Malahide U13’s – 49 V DLSP U13’s – 5
It’s been a little while since the U13’s have played a home match down at The Estuary and the lads were determined to take full advantage of the wide open spaces of the big pitch. DLSP have been big rivals over the last few seasons and the match was the normal feisty encounter with Ref Ian McGrory forced to blow the cobwebs off his yellow cards. Territorially the game was alot closer than the final score suggests , Malahide’s success (as so often it is in rugby) was largely down to the hardwork and determination of the forwards. No 8 , Matty O’Connell took the plaudits scoring 5 tries (including a 2nd half hat-trick) but there were some great performances throughout the pack, notably from Mick Savage in the front row who was a strong ball carrier throughout, Sean Spellman in the 2nd row, surely a contender for the U13’s player of the season and Brian Shiel who was playing out of position at flanker. It was also a real bonus to have No 7 Cian McGrory back from injury , you can normally rely on Cian to emerge from any ruck or maul (normally legally) with the ball in his hands and he was rewarded for his hard work by scoring a well worked try just before half time.
It wasn’t all about the “big boys” up front though and once they could wrestle the ball from their own forwards Malahide’s backs put together some very good passages of play to ensure that DLSP spent alot of time chasing shadows. Darragh Sweeney had a good match at Inside Centre and he was the 2nd “hat-trick hero” of the day including one length of the field try in which he beat at least 8 defenders (some of them twice) on the way to scoring. Darragh and Daniel McCafferey have formed a very good understanding in the Centres and together they provide much needed midfield solidity as well as attacking flair. Wesley Ward had a very good game at scrum half and Cameron Shoebridge who has recently switched position to out half ensured that the team played the game in the right areas of the pitch. Senan McNulty had another good game at full back always looking assured under the high ball and relieving pressure with his long touch finders. Wingers Mark O’Hara and Ronan Breen saw plenty of the ball and were unlucky not to cross the whitewash on several occasions. Also deserving of a special mention is Mark Doyle who definitely had his best match of the season.
This was a really good alround team performance in which the entire match day squad made a significant contribution. To score almost 50 points against tough opposition was an outstanding effort by the lads and the Man of the match award was rightly shared by the whole team.
Match Squad : Mick Savage, Adam Timoney, Myles Corrigan, Sean Spellman, Jamie O’Brien, Brian Sheil, Cian McGrory, Matty O’Connell, Wesley Ward, Cameron Shoebridge, Darragh Sweeney, Daniel McCaffery, Mark O’Hara, Ronan Breen, Senan McNulty, Oisin Devine, Ciaran Kiely, Richard Finnegan, Cillian White, Simon Ryan, Mark Doyle, Sean Lillefosse, Michael Guerrini, Sean Bonner.
