Under 16s through to Under 17 Plate Semi’s

Ballinrobe 12 :: Sligo RFC 45

On the 7th of March, on a day with conditions perfect for rugby, Sligo U-16s took on Ballinrobe U-17s at Ballinrobe Racecourse in the Under 17 Plate.

Sligo started well and scored with Diarmuid O Dowd-Hill on the sixth minute after great pressure from Sligo. Enda Gavin stepped up to take the kick 5 meters out from the touchline, but missed the difficult conversion. Ballinrobe quickly responded with a try against the run of play, conversion was missed by the Ballinrobe 10. After sustained pressure from the  Sligo team, a gap was made and Eddie Connell capitalised and touched it down underneath the posts. the conversion was easily taken by Enda Gavin which put sligo up by 7 points with a score of 12-5 to Sligo.

In the second half Sligo upped their game and with great pressure from the pack and the back line constantly breaking the gain line which always gave Sligo the upper hand in this match.

The third Sligo try came from a fantastic rolling maul from the Sligo pack, which set Diarmuid O’ Dowd-Hill
for a try under the posts, conversion was put over once again by Enda Gavin.

Shortly after the restart Sligo were on Ballinrobe’s line again. The Sligo forwards took the ball on picking and driving up to the 5 meter line then Jamie Mc Goveren picked and powered over the line for Sligo’s fourth try. Enda once again stepped up and scored the conversion. 5minutes later the Sligo pack were on the Ballinrobe line again and this time it was  James Mc Gwynne powered over the line for a try. Then Ballinrobe had their own spell and Sligo couldn’t keep them out which resulted in a  7 pointerfor Ballinrobe.  Sligo quickly regained their dominance though and Eddie Connell cut in from the wing to score a try which left Ballinrobe heads down. In the final minutes of the game, at the half way line Ballinrobe conceded a penatly which was taken quickly and the ball sent out to he centre Enda Roche and with his dancing feet found the gap to score under the posts, which was easily converted and brought the game to close with final score 45-12.

Although Sligo dominated their elders their performance left much to be desired with poor tackling often. There were also many positives from this game with Fabian  Zwada making a lot of ground with the ball in hand. Sligo made many changes during this match but still they maintained their strangle hold on the game with no player playing poorly but still Sligo can still improve.

1. Jamie McGovern, 2. Matt Davey, 3.Fabian Zwada, 4. Niall O Rurke, 5.Diarmuid O Dowd Hill, 6. Callum Mc Loughlin, 7. James O Hehir, 8. Eddy Connel, 9. Ross Gordon, 10. Enda Gavin, 11.Darragh Burke, 12. Sean Finnegan, 13. Enda Roache, 14. Cian Mulligan, 15. Coner Kerins.

Subs. Patrick Saba, Karol Devaney, Aaron Donnellan, Gabriel Knect, Tadgh Cadden, Eoin Kilroy-Talbot, James Mc Gwynne.