Firsts

Castlebar produced one of the displays of the season in beating Loughrea on Sunday last and in doing so moving up to third in division one with a game in hand on the top two in Westport and Monivea. This was a cracker in the true meaning of the word with the game moving from end to end and certainly in doubt up to the final whistle.

Castlebar got the scoring underway with an excellent try from Jason Keane who stepped in at the final minute when Robbie Cusack had to withdraw during the warm up. Paul Coady kicked a penalty to give Castlebar an eight-point lead before Alan Flaherty kicked a penalty to leave five points between the teams at half time.

On the restart Darren Claasen and Simon O’Malley continued their good form with good scores to extend castlebar’s lead, but Loughrea have showed why they have been in good form with tries from Ronan Kelly and Pat Lyons. On of which was converted by Flaherty to put just one point between the sides with just a ten minutes to go. The game was now getting nervy. Loughrea pushed for the score that would have forced the issue but they reckoned without Mike Power who was power by name and nature to score castlebar’s third try and gain a vital bonus point. Try as they might Loughrea could not breach again and Castlebar took the vital points.

Castlebar had several heroes on the day. Tadgh Kirby and Rayno Cockrell were outstanding in the scrum while the backs were excellent. Next week the first team travel to Tuam in a game that is now a must win situation with the league being at its closest for some time.

Castlebar: Alan Gavin, Matt Connolly, Kevin Cox, Alex Goor, Rayno DeCoct, Mike Campbell, Tadgh Kirby, Ben Cockrell, Christy Cusack, Jason Keane, Darren Claasen, Paddy Flannelly, Simon O’Malley, Mike Power, Paul Coady.

Replacements: Paddy Durcan for Connolly, Paul Heverin for Goor.

Castlebar ladies have resumed training for the new season. This, as always is a great chance to get out and play some rugby with several challenges arranged for the new season. But the training has to be put in before those games so everyone is asked to come out to the rugby club on Saturday evening’s at half six. There will be more on forthcoming games over the next couple of weeks so watch this space!!

The prospects for this team look good as there are twenty-four good players seeking fifteen places. The league itself starts properly with the visit of Westport to Castlebar on Sunday with a time to be confirmed. Training continues at the usual time.

Training continues for all mini rugby players on Saturday at 11am.

Membership will be due shortly, members will be notified.

Note: all news must be given to club PRO John Mulligan on the Sunday evening/Monday morning if possible for inclusion. He can be contacted on mulliganj52@hotmail.com