U13 had a busy day of rugby on Saturday Oct 20th with the Blues kicking off in Corinthians park at 12 o’clock
The Blues took a little while to find their feet but eventually produced a lovely try after a strong carry by John Graddich. This was ably converted by Calum Ellwood. After a period of solid defence from the Blues against a threatening Corinthians attack, Conor Gibbs dotted down a hard fought try which was also converted by the boot of young Elwood.
Corinthians came back strongly at this stage and ex Galwegians player Darragh Kearney broke through to score a lovely Corinthians try, despite the best efforts of the Wegians defence. After the restart John Graddich showed a clean pair of heels to dot down for his second try of the day. The Blues defence worked hard for the remainder of the game and resisted some strong Corinthians pressure. Some strong tackles by the forwards including John Gibbs and Eanna McMahon helped keep Corinthians to just a single try in the second half and a well-deserved victory for the U13 Blues.
The coaching team had to quickly make their way to Glenina for the second fixture of the day which saw U13 Blacks face a strong Ballina side.
Ballina got off to a good start with a try after 5 minutes, however the Blacks stepped up and equalised through the lightning pace of Dara Counihan immediately after the restart. A further try from fellow Clarenbridgeman Ben O’Dwyer followed, which was converted by the accurate boot of Counihan. Dara then completed his hat trick of tries by the end of the half, created through some hard running and impressive passing play with centres Stevie Parkinson and Sean Murphy.
After the restart Ballina made good use of possession to dot down two tries. The Blacks forward put in a hard shift due to the lack of substitutes and the front row of Michael Dolan, Dean Smith and Evan Cunningham as well as James Keane and Jack Kennedy were solid throughout the 60 minutes. Some great steals from Jason Mullins and Rory Gavin gave the Blacks some possession again, and Stevie Parkinson dotted down for a try shortly after moving into scrumhalf to replace the steadfast Charlie Valentine.
An impressive cross field kick from a penalty in a nicely choreographed move saw Sean Murphy get over the whitewash for the 6th Wegians try. Ballina crossed for a 5th try shortly afterwards, which was responded to by a further Ben O’Dwyer try assisted by centre Luke Casserly. Full back Alex Bleahen, his replacement Christopher Callanan and wingers Cillian O’Donovan, Eanna Hillary and Sean Clarke contributed to a solid Blacks defence for the remainder of the game.
So a great day’s rugby for the U13’s with two solid wins over strong sides.