U16 v Ballincollig 17-0

We travelled to Ballincollig for our third phase 1 match. The first half was very competitive, Ballincollig on home ground as expected came at us from the off. Despite being the smaller side the lads didn’t show it and showed some resolute defending at times, with Darragh o D and Shane H holding up the ball to prevent trys on the line and Purdy putting in a fine last man tackle to deny their winger in. Jack had a fine match at 9 for his first start. The line-out performed well , allowing us to retain 100% possession in the first half. We more than held our own in the breakdown in the first half and were unlucky to concede a converted try before half time after a knock on in the build up was missed by the ref.

In the second half Ballincollig committed more bodies in the breakdown and their defence held solid preventing us moving up the field, and 15 min into the second half they went over for their second . In the space of 5 minutes we lost the entire front row through injury and were forced to go with uncontested scrums. The lads dug deep and kept battling however 10 min later Ballincollig controversially got their third try after a obvious double movement, if only we had a TMO!.

Man of the match, plenty of lads dug deep today and were in contention but Darragh O Donnabhain stood out, lineout darts were on the button, massive effort tackling and rucking, not afraid to take on the big boys.