Castlebar - County Mayo - Rugby- Castlebar return to the top of the Heineken Connacht junior league

Sligo 0
Castlebar 6

Castlebar returned to the top of the Heineken Connacht junior league after a hard fought encounter with Sligo at Hamilton Park last Sunday. In conditions that most certainly were not conducive to running rugby and which in fact made it very difficult to even recognise the players, they gave a decisive display under pressure. Weather conditions had put doubts in many peoples mind as to if this game should have gone ahead but the referee after consultation was satisfied and gave the go ahead on a miserable day with a strong swirling wind blowing in from the coast and very soft ground which made it very difficult for players to keep their feet.

From the beginning it was clear that Sligo were up for this game even though Coach Martin Kitson had named a rather experimental side.

From the kick off Castlebar were put under severe pressure due to the place kicking of David Lillis, but responded well with good clearances from Diarmuid Byrne and Jason Keane who both had to clear their lines early on. Despite the early domination of the home team, the first real chance came after 9 minutes when a great run from John Scott, pierced the Sligo defence which led to a penalty, but Paul Coady's opportunity from a difficult angle went to the left of the posts and wide. The momentum change in favour of Castlebar was now obvious and for the next 10 minutes Castlebar frequently attacked the Sligo 22’ only to see chances break down. They finally got their reward after a great run from Byrne fed Jason Keane whom in turn found centre John Scott metres from the home team’s line. After some desperate defending the ball was fed out to scrum half Christy Cusack who was tackled high and referee Dermot Fahy awarded the penalty to Castlebar. Coady made no mistake this time and Castlebar took the lead after 18 minutes.

Coady was again called into action almost immediately as Sligo attacked straight from the kick off, hooker Joe Moran gained possession of the ball and started on a run that seemed to catch the visitors unawares. His run almost produced the perfect response but was foiled by a brilliant tackle just metres from the Castlebar line when Coady managed to get from one wing to another and force him out of play. The resulting line out was cleared and Sligo’s first real chance came to nothing.

Castlebar then extended their lead after some great work from the pack fed the ball to Diarmuid Byrne and he made no mistake with the drop goal attempt to double their account. The visiting team had a real grip on the game at this time and could have added a couple of tries but for the handling conditions that led to mistakes and slips at crucial times. Sligo had no real oppertunities of note with any chances cleaned up by the Castlebar full back line of Byrne, Coady and Mike Power who on several occasions looked very threatening when having the ball to hand. Castlebar were undoubtedly the happier side at half time.

The second half began with another run from Byrne who worked the ball through the visitor’s backs and received the pass again but his attempted drop goal attempt was charged down and cleared. A minute later a Sligo attack looked very dangerous when a Lillis run made at least 40 metres before his pass to the centre Matthew Papy was deemed forward. But the home side did not relent on the pressure and it took a tackle from player/coach Gordon Mc Guinness to defuse what could have been a dangerous situation close to the Castlebar line. Sligo at this stage were now entrenched on the visitor’s 22’ but many times saw their chances flounder due to handling mistakes and from this Castlebar were finally able to clear. It took until the half-hour mark for them to a have a chance of their own but from the resulting scrum, which was well driven on by the Castlebar pack, the ball was knocked on and cleared. The visiting pack now had the rule over their opponents and started to gain superiority in the scrums, driving the home side back on many occasions, but Sligo, thanks to some very good work from centre Gavin Foley always looked dangerous when in possession and Castlebar still had to be fully focused all the way through to the final whistle which the referee blew after five minutes of added time.

This was a hard-earned win for Castlebar that now puts them back on top of the Connacht junior league. The performances of the side as a whole including substitutes was duly noted but the loss does not write Sligo out of a semi final place. The conditions were terrible which makes this victory all the more important and almost certainly guarantees Castlebar a semi final berth in the competition.

Castlebar: Conor O’Malley, Nathan Cole, Brendan Kelly, Rory Hughes, Paul Heverin Rob Langan, Ger Prendergast, Gordon Mc Guinness, Christy Cusack, Jason Keane, Paul Coady, John Scott, Eoin Shaughnessy, Mike Power, Diarmuid Byrne. Subs: Mick Heneghan for Kelly, Greg Barry for Heverin, Seamus Devaney for Langan, Paddy Durcan for Cole. (Blood replacement)

Sligo: Joe Kelly, Joe Moran, John Doherty, Barry Lyons, Liam Cunningham, Cathal Culhane, Warner Wilders, James Rodgers, Frank Feeney, Gavin Foley, Brendan McCann, Henry Gardener, Matthew Papy, John Garvey, David Lillis.

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