Cobh Pirates News 18.04.16

As the season begins to wind down, it could be argued that it is in fact getting busier in the Paddock.

This weekend saw the mini section entertain visiting teams from Youghal and Old Christians in the club in the bright but chilly weather.

An u15s selection welcomed St Marys RFC form Dublin on Saturday afternoon, a great game played in good spirit.

Earlier in the week a number of games took place under our new state of the art lights. Most noticeably was the first full XV game for the current u12s v Highfield RFC. They will be progress to u13s next year, and in doing so from the minis into the juvenile system and rules. This was a great night for the coaches and players alike.

Off the field this week the club hosts its annual Dinner Dance, incorporating the Rugby awards for the adult players. This is on Friday 22 April in the Commodore Hotel, at 8 pm. Very limited amount of tickets are still available at time of writing.

Names are also still being taken for the clubs annual cycle, the Trip to Tipp. This takes place over the weekend of June 11/12, in conjunction with the Cork Association for Autism. Full details on the club facebook page.

Next weekend see’s the re-fixed cup games, where the ladies are in Cup final action and the Junior 1s travel to Rathcooney to take on Old Christians in the County Cup.

For a full list of weekends fixtures go to www.facebook.com/Pirates-RFC

South Munster Under A Cup ¼ Cobh Pirates Vs midleton:

Cobh Pirates Under 16 South Munster A Cup ¼ Final against Midleton finally took place this evening, 13th of April, having been cancelled, due to unprecedented weather on two previous occasions. The game which was originally due to take place in Cobh was re-fixed to take place in midleton, at the insistence of South Munster Youths Committee, and although there was disappointment that the game would not be played in Cobh, it at least meant we would now be entertained by bus driver extraordinaire M. Paul Costello, on our short trip to midleton.

There was some further confusion prior to kick off, due to significant surface water on the surprisingly very soft playing surface, and the failure of MAR appointed referee, Frenchman Mr David Chalmin, to turn up in Midleton.

The first half was a fairly even contest, with Brandon Tait scoring an excellent try for Pirates, converted by Kevin Murphy, to cancel out an early try and conversion by Midleton. While Midlteon played a very narrow type of game, The Pirates tried to play with great width at every opportunity, and despite the heavy underfoot conditions, caused the Midleton defence problems on a number of occasions.

At the start of the second half Pirates applied pressure to the midleton try line, but unfortunately every time they breeched the Midleton 22 metre line they concede a penalty to allow Midleton lift the danger. In matches of this magnitude, failure to take ones chances can prove crucial, and the failure to score following sustained pressure in the opening ten minutes of the second half would ultimately be Pirates undoing. Midleton were rewarded with a converted try followed quickly by a penalty, which meant the game was slipping from Pirates grasp. The Pirates continued to play in the way William Webb Ellis intended the game to be played, when he picked up a football in Rugby School in 1823, and continued to run at midleton on every available occasion. These efforts were eventually rewarded with an opportunistic try by Out Half Alex Mulligan.

Pirates were never really given another opportunity to reduce midletons lead, and when the referee blew for full time, all that was left to do was, on the advice of Oscar Wilde, to wish Midlteon well in their upcoming Cup Semi Final against Clonakilty . This was not to be Pirates night, but I have no doubt that their opportunity for success will return shortly.

Match Day Squad:

Jim Kevany, Jack O Sullivan, Stewart Lynch, Luke Kelly, Aoran Whelan, Sam Baricaua, Liam Devlin Buckley, Conor Pasley, Zach Devlin, Bobby Kahn, Callum King, Kevin Murphy, Alex Mulligan, Cian Lynch, Olan Farrell, Ben O Donovan, Cian Walker, Adam Delaney, Cathal O Dea, Anthony O Regan, Sean Woods, Kevin O Reilly, Brandon Tait, Matthew Pender, Rhys Welhym, Pablo Betancoft, Ewan Mckeown, Marc Jones, Evan Hamilton, Edward O Mathuna
Courtesy of coach Bernard Kiely
It was a new chapter for the Cobh Pirates under 12s when they took on Highfield under lights tonight in the Paddocks for their first 15 aside game and they didn’t disappoint.

The forwards laid the platform for some great ball for the backs. Some great rucking by Sean Keating, Kaleb Tighe ,Jack young ,Adam Buckley and Kyle Schoenmakers gave good clean ball to

Mark o Rourke who passed it to the back line consisting of Ben murphy ,Jack Worrall, Odhran Mc Keown, Donagh Mc Namara, and Rhiannon Whelan Hof ,the final pass going to full back Adam Lynch who showed great pace to score pirates first try in the corner. Another great forward drive by James Burke ,Jamie Lamb, Eoghan Doyle, Paddy Roche and Tadgh Mc Keown saw Kaleb Tighe score pirates second try. In the second half some great back play by Jamie Mahony, Josh Walsh Joe o Neill and Aaron Quirke saw Pirates receive a penalty. Sean Edugbo received the ball coming from deep and at pace and the result was pirates third try under the posts.

After some more great team play Sean scored his second try and pirates fourth. Pirates conceded a few penalties which gave Highfield their first and only score of the game. Pirates rallied once again and finished on a high with a great score by Mark O Rourke under the posts.
Congratulations to the whole squad for their effort and a brilliant display of top class rugby.