Saturday January 14th 2012 Kinsale U15 v Highfield U15

Squad
Ted O’Leary, Neil Kirk, Conor King, James O’Driscoll, Jack Arslan, Shane Cox, Shay Horgan, Niall O Connor (c), Denis Coakley, Con Butler, David Cronin, Sean Duffy, Ruadhiri McCarthy, Ian McCarthy, Marcus Ertz, Jamal Shaladan, Caleb O’Sullivan, Colm Grant.

Kinsale 12 Highfield 13

At last some good fortune!
Today’s game was another good step for the squad. We followed on from a home victory last week with a good away win against a really good Kinsale outfit. Con Butler and Neil Kirk joined Sean Duffy and Conor King on the team today and played really well throughout. We needed to start strong today and, backed with a good wind, took the game to Kinsale with strong ball carries. Especially strong all day with this were Ian McCarthy and Niall O’Connor who consistently gained huge ground with great leg drives. However we were caught on the break early when Kinsale turned over our ball in their own 22 and their flying centre outpaced everyone to score under the posts. However this was the only time we were under pressure in the half as our forwards rucked and secured our ball well. Denis Coakley and Con Butler worked really hard at this all day and were supported strongly by Ruaidhri and Ian McCarthy. The scrum was very dominant and eventually produced a penalty which was converted well by Ted O’Leary. Again Highfield took the game to the opposition and some quick tap and go’s from further penalties resulted in another kickable penalty which was again converted well by Ted O’Leary. With Highfield totally dominating field possession it was only a matter of time before a try would be scored. Neil Kirk expertly fielded a Kinsale clearance and evaded 2 tacklers before feeding to Ted O’Leary. Ted ran well and scored a fabulous try which he then also converted.

Halftime 13 -7 to Highfield.

With the change around at half time came a challenge of playing into a strong wind. Highfield continued to dominate field possession mainly due to the honest efforts and determination of everyone on the park. Sean Duffy, Marcus Ertz and David Cronin worked harder and the half backs of Shay Horgan and the excellent Shane Cox dictated field position throughout. Any time the opposition threatened to break out, the tackling of Jack Arslan, Conor King and James O’Driscoll was successful in cutting this off at source. Unfortunately we were unable to make a break through to score but we looked determined enough to close the game out. However a few lapses in discipline in the last few minutes gave Kinsale some good field possession and, all of a sudden, we were under pressure. With the last play of the game Kinsale squeezed in for a try and it all came down to a difficult kick to decide the game. Thankfully the wind and the goal-post were on our side and the referee called time.

Overall it was a great result and a very good performance full of effort and determination. Strong running, good attitude and excellent physicality were shown throughout by all and at last we got the rewards against a very strong team.