Clonakilty 22 Old Christians 14
We were a bit understrength for this game and ended up fielding a lot of younger players.
We held our own during a quiet twenty minute opening spell, a penalty for the home side being the only score.
Then on our first real venture into the Clon 22, Laz got over for a try which John Marnell converted.
Up to this, our tackling had been good, but on 34 minutes, the Clon hooker picked up a ball near half way and beat a number of tackles, before touching down for a converted try, a try which should have been stopped.
Five minutes the home side scored again, charging over from a close in scrum. The conversion meant we went into the break 7pts to 17 down.
We opened the second half brightly and forced three scrums close to the Clon line. Alas we were unable to turn pressure into points and minutes later Clon broke down the pitch for another score and a 22 points to 7 lead.
The game was pretty much over now, but we kept plugging away, a fine touchline run by Oscar almost yielded a score, before Smitty got over for a late try which John converted.
The final score was 22 points to 14.
A five minute spell in the first half when we gave up two tries and the five minutes after half time, when we failed to score from three close in scrums, were the story of the match.
Looking on from the sidelines it seems that this team could really benefit from a couple of "old dogs", who had been around the block and who could give a bit of guidance to a promising but young group of lads.
Special word of thanks to all the supporters who travelled West today.
Some match pics
Aerial Battle
Clearing under pressure.
A gathering.
Jack on the charge.
John gets the ball away against a lovely West Cork background.
Jubilation as Laz, (just out of shot), goes over.
Mark gets ready to throw.
Flying high.
A quick throw to Smitty.
Breaking from a scrum.
Setting it up as Laz calls the shots.
Setting up the ruck.
So Close.
Smitty leads the charge.
The forwards truck it up.
Who has the ball?
Cian gets over for a late try.
He's no Barry Daly.
"Former Great", Brian Mangan in Clon today.
Lanchul.
