Cobh Pirates Weekly Round-up W/E 29th September

Friendlies;
U13 Fermoy (20) – Cobh Pirates (19)
U15 Girls South Cork (31) – Youghal (15)
U16 Kinsale (7) – Cobh (7))

League;
Munster Clubs U14;
Cobh Pirates (26) – Midleton (5)
Munster Junior league Div 2
Cobh Pirates (7) (23) Kinsale
South Munster junior 2 League Section D
Cobh Pirates (7) (31) Cork Constitution

Pirates U14s continued their winning ways with a hard fought victory over local rivals Midleton on a wet and windy Paddocks on Saturday morning. With both teams coming into the game with a 100% league record it was always going to be the Pirates toughest challenge to date, and that what it proved to be. Pirates began the game playing with the strong wind and applying early pressure to the Midleton try line, this pressure was rewarded by an early try. The try came as a result of some excellent ball retention and handling by the Pirates which was finished off with a strong drive for the line by Jack O’Sullivan, Cian Aherne converted to give Pirates a 7 nil lead. Midleton then began to play some excellent rugby which was finished off by a well taken try in the corner which they failed to convert. Pirates finished the half the stronger team, which was as a result of some great passages of running rugby to which Jack Gilmartin, Oisin O’Doherty, Chris Mc Donnell, Kieran Devlin Buckley and John Breen were to the fore. This pressure eventually paid off with the awarding of Penalty try following hard work from PJ Cronin, Josh Banim and Edwin Edogbo. Cian Aherne again converted. Pirates led 14 – 5 at half time.
When the second half began, the young Pirates began to play their best rugby of the season. Playing into a strong breeze with difficult handling conditions, they displayed a high skill level and organisation by retaining possession and working their way up the pitch into scoring positions. Pirates were well served in this period by Luke O’Callaghan and Eoghan Kidney showing assurance under the high ball and Phillipe O’Sullivan & Charlie Kelleher pace and constant threat to the Midleton defence. The introduction of Tadgh O Connell also added another ball carrying threat for the Pirates which paid off when his initial thrust was well finished off by an excellent run by Jack O’Sullivan which resulted in a 3rd try. Pirates finished the game on the attack, again retaining the ball for long periods and went over for a 4th try which was finished off by Edwin Edogbo and converted by Cian Ahern.

The game was played in great spirit and credit must go to both sets of players for showing determination, skill, discipline and commitment in tough playing conditions. It was also assisted by local MAR Ref Joe Geary who let the game flow as much as possible. Also, Pirates prop forward Chris Mc Donnell was taken off 5 minutes into the second half with a shoulder injury, which thankfully has proved to be nothing too serious and he’ll be back in action in a few weeks after a rest.

Pirates have now topped their section of the u14 league winning all 5 games.

They now move into Phase 2 of the league in great form and the playing some excellent rugby. Well done lads.

Final Result
Pirates 26 Midleton 5
Pirates Squad; Oisin O’Doherty, Tadhg O’Connel, Darragh Mc Carthy, Jack O’Sullivan, John Breen, Jack Gilmartin, PJ Cronin (Capt), Edwin Edogbo, Chris Mc Donnell, David Meade, John Banim, Callum Cullinane, Cian Aherne, Luke O’Callaghan, Eoghan Kidney, Charlie Kelleher, Phillip O’Sullivan, Kieran Devlin-Buckley.

The South Cork Girls, which includes players from Old Christians, Cobh Pirates, Highfield and Bandon rugby clubs played Youghal in a challenge match.
Youghal were to gain the advantage in the first twenty minutes of the match, crossing for 2 tries.

It was Scrum half Christina Meilke who crossed the line for the home side’s first try. Emily was successful with the conversion to leave the home side trailing by three points with 25 minutes gone. The South Cork were to take the lead two minutes later with centre Lisa O’Driscoll who broke through the defensive line to cross under the posts. After a successful conversion, it gave the home side a 14-10 lead. Soon after Lisa showed her pace to cross again leaving the half time score 19-10.

Soon in the second half a turnover by Ruby Wilmot, set up East Cork before getting to out Christina who went over for her second try. Leigh attempted the difficult conversion which fell just short, leaving the score 24-10 after three minutes.

Youghal were well organised from a soon to follow penalty allowing them to drive forward. Despite some good tackles by South Cork, Youghal crossed for their third try, bringing the score up to 24-15 after 15 minutes of the second half.

Following a great break by winger Sarah Dennehy after the restart it put Cork in a good attacking position and after further pressure Cork got their final try of the game.

Not waiting for the kicking tee, Leigh successfully drop kicked the conversion to leave the final score South Cork 31 Youghal 15.
Team : Emma Worrell, Sarah Dennehy, Lisa O’Driscoll, Leigh O’Connell, Abbie Hacket, Emily Piggott, Christina Meilke, Caitlin Durnin, Ruby Wilmot, Carla Doyle, Avalon Curtin, Robyn O’Sullivan (Captain), Fiadh McGuire
Cobh Pirates Under 16’s headed to Snugmore to play our old friends Kinsale, in a friendly match, while competitive league action takes a break for a couple of weeks. Leaving Cobh, we hoped that the weather would be more favourable in Kinsale, but unfortunately that was not the case. Pirates played with the elements in the first half, and while the elements made passing the ball extremely difficult, pirates at times defied the worsening weather conditions and continued to play with the ball in hand, as they have done all season. Just before half time Leo Daly broke through the Kinsale defence to score under the posts, and Kevin Murphy’s conversion followed. The second half was a much more even affair with the elements now favouring Kinsale, resulting in Pirates having to defend for long periods, and defend they did, with great commitment being shown by all in black, in particular, Even Hamilton, Aoran Mehigan, Callum King, John Harrington, and Rhys Welhym. With three minutes remaining Kinsale finally breached Pirates defence, to score from close range and the conversion followed. For the remainder of the game pirates took the game to Kinsale, but could not break through, and when the referee blew for full time, both sets for players, supporters and coaches were happy to share the spoils. Both teams should take great credit for their performances in very poor conditions. As a former great Pirate once claimed” We played in worse”. Well, I don’t think so !

Final score: Cobh Pirates 7- Kinsale Sharks 7

Match Day Squad:
Jim Kevany, Jack O Sullivan, Stewart Lynch, Aoran Whelan, Sam Baricaua, Liam Devlin Buckley, Kevin Murphy, Cian Lynch, Mark Jones, Olan Farrell, Leo Daly, Cian Walker, Cathal O Dea, Anthony O Regan, Calum King, Kevin O Reilly, Josh Mckevitt, Evan Hamilton, John Harrington, Eunan McKeown, Aoran Mehigan, Matthew Pender, Adam Delaney, Rhys Welhym, Sean Woods