Cobh Pirates Weekly Round-up W/E 25th October

MJL Div 2 Cobh Pirates v Waterford City

Billed as this weekend’s “game of the day” in the Munster Junior Division 2 fixture by Munster Rugby, Pirates welcomed Waterford City to the Paddocks. In a day that had a very strong wind blowing across the playing pitch, slightly favouring the Ballynoe corner Pirates kicked off the game knowing a home win here was crucial. From the off Pirates blitzed the City players resulting in a very early penalty in the second minute which outhalf Eamon Ronan converted. 3-0.
Following the kick off Pirates ran at the opposition with a break from Jack Hickey almost culminating in a try. Play was to centre around the middle of the park for the next spell, with the misfortune of Pirates losing their outhalf Eamon Ronan. Captain Ruairi Geary moved to 10 allowing young Glen O’Sullivan to enter the game. On the 23rd minute mark Pirates pressure paid off with Alan “Trickle” Langford stepping up to take on the kicking duties and slotting over for 6-0 lead. It wasn’t too long after that a third consecutive Pirate infringement allowed City to put a score up 6-3 to Pirates. On the 35th minute Alan again stood up to the mark slotting over to gain a 9-3 lead.

The next period of play saw Pirates putting pressure on Waterford , the sustained pressure resulting in a turn over setting free Shane Cullimore to go over the line for Pirates first try, and 5 points. Pirates 14-3 Waterford. The gathered Waterford kick off allowed Stephen Hickey to make a trade mark aggressive run setting up a ruck and positional dominance again for Pirates. The resulting play set up Jack Hickey to take on the ball at pace, setting up Stephen, who ran a great support line to cross over the line. Alan converted to put Pirates 21-3 ahead. On the restart the half time whistle sounded, and with that the wind which had a massive influence on the game seemed to ease.

Straight from the start of the second half Pirates increased the pace with Shane Cullimore making a great break, leading to a quick tap penalty which the newly introduced Kevin Allen took on however the City defence were there to slow and turn over. A sequence of Waterford penalties saw them make progress, yielding in a strong maul over the line, touching down for a try on the 58th minute of play. Cobh 21-8 Waterford. For the next 10 minutes the play centred around the middle of the Paddock, a few breaks from Pirates lacked the finishing move until a super break by Kevin Allen saw him hand of 3 defenders to score near the posts to put Pirates close to the valuable 4th try. Pirates, with the bonus point in sight, ran at every opportunity with great beat breaks from Eoin McSweeny and Jack Hickey in the backline.

Waterford turned a ball over in their own half and ran hard lines to get a good score putting them 28-13 in the deficit in the dying minutes and Pirates still looking for the 4th try. However after a now trade mark break by Alan Langford, Kevin Allen was on hand to take the pass and beat 2 defenders to go over the line to get the all-important 4th try leaving Cobh the 35-13 victors. Line breaks were eye catchers throughout the game; however the Pirates scrum performed very well against a heavier more experienced pack. The J1s, who are now level at the top of the table with Abbeyfeale, look forward to keeping their record intact as they head to Tralee in the coming weeks.

Juvenile Results
Friendlies:
U13
Cork Con (27) – Cobh Pirates (35)

League;
Munster Clubs U14;
Youghal (10) – Cobh Pirates (20)

Munster Clubs U16 Conference 4;
Old Christians (17) – Cobh Pirates (8)
(Played on 23-Oct)

Munster Clubs U18 Conference 6;
Cobh Pirates (10) – Waterford (5)

Munster Womens League Division 2:
Cashel 14, Bandon-Cobh Pirates 12;