Mullingar Rugby Club Youths Section notes

Mullingar travelled to Navan on Saturday to play Dundalk in the Under 18s Culliton Cup last Saturday and lost by just two points to a team they had beaten earlier in the season in the league.The game was played in dry conditions but with a strong wind blowing across the pitch but in Mullingar"s favour in the first half. Dundalk scored first with a penalty after about five minutes to lead 3-0.Despite the wind in their favour, Mullingar tried to play the ball on all occasions rather than kick, but some unforced errors led to ball being lost. Mullingar"s defence kept pressure on Dundalk and it was from one of these occasions that Aaron Connolly intercepted a pass around the half way line and managed to hand off the Dundalk full back and score a good try which was converted by Stuart Flynn to give Mullingar a 7-3 lead. Mullingar started to play with more confidence and some further pressure led to another penalty to Mullingar, which Stuart Flynn kicked to give them a 10-3 lead. Half time arrived without any further addition to the score.The second half began with Mullingar again conceding turnover ball due to knock ons and poor passes. Mullingar knocked on more ball in this game than they did in their 6 previous games, with the result that they spent most of the second half defending in their own half of the pitch. Dundalk converted a penalty after about 10 minutes to reduce the lead to four points. Constant pressure from Dundalk led to another penalty midway through the second half to reduce Mullingar"s lead to one point. It seems that their luck deserted them on the day as all the breaks seemed to go to Dundalk and with five minutes remaining Dundalk were awarded a penalty for something that only the referee could see, as our scrum half certainly did not foul his opposite number.However the Dundalk kicker converted the penalty to give them the lead of 12-10. Mullingar tried hard in the remaining five minutes, but could not get into a position that would lead to a score, so Dundalk held on. They took their chances on the day and on that basis deserved to go into the final against either Wicklow or Enniscorthy.Mullingar 18s can be very proud of their season in which they won their section of the Leinster League losing in the final against a Wicklow team who were just beaten in the All-Ireland Under 18s final and also getting to the Cup semi-final. To Captain, Patrick Simpkin and the rest of the squad congratulations on an excellent season. Coaches Peter and Eamon and all their helpers well done also. A big thank you to all the parents who supported on Saturday and all season.FixturesUnder 12s Leinster Final in Ashbourne, SaturdayUnder 13s Leinster Schools/Youths Plate Quarter-final at home, Sunday, 11amAGMNext Friday in the clubhouse at 8.30 the Annual General Meeting will be held and we look forward to seeing a big turnout of all members.Under 8sA depleted under 8s panel (some of our more experienced players having been co-opted into the under 9s ) put up a fantastic show in the Armagh blitz over the weekend. Each player gave his and her all in what was a series of very tough encounters. There was great defence and rucking skills shown by Sean Casey, Mikey Mina, Stephen Derham and Michael Cahill.Rory King our leading scorer of the tournament put in some great attacking runs and was well supported by Jack Cahill and Emma Derham.Andrew Daly brought off the tackle of the tournament when he tracked back to stop a certain try by the eventual group winners, Armagh A team. Arron Whelan, Jason Molloy and Jack McCarthy showed tremendous strength in covering parts of the pitch. A total of six matches were played and all the panel participated in all games through a series of subsitutions. As a result of which the panel richly deserved the medals presented at this most enjoyable of tournaments in Armagh. A special word of thanks to the parents who travelled on tha day.