Killarney u18.5 Girls through to Munster League Final
Clonakilty RFC 03-07 Killarney RFC
Killarney U18.5 girls advance to the Munster League Final, after a super result last Saturday in Clonakilty. Played in horrendous weather conditions, this was never going to be a high scoring game.
Killarney won the toss and started with the wind and dominated both territory and possession for the entire half but couldn’t covert several good scoring opportunities and after some good play by both Killarney backs and forwards, the Killarney out half Fia Whelan was held up over the line. The Clonakilty defence was excellent throughout the game and both sides tackling, was of the highest standard. The score at half time was 0-0 and advantage to the home team in this evenly contested match.
Right from the kick off the second half, Killarney showed they meant business, and continued to have long periods of possession but any mistakes were severely punished with the strong wind and the kicking tactics of the home side. The first points of the game went to Clonakilty who converted a penalty from just outside the 22, 3-0 to Clonakilty.
Right from restart Killarney attacked and again threw everything they could at the home sides defence but again they withheld the constant Killarney pressure. Then with 15 minutes to go, Killarney gained valuable hard yards through a series of magnificent carries from Ava O’Malley, Lily Morris, Ella Guerin, Annie O’Reilly, Molly Gabbett and Cara Reilly and went through nine phases which was a massive achievement, as the handling conditions deteriorated.
Then Killarney Co-Captain Fia Whelan saw the opportunity to unlock the home defence and landed a perfect chip ahead over the on-rushing players and was just about to gather to go under the posts but was tackled without the ball and referee had no hesitation to award the penalty try, 03-07 to the visitors.
Over the last fifteen minutes both sides played incredible impressive rugby in the conditions and after some heroic tackling by the Kerry girls notably Clodagh Foley, Melissa Mc Carthy, Ali O Donoghue, and Joanne O Keefe the Killarney girls held on for a well-deserved win.
Killarney Co-Coach Diarmuid O’Malley added “To come down to West Cork and beat a very good Clonakilty side was very pleasing. We always ask for 100% commitment and the girls today gave a lot more and needed to, to get the job done. I couldn’t single out any one girl today as today was all about the entire squad giving it there all, and that’s exactly what they did. We had one girl Mary Ellen McDonald who just arrived back from a skiing school tour this morning at 5am, the easiest option was for her to look out the window at the weather and stay in bed but no, she wanted to play this match.
Girls’ rugby in Munster is in a very strong place with the numbers growing across every club. Clonakilty have nearly 200 girls playing rugby now which is a massive achievement and takes a huge amount of work at grass roots level by clubs and Munster coaches and administrators.
Today we had a Listowel girl, Cara Reilly make her starting debut and slotted in seamlessly but that wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work that is been done in clubs like Listowel, Killorglin, Iveragh, Tralee and across Kerry and the province with girls starting to play rugby from much earlier ages now”.
Next up for the Killarney girls is the Munster League final Vs Ennis on Saturday the 3rd of February. Details to follow – keep posted to our club socials for more.
The team lined out as follows: 1. Annie O’Reilly 2. Ella Guerin-Crowley 3. Molly Gabbett 4. Joanne O’Keefe 5. Melissa Mc Carthy 6. Clodagh Foley 7. Lily Morris (joint captain) 8. Ava O Malley 9. Bronagh Dorian 10. Fia Whelan (joint captain) 11. Holly O’Sullivan 12. Cara Reilly 13. Ali O Donoghue 14. Mary Ellen Mc Donald 15. Marina Eagar 16. Jess O’Sullivan 17. Niamh Enright 18. Sarah Slattery 19. Isabella O’Leary
Coaches:Josh Whelan & Diarmuid O Malley Manager: Elaine Clifford
Pics courtesy of Anne Gabbett
Published at: January 22, 2024 20:27
Author: Liam Murphy
Recent Posts
