Malahide U16s round off league campaign in style
Clontarf ...5 Malahide U16s....31
Malahide U16s concluded their league campaign with a resounding 31-5 victory away to Clontarf on Sunday 24 January. The result confirms Malahide as league runners up to unbeaten DLSP who clinched the title with a comprehensive win at home to Cill Dara on the same day.
In testing underfoot conditions, Malahide won the toss and elected to play up a significantly sloping pich in the first half -this tactic paid dividends, as Malahide maximised thie advantage in the second half with both sides visibly tiring on a very boggy pitch.
The first half was a closely contested affair - both sides had opportunities, but it was Malahide who drew first blood when captain Killian Sweeney scored a try at full stretch to give Malahide the lead - the conversion was slotted home by Alan Myers to make it 7-0 for the visitors.
Clontarf enjoyed their best spell at the start of the second half -their forwards started to build momentum with some impressive surges. The pressure eventually paid off when they got over for an unconverted try to reduce the margin to just two points.
This seemed to to act as a catalyst for Malahide to spring back to life -good pressure saw Malahide force Clontarf into a defensive scrum just 5 metres from their own line -Malahide scrum-half, Niall Delahunty was quick to react charging down his opposite numbers clearing kick to touch down for a try that saw Malahide move ahead by 12-5. Niall put in a tremendous performace at scrum-half replacing the recently departed captain Nicholas Cook who has just returned to Australia.
From there on in it was all Malahide, and they scored three fantastic tries -the first of which was the pick of the bunch. Nice hands saw the ball reach centre Aaron Mulvey who popped the ball up for Ryan Batt taking a lovely line at full pace to cut through the defence and score a beautiful converted try.
For their fourth try, substitute out-half Ben McKiernan, returning to the team after a lenghty absence through injury, put in a lovely cross kick; the ball was recycled and Stephen Meiselbach, only on the pitch just 5 minutes, showed good pace to touch down in the corner.
Centres Aaron Mulvey and Ryan Batt then combined well down the right touchline to seal a great win putting Oisin O Toole away for the final try, converted by Killian Sweeney right on the stroke of full-time.
It was a tremedous effort -there were some fantastic individual performances -Oisin O Toole was assured at full-back, while the centres put in some fantastic tackles. In the pack, Jack Mulligan and Sean Gibbs worked tirelessly all day, but every member of the squad contributed to a magnificent effort.
The draw for the Cup competition takes place shortly, so there are plenty of challenges left for the boys before the end of the season.
Malahide U16s concluded their league campaign with a resounding 31-5 victory away to Clontarf on Sunday 24 January. The result confirms Malahide as league runners up to unbeaten DLSP who clinched the title with a comprehensive win at home to Cill Dara on the same day.
In testing underfoot conditions, Malahide won the toss and elected to play up a significantly sloping pich in the first half -this tactic paid dividends, as Malahide maximised thie advantage in the second half with both sides visibly tiring on a very boggy pitch.
The first half was a closely contested affair - both sides had opportunities, but it was Malahide who drew first blood when captain Killian Sweeney scored a try at full stretch to give Malahide the lead - the conversion was slotted home by Alan Myers to make it 7-0 for the visitors.
Clontarf enjoyed their best spell at the start of the second half -their forwards started to build momentum with some impressive surges. The pressure eventually paid off when they got over for an unconverted try to reduce the margin to just two points.
This seemed to to act as a catalyst for Malahide to spring back to life -good pressure saw Malahide force Clontarf into a defensive scrum just 5 metres from their own line -Malahide scrum-half, Niall Delahunty was quick to react charging down his opposite numbers clearing kick to touch down for a try that saw Malahide move ahead by 12-5. Niall put in a tremendous performace at scrum-half replacing the recently departed captain Nicholas Cook who has just returned to Australia.
From there on in it was all Malahide, and they scored three fantastic tries -the first of which was the pick of the bunch. Nice hands saw the ball reach centre Aaron Mulvey who popped the ball up for Ryan Batt taking a lovely line at full pace to cut through the defence and score a beautiful converted try.
For their fourth try, substitute out-half Ben McKiernan, returning to the team after a lenghty absence through injury, put in a lovely cross kick; the ball was recycled and Stephen Meiselbach, only on the pitch just 5 minutes, showed good pace to touch down in the corner.
Centres Aaron Mulvey and Ryan Batt then combined well down the right touchline to seal a great win putting Oisin O Toole away for the final try, converted by Killian Sweeney right on the stroke of full-time.
It was a tremedous effort -there were some fantastic individual performances -Oisin O Toole was assured at full-back, while the centres put in some fantastic tackles. In the pack, Jack Mulligan and Sean Gibbs worked tirelessly all day, but every member of the squad contributed to a magnificent effort.
The draw for the Cup competition takes place shortly, so there are plenty of challenges left for the boys before the end of the season.