The under fourteen squad advanced to the quarter final of the Leinster Cup with a home win against Carlow…
Mullingar 24 – Carlow 7
The Mullingar lads were very slow to get into this game and handed the initiative to Carlow early on, Carlow were rewarded for their good start when Mullingar lost possession from their own scrum on the twenty two, the ball popped out to the Carlow scrum half who raced into the corner for a try which was converted.
This score spurred the Mullingar lads into action and the forwards began to take control, James Mahedy, Niall Derham, Dillon Murphy Luke Carton and Conor Mc Keow were leading by example in the forwards, a good maul from the lads ended in Aaron Glennon scoring in the corner for Mullingar, following this play Conan O Hara kicked a well disguised penalty into space for Conor Mc Keow to score in the other corner, to leave the score 10 to 7 at the break, The second half was dominated entirely by the Mullingar lads who had clicked into top gear, The forwards won every Carlow line out in the second half and bossed the scrums and mauls, this forward dominance provided the platform for a controlled second half.
Luke Carton poached a Carlow line out, the ball was fed to centre Josh Heneghan who raced through the centre to score a great try under the posts which was converted by Conan O Hara. In the closing stages Carlow failed to clear their lines and Paul Smith scored a good try in the corner Conan converted.
It was pleasing to see some of the moves and plays which are being worked on so hard in training being brought into the game, in particular two pre planned penalty moves which resulted in try’s, well done lads on a good win it looks like a long trip to Gorey next week for our final league fixture before the league semi final.
Mullingar U12s v Navan U12s
Mullingar showed no signs of rustiness, despite the fact that they haven’t played a game against another club since January. An unfortunate series of cancelled festivals meant that this was a very welcome friendly match up. Mullingar brought 2 squads & managed to finish the day undefeated in 4 games, even with fresh legs available to Navan towards the end of each game.
The stand-out game of the day saw Mullingar come back from a 4 tries to 1 deficit in one of the second set of games. Mullingar started very slowly & there was an obvious element of complacency that had set in during the turnaround from the first set of games. Navan scored 2 quick tries outside our left winger following some quick thinking by the Navan scrum-half. Mullingar responded with a superb team try.
All afternoon, Mullingar dominated the breakdown and were rewarded with quick ball which went through the hands of every one of the backs – Seán Hynes, Adam Treanor, and Brian Mc Grath & Eoghain Murray. The penultimate pass to Fionn O’Hara was followed by a step inside to break through the tackle & found Ben Hart waiting for the pass and a clear sprint for the line. However, in awe of their own brilliance, Mullingar went back to sleep & conceded 2 more quick tries. This left them with a huge hill to climb with less than 10 minutes left to play.
The Mullingar forwards decided that they were going to take control. Tackling for their lives – led by Hugh O’Neill, Cían Lowe (in his first game for Mullingar) & Cíarán Butler-Ennis – Navan did not get any space to play for the rest of the game. Seán Cronin carried well & made more metres than any other player on the pitch. It was from Seán’s break down the left flank that Mullingar created there next opportunity, finished by Daragh Seery from close range. With 2 minutes left, scrum-half Shane Williams fed Fionn O’Hara, who followed up with a typical break, step & evade resulting in a wonderful solo try that we have learned to expect from him.
With time already running out, Evan Molloy stole the ball from Navan at ruck 10 metres from the line. Ignoring the Mullingar supporter’s calls to go to ground, Evan started pumping his legs & brought 2 would-be Navan tacklers with him the entire 10 metres to score a try that Cían Healy would be proud of. Well done to Mullingar.
This Weekend
Training as normal for Under 7s, 8s, 9s & 10s from 10:00 to 11:00
Training for Girls Tag from 11:00 to 12:00
On Saturday 1st March Under 11s travel to Tullamore for a Midlands festival of Rugby.
On Saturday 1st March 1 Squad of fewer than 12s will travel to Edenderry for a game.
On Sunday 2nd March 1 Squad of under 12s will travel to West Offaly Lions in Ferbane for a Midlands Festival of Rugby
