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Castlebar Rugby Club
Castlebar Rugby Club News 20 March 2006
By John Mulligan
20, Mar 2006 - 08:51

 

uni_of_buffalo_group.jpg
University of Buffalo Group visitinging GMIT Castlebar

 


Club News

Firsts

There is no game for the firsts this weekend but there is still one game left to play which could have a bearing on the league as we face Sligo at home in our final game of the season. Players will be notified about a possible friendly next weekend at training.

Seconds

The Seconds are in action this weekend in the Ard Na Cregg Plate where they face Loughrea at the Corinthians ground kicking off at 1pm. Players will be notified of travel arrangements at training. The Mayo Spring League semi finals and finals have been arranged for Friday evening March 31 in Castlebar getting underway at 6.30pm with the first semi final.

College Rugby

Well done to GMIT Castlebar for their excellent win over the Mad Turtles, Known as University at Buffalo on Tuesday night last. Darren was the hero with Two tries while Niall Quinn was accurate with a conversion and a penalty. Final score was 15-10.

GMIT Castlebar: Peter Gaughan, Niall Coyle, Alan Gavin, Sean Hynes, Brian O'Neill, Daithi Condon, Eamonn Cafferkey, Terence Gallagher, Ivor Gilmartin, Niall Quinn, Conor Ferguson, Tom Nolan, Chris Jordan, Ronan Shaw, Jonathan English
Subs Used: Simon Tresize for Conor Ferguson, Tom Nolan for English, Darren Claasen for Gilmartin, Richie Feeney for Ferguson, Kieran Flynn for Tom Nolan, Sean Kirshofer for Sean Hynes, Tom Ka for Ronan Shaw, Damian Dixon for Simon Tresize.

Congratulations Also to Davitt College who performed excellently last week in a Schools Blitz winning three games and losing Just one.

Connaught Under 14 Cup

WESTPORT 10 CASTLEBAR 12

Castlebar showed guts and character to erase a 10 point deficit with 8 minutes left of this pulsating cup game at Carrowholly on Saturday.

Westport were a vastly improved outfit since these teams met in the league and playing with the benefit of a strong wind in the first half they continually stretched the Castlebar defense. They were rewarded after 15 minutes when impressive centre Joe O’Malley crossed for their first try. Four minutes before half time it was 10 nil after a sweeping backline move was finished in the left corner.

Castlebar had been somewhat lethargic in the opening half but upped the tempo considerably after the break with outstanding rucking. Half backs Mark Durcan and Rory Tuohy were using the wind by kicking to the corners.

After continuous pressure a forward drive was finished off by Emmett Gill. Francis Walsh stood up to take the difficult conversion from near the right touchline and duly bisected the posts. It was now 10-7 and game on with 7 minutes left. Castlebar continued to press and made the breakthrough with 4 minutes to go. A fine break from centre Peter Lyons on the Westport 10 metre line saw him beat 6 players to touchdown near the posts.

Westport threw everything into attack for one last effort to rescue the game. From a 5 metre scrum, outstanding No. 8 John Gill drove for the Castlebar Line and was nailed with a crunching tackle from Captain Sean Wootan, Castlebar won the ball from the line out and the game was over.

Castlebar now travel to meet the winners of Connemara and Athlone.

Castlebar: Conor O’Shea, William Keaney, Emmett Gill, Peter Lyons, Oisin O’Malley, Mark Durcan, Rory Tuohy, Ken Guthrie, Mark Jordan, Paul Sweeney, Seamus Conroy, Francis Walsh, Martin Murphy, Sean Wooton, Ranj Singh, Aidan Gleeson, Niall Tuffy, Mathew Staunton, Paul Rowland, Jamie Gleeson, James Nash.

Mini Rugby

The Mini’s are back in action this weekend when we travel to Ballina for a blitz. Players are asked to be at the clubhouse at 10am and will return at 2pm.

Dress Dance

Due to a clash of dates, the Dress Dance has now been moved back a week to Friday 28th April, in the clubhouse.

Lotto:

There was no winner of the jackpot so it will now be 7,100 euro. The numbers drawn were 1, 3, 7 and 8. Six people matched three. They were K Armstrong, N Rock, A Gilchrist, M Kilbane, J Burke and P Bourke. Congratulations to all of them. They will receive 17 euro each.

Greg Barry’s team are on duty this month at a venue to be confirmed. Players are asked to return their tickets as soon as possible.

 


Match Reports

1. Davitt College in Blitz and 2. GMIT v Buffalo University

Davitt College excel in Connaught Blitz.

Report John Mulligan

A school better known for its Soccer and Gaa achievements produced some outstanding rugby in their first Connacht Blitz recently held in Castlebar RFC. This Blitz catered for Schools under 14 teams and played 10 a side. The idea was to get more people involved in the game at schools level and proved most successful for all schools involved.

The Schools involved included three teams from Summerhill College, Two teams from Rice College and Ballinrobe Secondary School and Davitt College representing Castlebar. With all games played on a league basis and no title to speak of except just to get involved, the emphasis was on enjoyment. One that carried through the afternoon as all teams played some quality rugby and impressed those present.

Davitt College played their first game against Summerhill B and scored some excellent tries to win 4-1. In their second game they faced Summerhill A and despite giving as good as they got, had to concede defeat by just a single try. Their third game featured them taking on Rice College from Westport. Rice College have a good reputation in these competitions and played some quality rugby. But a single try was the difference and Davitt College had reason to be proud of the win. Their final game of the afternoon was against Summerhill’s C team which the won comfortably. Four games and three wins is a good record for any team and Davitt College can feel proud of their achievement. What was even more impressive was of the players who represented their school that day, no less that six players got on the score sheet. Something to take serious note of. Special credit must go to Coach Michael Toland for his work and to Simon O’Malley and Jim Herring for their hard work in organising this Blitz.

The truth of the matter is that this was put in place to get people involved, to get more schools involved in the game and who is to know that in a few years time we could see Davitt College in a schools cup or plate final. It is certainly not impossible.
Davitt College Team: Noel Feeney, Emmet Gill, Kenneth Guthrie, Alan Quinn, Jack Maughan, Sheamus Conroy, Ciaran O’Malley, Sam Breen and Paul Sweeney.

Try Scorers: Jack Maughan, Alan Quinn, Emmet Gill, Sheamus Conroy, Noel Feeney And Ciaran O’Malley.


GMIT Castlebar produce famous victory against US College

GMIT Castlebar 15 University at Buffalo 10

Match report John Mulligan

It was a game that will be remembered for all the right reasons. Buffalo University, a college of over 26,000 students visited Ireland last week for a three match tour that involved them facing Dublin University and Maynooth with just one game west of the Shannon. A clash against Castlebar’s finest. What resulted was a classic true to its name with both sides playing simply outstanding rugby with four tries of the highest Calibre. But this was not just a game of rugby. It was the culmination of a lot of hard work undertaken by GMIT sports officer Nigel Jennings combined with Buffalo Co-Ordinator Mike Scolnick.

The Mad Turtles (as they are known) came to Ireland with a good reputation. Spring of last year was a tremendous success as they went 11 wins and 2 losses on the season that included a return trip to the Cherry Blossom Tournament and a trip to the Beast of the East tournament in Rhode Island, where they reached the finals. The boys in blue showed off their depth by winning their third consecutive Upstate tournament, this time not surrendering a single point on the day, and with the B side participating in the DII tournament, and beating a much larger Buffalo State side. UB Rugby entered the Autumn 2005 season with great expectations as they had a large number of returning players mixed with many promising new players. They combined to wage one of the most successful campaigns in UBRFC history, with the A side going 9 wins 1draw and 1 defeat on the year and the talented B side ending with a 6 wins and 2 defeats mark. The Mad Turtles won their second consecutive New York State Rugby Conference regular season title allowing a mere 20 points in league play, and on a beautiful fall afternoon they claimed their ninth NYSRC title defeating arch rival Cornell 29-12. UB advanced to the National Rugby Union Final Four for the third time in five years with a 20-15 win over Northeastern and found themselves ranked in the top 20 for the first time since the late 1980's. UB lost a tough match to #15 Dartmouth in the NRU semi-finals, but once again defeated Cornell to claim third place out of over 100 teams in the Northeast, and a #19 national ranking.

That explains the quality of this side as GMIT Castlebar faced them in front of a good crowd in Cloondeash. The home of Castlebar RFC. Conditions were perfect with a slight breeze and no rain as both teams warmed up. If anyone had any thoughts that this team would be an easy touch were soon to be put right as The Mad Turtles took the lead after just five minutes. It was power rugby at its best. As Buffalo drove on Castlebar had no answer and Mike Hall took full advantage to touch down. Some Castlebar supporters were in shock but more was to come. Roared on by their colleagues, Buffalo lifted their game again but were denied by some brilliant tackling. Niall Quinn coming into his own with well taken box kicks into the Buffalo 22. What happened next will make the nominations for try of the season. Buffalo hit fast with a four man move topped off by the excellent Fitzjames Adams who tore the Castlebar defence apart to run 55 metres and score. It was simply one of the best tries seen at this ground in years and deserved the applause from both sets of supporters.

With half time approaching Castlebar coach Simon O’Malley had to do some quick thinking and it was to become inspired. The decision to move Darren Claasen into centre beside Tommy Nolan with Niall Quinn moving to scrum half was to be seen as a turning point and as GMIT Castlebar made their way onto the pitch for the second half, there was a feeling that this game was far from over.

It was to prove correct. Quinn nailed a penalty after five minutes to narrow the gap and three minutes later Claasen took full advantage of the space available to out run the defence for an excellent try. Quinn’s equaliser levelled matters.

Both teams were now giving it everything, Buffalo were simply brilliant in the set plays and it was obvious why this college are so highly ranked in the US. Richie Feeney moved into centre to give Nolan a break and took some of the kicking duties from Quinn. This also proved to be a brilliant decision as he made outstanding space with his kicks. But despite this Buffalo came back again and again. Adams, Morgan Cooper and Josh Lemmon three players who come in for special mention at this stage.

Castlebar worked hard and got the reward when Claasen got an inch and took it, outrunning Cooper to the line. Castlebar celebrated but to be fair Buffalo did not deserve to concede so late.

If this game was to be remembered for anything it was for the sportsmanship showed by both teams and their supporters. Special credit must also go to referee Mickey McGuire (whose ancestors hail from County Roscommon) for a job well done. Something that was recognised by both teams after the game.

The bigger picture is that something special was forged that cold Tuesday night. Links between two schools that will have benefits for both down the line. Something that it is hoped will continue for years to come.

GMIT Castlebar: Peter Gaughan, Niall Coyle, Alan Gavin, Sean Hynes, Brian O'Neill, Daithi Condon, Eamonn Cafferkey, Terence Gallagher, Ivor Gilmartin, Niall Quinn, Conor Ferguson, Tom Nolan, Chris Jordan, Ronan Shaw, Jonathan English
Subs Used: Simon Tresize for Conor Ferguson, Tom Nolan for English, Darren Claasen for Gilmartin, Richie Feeney for Ferguson, Kieran Flynn for Tom Nolan, Sean Kirshofer for Sean Hynes, Tom Ka for Ronan Shaw, Damian Dixon for Simon Tresize.

Buffalo University: Sam Alley, Nick Campoeseo, Joe Glombe, James Flotthich, Matt Hughes, Nick Soryzinski, Jon McGovern, Mike Hall, Brandon Scholes, Aaron Burberry, Fitzjames Adams, Justin Siedll, Morgan Cooper, Josh Lemmon, Kyle Larson.

Subs Used: Brett Lowe for Lemmon, Mike McGuire for Hughes, Conor Crostane for Larson.

Referee: Mickey McGuire



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