The Claremorris Colts U17 team got their league campaign underway against a very good Connemara team, unfortunately for the Colts it ended in defeat.

On a bright sunny afternoon it was the Mayo boys who started brighter and were camped in the opposition half for much of the first 35 minutes. After some early missed penalty attempts the Colts got the opening score of the game in the 10th minute. After some sustained pressure and fine excellent work by the Claremorris forwards Stephen Murphy emerged from a pile of bodies to claim his second try in as many games and give his side a 5-0 advantage.

As the half progressed Connemara managed to get their hands on more possession and after some fine work they touched down under the posts for an 8-7 lead. The Colts regained the lead minutes later after out-half Danny Barry popped over a penalty from outside the 22′. The final score of the half was a tough one for the Colts to take as Connemara scored from off a scrum to give them a 14-8 lead at the half-time break.

The Connemara All blacks with five Connacht academy players in their team cranked it up a notch in the second half and the Claremorris side could not live with the pace. Connemara ran in four tries in a rather one sided second half. However credit must go the Colts as they kept plugging away and continued to play rugby until the final whistle. Although beaten 38-8 the Colts can take plenty of encouragement for the remainder of the season particularly their first half performance especially from captain Joey Cooley and his forwards colleague Thomas Browne and fullback Shane Ruane.

Team: S. Ruane, D Mellet, C. Hennelly, L. Osbourne, S. Baral, D. Barry, S. Murphy, A. Ronayne, J.Cooley(C), J. Ruane, S. Walsh, C. McTigue, S. Gilbert, T. Browne, D. O Brien

Subs Used: E. Slattery, C. Ryan, P. Barry