Castlebar 5 Sligo 17
Sligo U13s advanced to the semi-final of the Connacht U13 cup when they defeated a strong Castlebar outfit at Cloondeash last Saturday.
Sligo had to field without a number of regulars, due to other commitments, but their strength in depth allowed them to overcome the physical Castlebar outfit.
Castlebar won the toss and elected to play with the strong wind in the first half. Sligo kicked off but were immediately put under pressure by the powerful Castlebar forward pack. Time after time they drove into the heart of the Sligo defence but some superb tackling particularly by Evan mc Grath, whose strong tackling was a feature throughout, and Dara Kiely ensured that Sligo’s line remained intact.
Sligo remained calm and soaked up the pressure applied by the Mayo outfit. The north westerners patience paid off in the 17th minute when good work by the backline allowed them to set up a ruck five metres short of the home teams tryline. Scrum half Stephen Kearins, who gave a magnificent all round display, quickly recycled the ball and it was moved across the line to the awaiting Padraig Mitchell who broke through three tackles before touching down.
Castlebar immediately tried to respond but strong tackling by Mark Gerrity and Niall Connolly kept the home team scoreless for the first half.
The half time break seemed to suit the Sligo outfit as they went on the attack immediately from the restart. Some fine running rugby saw them work their way into the Castlebar 22 where they were awarded a penalty. Kearins fed number eight Edward Burke who powered his way through the westerners defence to down near the posts. Geritty was successful with the conversion to put his team 12 points ahead.
8 minutes into the half Burke repeated his try scoring exploits when following a fine downfield kick, pressure by Diarmuid Mulligan and Ferdia Brown saw the home team concede a lineout five yards from their own line. Castlebar got a hand to the Sligo throw and tapped it back towards their scrum half, but the alert Burke snatched possession back and drove over the line for a well taken score.
Castlebar again rallied and were rewarded for their pressure with a well taken try with ten minutes left on the clock. The conversion was missed leaving a final score of 17-5 in favour of the Sligo team.
The reward for this win is a home Semi final on the 7th of March with the likely opponents being Corinthians.
Sligo were well served in the forwards by Andrew Kerr, Aaron Cawley, Sean Hurley and Daire Culinane and in the backline by Conor Patton and Conor Greene.
Sligo Squad: Conor Greene, Diarmuid Mulligan, Ferdia browne, Mark Geritty, Conor Patton, Niall Connolly, Stephen Kearins, Aaron Cawley, Andrew Kerr, Sean Hurley, Padraig Mitchell, Daire Culinane, Daire Kiely, Edward Burke, Evan Mc Grath, Stephen Knowles.