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Cobh Pirates Juvenile Report W/E 3/11/12

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Both the under 13 and under 17 squads played home matches this Saturday and came out winners in both games .The under 17’s continued their league programme against Fermoy , while the under 13’s played Cork Con in a friendly .

The under 17’s won their encounter on a scoreline of 31-7 in a highly entertaining game on the main pitch at The Paddock . Coaches Mark Cronin ,Phil Soans ,Bernard Buckley and ex youth interprovincial Killian Tighe were delighted with the squads performance in a highly competitive fixture ,where their tough opponents from North Cork gave as good as they got . However celebrations after the final whistle were subdued owing to an injury suffered by live wire scrum half ,Glen O’Sullivan . The good news is that Glen should be back playing soon following his operation . All at the Club wish him well in his rehab .
Indeed , it was Glen who set the tone for Pirates success with his quick silver passing to his three quarters ,much in the style of Munster’s Peter Stringer . Outhalf Adam Devlin was grateful for Glen’s unerring accuracy in the pass which gave him time to involve his outside backs from early on in the game . The backs used their opportunities well to allow outside centre Shane Cullimore and speedy wing Cian Mc Namara (son of Ken) score five tries between them . The defence of the whole back line pleased coach Cronin ,where their use of drift and blitz kept their opponents limited to one score .Scrum half Glen picked up his injury in his brave attempt at preventing the Fermoy try . Apart from that score the backs defended valiantly when required and Darragh Kelleher and Killian Mc Kevitt were alert to any danger threatened by their opponents .

The forwards under the tutelage of coaches Soans and ex youth interprovincial Tighe gave a great account of themselves in a tough battle up front . Ably led by captain Stephen Hickey ,who put in his usual unstinting shift , the forwards managed to get on top of the Fermoy pack to ensure Adam Devlin received plenty of quality ball . Astute back row coach Tighe and front row expert Soans felt the forwards had provided the platform for the teams success and put the performance down to all the hard work put in by the squad in training . Pirates gained supremacy in the scrums through props Adam Devlin-Buckley and Pat Bransfield while hooker William Ireland provided the quick scrum feed to his number eight Hickey . Stephen Dargan , Brian Ronayne ,Ryan Dillane and John Roche all played their part in a polished performance by the pack . The win could not have been achieved with out the contributions of Mark Hayes ,Richard Desmond , David Hally ,Paul Histon and Brian Mc carthy through out the game and coach Cronin was quick to attribute the win to the squad spirit and is hoping for the same approach to next weeks league fixture away to East Cork rivals Youghal in a top of the table clash .

The under 13’s had a good win over Cork Con in an early kick-off at the Paddock . Coach Bernard Kiely , who was without the services of skills coach ,Colman Rasmussen ,absent on tennis coaching duties ,welcomed ex team mate with Cobh Pirates and Munster Junior and Defence Forces scrum half, Noel Dunne, to his coaching ticket . A delighted Kiely was beaming at the addition of Noel to assist with the backline, an area where he felt he needed some specialist assistance . In a match refereed by current Junior’s scrum half , Brendan O’Connor , under 13’s scrum half ,Kevin Murphy ( son of Enda) caught the eye with some great sniping runs ,passing and defence .Murphy gave his half back partner Alex Mulligan great service and protection throughout the game . Moving away from scrum halves , Kiely again emphasised that his front row of Jim Kevany ,Anthony O’Regan and Cathal O’Dea were the foundation stone for a great all round team performance . Zach Devlin, at number eight , once again , produced the goods with a fine display as did Mathew Soans and Olan Farrell (son of Alf) in the backs . Adam Delaney was his reliable self with his kicking boot and Cian O’Mahoney and Martin Mngomezulu continued their progress . Aaron Whelan and Luke Kelly did all the grunt work in the pack and back rowers Conor Pasley and Michael McCarthy worked tirelessly throughout . Jamie Mc Donnell , Dan Sheehan and Shane Kidney made invaluable contributions to a great all round team effort .

Coach Kiely was looking forward to next week-end when his squad entertain East Cork rivals Midleton at home in the league.

Both the under 19’s and under 15’s were without a game this week-end and look forward to continuing their league programme in the coming weeks .

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