Hamilton Park, Strandhill, Sligo, Ireland – Founded 1890
Westport RFC U17′s 8 :: Sligo RFC U17′s 15
Sligo travelled to Westport for their eagerly awaited first league outing with weather conditions ideal.
Westport hit the ground running early on but Sligo soaked up the pressure and countered. A good exchange of passes between Darragh Burke and Enda Gavin resulted in a try by Enda Gavin, which he duly converted. Continue reading ‘U17s begin on winning note’
OLBC 18
Sligo 22
Sligo won the clash of the table toppers when they defeated Our Lady’s boys club from Galway in a much anticipated Junior League division 1 encounter at the back pitch in the sportsground on Sunday.
OLBC had recruited strongly in the close season and were seen by many to be well equipped to launch a title challenge this season.
Sligo kicked off with the aid of the strong breeze but it was the local outfit who struck first when a penalty award for an infringement at the ruck was despatched by Greg Flaherty to give his side an early advantage.
Sligo reacted and made their way into the ‘club 22. Strong work by Wesley Maxwell at the scrum gave the ref no option but to award the penalty and outhalf Paddy Pearson stepped up and slotted the kick to equalise.
OLBC again came looking for points and earned a penalty in front of the Sligo posts which Flaherty again converted to put his team back in front.
The first try of the match was a superbly crafted individual effort. Following a sweeping left to right movement, the ball was brought into contact by the strong running Matele Fifita. A quick recycle was moved to Pearson who brilliantly changed the angle and wrong footed the defence before racing clear of the cover to dot down to the left of the posts. The outhalf converted to put the score at 10-6 in Sligo’s favour.
‘Club again came storming back and a well rehearsed moved from a 5 metre scrum saw full back Donnacha Carey crash over in the corner to give his side a one point lead into the break.
Sligo upped the tempo in the second half and were starting to edge the possession battle. Hard work was rewarded when pressure on the home defence resulted in a 5 yard scrum award for the north westerners.
A good drive by the pack allowed Paddy Conlon feed Frankie Feeney and the scrum half quickly released the backline. Fifita recieved in midfield and powerfully burst through the cover to touch down beside the posts. Pearson converted to move the scoreline to 11-17 in favour of the visitors.
Sligo coninued to press and began to move the ball wide where they had an obvious advantage, however over eagerness in this policy proved costly when a loose play was latched onto by OLBC and the ball was hacked down field. The retreating Sligo cover failed to deal with the situation and illegaly prevented the olbc attack,resulting in the concession of a penalty try. Flaherty added the extras to put his team back in to a one point lead.
Sligo regrouped ,went back on the attack, and camped themselves in the ‘club 22. Fifita’s poweful running was causing the home defence difficulty and following another trademark drive the ball was moved wide to Ted Mulvaney who broke two tackles before crossing the tryline for the final score of the game.
Sligo contiued to press to try to earn the bonus point try, but OLBC were not in the mood to give up and threw everything at the visitors defence. However , Sligo held firm and some great work by Simon Coulter and a fine kick from Aaron Spring ensured that the points were secured.
Next up Sligo face newly promoted Loughrea, on Sunday at Hamilton Park, Strandhill with a 3 o Clock kick off.
Sligo; Gavin Foley, Ted Mulvaney, Matele Fifita, Jordan Farrington, David Gerrity, Paddy Pearson, Frankie Feeney, Wesley Maxwell, Ross Mannion, Adrian Mc Hale, James Wilson, Jamie Bowes, Aaron Spring, Simon Coulter, Paddy Conlon. subs Martin Feeney, Gary Conneely, Cathal Culhane, Roger Burrows, Trevor Sweeney
Sligo cemented their place at the top of division one of the Connacht Junior League when they scored 107 points without reply against Ballinrobe at Strandhill on Sunday.
Sligo scored 17 trys on their way to a dominated one side victory.
As the score line suggests Sligo scored early and often and after 4 minutes quick thinking by man of the match Frankie Feeney released Simon Coulter who broke through for the first try of the game.
Sligo doubled their total three minutes later when power house Matele Fifita broke through the cover before releasing speedster David Gerrity who raced away from the cover to give his side a 10 nil lead.
Sligo continued to press and following a scrum in mid field Roger Burrows burst towards the line and following the covering tackle expertly popped the ball to Gavin Foley who touched down left of the posts. Jordan Farrington converted to give his side a 17 nil lead.
The bonus point try arrived after 20 minutes when a poor Ballinrobe clearance kick was collected by Gerrity. The ball was spun wide to Burrows who chipped ahead, Farrington collected and touched down under the posts. The centre converted his own try to put his side 24 points ahead.
Sligo were now starting to go up the gears and Farrington and winger Ted Mulvaney both added trys following some fine open field running.
Mulvaney, Gerrity and the excellent Paddy Conlon all added to Sligo’s try total before the break.
The second half began much as the first half ended with Sligo continuing to notch up the scores.
Fine work by Fifita saw him make tries for Gerrity and Mulvaney before the strong running centre doted down for a try of his own.
Sligo continued to press and substitute Aaron Spring added two tries and Fifita added another one of his own.
Roger Burrows and Ted Mulvaney both added to their total and with Feeney in go kicking form Sligo’s final score reached 107 points.
Coach Simon Galvan will be pleased with his side’s performance but will know that harder days lie ahead in their quest for Junior League glory. However the team deserve great credit in the manner that they put their opponents to the sword and if they keep this level of performance up good days will lie ahead.
Next week Sligo travel to O.L.B.C. in Galway to take on what many pundits feel are strong contenders for this year’s Junior League title. Kick off 3.00 pm at Galway Sports Grounds.
Sligo:
David Gerrity, Ted Mulvaney, Jordon Farrington, Matele Fifita, Roger Burrows, Gavin Foley, Frankie Feeney, Wesley Maxwell, Jason Coulter, Adrian McHale, James Wilson, Jamie Bowes, Cathal Cullane, Simon Coulter, Paddy Conlon, Reps. Aaron Spring, Trevor Sweeney, Simon Galvan, Billy Leahy, Gary Connelly.
Connacht Junior League Div 1A table – here
Sligo got off to a great start in the Junior League on Sunday with a bonus point away win over Galwegians at Glenina.
Ted Mulvaney tackle
Connacht Junior League Div 1A table – here
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. Continue reading ‘Under 16s through to Under 17 Plate Semi’s’
Sligo RFC U13 39 :: an Gaeltacht 22
Sligo Under 13’s made it two out of two in the Connacht Cup with another win in their clash with An Gaeltacht in Strandhill on Sunday. The conditions were perfect and in front of a big home crowd, Sligo put on their best display of rugby this season.
An Gaeltacht came out firing on all cylinders and forced Sligo back into their own half for the first ten minutes, creating a penalty opportunity which they capitalised on opening the game, making it 3-0. Continue reading ‘Under 13s Rumble On’
Monivea RFC 32 :: Sligo RFC 21
Sligo lost out to a strong Monivea outfit in their final Junior league encounter of the 2009/2010 season at the Castle grounds in Monivea on Sunday. The Galway side outscored their northwestern visitors by four tries to two in a fast paced encounter played in ideal conditions.
Sligo won the toss and elected to play with the aid of the breeze in the first half. Early pressure by the forwards looked to have reaped reward when a maul was driven over the Monivea line but the referee was unsighted and the try was not awarded. Sligo did manage to get off the mark with a Paddy Pearson penalty, kicked from the 22 metre line. Continue reading ‘League Campaign draws to a close’
Sligo u15’s continued the clubs excellent start to the youth cup competitions will a win over Buccaneers in Dubarry Park Athlone last Saturday. This was Sligo third success over Buccaneers in 2 weeks with the under 14’s and u16’s both winning their cups games against the Athlone based side the previous weekend.
Building on hard games against Ballina, Longford and Mullingar over the past month Sligo played a very controlled game of rugby and looked like winners from the kick off. Continue reading ‘U15’s kick off cup campaign will a win in Athlone’
Sligo RFC U16s 22 :: Buccaneers U16s 0
Sligo’s U16s powered their way into the final of the Connacht U16 league with a superb team performance against a strong Buccaneers outfit at Strandhill on Sunday.
Sligo RFC’s Under 16 Squad (photo supplied by ShootingStars.ie)
The home team scored four tries without reply on their way to a convincing victory.
Buccaneers kicked off and immediately put the home outfit under pressure, but some fine driving play by Sligo forwards Diarmuid O Dowd Hill and Jamie Mc Govern gave outhalf Enda Gavin the space to clear his lines and avert the danger. Continue reading ‘Sixteens Power to Final’
Sligo’s second team picked up another valuable win to aid in their quest for league title honours when they defeated Ballina by three points in a tough away encounter at Heffernan park on Sunday. Tries from Steve Kilgallon and Kieran Stafford combined with two Donal Finneran penalties and a conversion were enough to ensure that the visitors claimed the points. Sligo have now won all but one of their league matches this season and they will be looking to avenge that defeat to Creggs when the Roscommon outfit come to Sligo for what is likely to be a winner takes all scenario in the return fixture in the coming month.
Sligo RFC 24 :: Westport RFC 0
Sligo under 13s opened their Connacht Cup campaign with an impressive 24-0 win against Westport on Saturday. The Sligo team took an early lead with a bustling run up the middle from débutante Haddie Moussa to score under the post. Darragh Cummins converted to make a seven point lead. Continue reading ‘Under 13s progress in Cup’
Sligo seconds team produced an excellent performance with a seven try to one demolition of Castlebar at Strandhill on Sunday. A superb second half performance saw Sligo cut loose and score some top drawer tries to the delight of coach Steve Alley and Manager Aaron Tansey. Following last weeks close defeat away to Creggs it was vital that the team got back to winning ways as quickly as possible and the players responded, as all good teams do, with a great performance.
Castlebar RFC 6 :: Sligo RFC 24
Sligo cemented second place in the Connacht Junior league with a bonus point win over Mayo rivals Castlebar on Sunday.
In a game played in sub zero temperatures Sligo’s second half performance in which they scored three tries proved to be too powerful for their western hosts. Continue reading ‘Sligo Cement Second Place’
Sligo RFC 52 :: Buccaneers 12
At Hamilton Park last Sunday Sligo brushed aside a Buccaneers side in a clinical display that showed forward dominance and back play of the highest calibre. They scored eight trys with six conversions in a wonderfully entertaining display that had quality written all over it. After last weeks superb display against high flyers Monivea the confidence was high and this showed from the off giving there opponents nothing easy and putting pressure all over the park which yielded scores from an early stage.
Sligo RFC 29 :: Creggs RFC 5
Sligo under 14s topped the league on Sunday with a win against Creggs of Roscommon. The game was a much laboured affair in the opening minutes with the Xmas rest taking its toll on the skills of the game, Sligo broke the deadlock when Darragh Byrne ran a try in from a good individual run off the wing. Evan Mc Garth stepped up to kick the conversion from a difficult angle but the trusty boot failed to bring it between the posts. From the kick off Rory Mullan collected the ball and with some better movement the ball was taken into Creggs 22 by Steven Kearins where he drew the defence in to create a small gap for Evan McGrath to touch down for a fine try. Continue reading ‘U14s Top the League’
