deserved their reward. Congratulations to the players, coach Peter Keane, and the parents and families of the successful children.

Under 13’s

James Staunton’s Under 13’s side had a fine quarter final win on Sunday 1st April against Buccaneers, winning 71-15. They then met Oughterard on Good Friday evening in the semi-final at The Monastery Field at 6:30pm and won the game 20-10. The next outing is the final of the U13 plate against Galwegians, which will be played in Corinthians RFC on Sunday 15th April. We wish this fine outfit every success.

John O’Sullivan

On our visit to Cashel, one had an opportunity to reflect on the great commitment of our players, coaches, and all concerned with Connemara rugby. Many of our players travel great distances to practice and play, for example, Emmet and James from Dublin, Paddy from Athlone, David from Galway etc. Connemara could have beaten Cashel on Saturday, if all our players could train twice a week every week. This is also the opinion of our coach Peter Bracken. Cashel have a regular panel of twenty five players available for training at their disposal every week, also they possess extra pitches to train on. So one must appreciate the great efforts of everyone in our club, and see if any arrangements can be made for a number of extra sessions.

Our visit south was very enjoyable, and we had a very genuine and warm welcome from all in the Tipperary venue. Sadly, we lost a bonus point, as Cashel scored a try in the last play of the game, in the eight minute of injury time. In the first half, they got three easy tries when playing with a huge wind. Connemara shattered them midway through the second half, with two excellent converted tries and a penalty in a ten minute blitz. Then a number of Cashel “injuries” broke the momentum. Hopefully, many will come and support our team in the last four games of the season, Banbridge and Barnhall at home, and Sligo and Suttonians away.
At the beginning of the season, Connemara’s ambition was to win all games, and at least be in the top half of the table. In the past two years we have lost, Gerard Burke and Michael Aspell to Canada, Gary Conroy and Martin O’Malley to London, Eoin Bourke and others to Australia, Macdara Breathnach and Conor O’Malley to fishing trawlers and Martin Coyne and Oisin Conneely to college’s in Dublin and Cork, Darragh Sweeney to Madagascar, and many other talented youngsters who had to emigrate. So, we produce a multitude of talent, and sadly because of a lack of investment in our area, we will continue to lose many more great players. On the positive side, we have all our own players from under eights upwards, and two young men who learned their rugby here, have starred for Irish teams, John O’Brien and Tiernan O’Halloran. So if players, coaches, parents and committee members keep up the great work, we will have many more international and inter pro players.

Matt O’Sullivan

John O’Sullivan

Connemara Team

1: Eugene Conroy
2: Alan Pryce
3: Kevin Barry
4: Bernard Keaney
5: Kevin Keogh
6: Barry Gibbons
7: Richie Byrne
8: Tomas King
9: Michael O’Toole
10: Sean Joyce ©
11: David McDonagh
12: Paddy Madden
13: Jack Vaughan
14: Richard Bourke
15: Alan Keogh

Replacements

James Mannion
David Keogh
Martin Faherty
Emmet Ferron
Derek Heanue

Matt O’Sullivan

John O’Sullivan