It wasn’t exactly a ‘Beautiful Day’ as the Claremorris Colts U-16’s were beaten by Dunmore in the semi-final of the Connnacht U16 league on Sunday morning last.
The early exchanges saw the Claremorris boys charge out of the traps and they were first to every ball. For all their pressure early on, Claremorris could not make that final pass to get the score and so it was Dunmore who got the scoreboard operator working first with a straight forward penalty under posts after the Claremorris boys had been penalised for hands in the ruck. Things got worse as the hosts scored a breakaway try midway through the first half. The conversion couldn’t be added to leave Claremorris trailing 8-0.
Not to be undone it was all the Mayo boys for the remainder of the half. Their captain Stephen Murphy got the scoreboard ticking with a penalty under the posts, to leave the visitors trailing 8-3. For all their dominance of possession the Colts could not cross for the much needed as they were kept out by some excellent defence from Dunmore. As the half time whistle was blown the hosts led 8-3.
The scores remained unchanged until the 47th minute when two tries in the last 13 minutes put the game beyond doubt. It has to be said that the Colts contributed to their own downfall with some very poor tacking during this phase of the game. The first of these trys came after some excellent back play by the hosts before they touched down in the corner. The conversion was duly added to leave it 15-3. The final phase of the game saw Galway men cross for try number three and into the league final with a fine victory by 20-3.
Although defeated a number of the Colts caught the eye particularly their captain Stephen Murphy, the always dependable Danny O’ Brien and forwards Joey Cooley & Liam Murphy.
Team: C. Hennelly, D O’Brien, D, Barry, D. Mellet, J. Lally, S. Murphy(c), J. Vahey, C. Ryan, J.Cooley, Ja Ruane, S. Walsh A. Ronayne, S. Gilbert, T. Browne, L. Murphy
Subs Used: L. Osborne, E. Slattery, J. Gallagher, E. Clarke