Leinster title for Mullingar RFC’s U13s
Mullingar RFC U13s are the McGowan Cup champions for 2022 after defeating a strong and well-fancied Newbridge RFC 17-10 at Donnybrook Stadium on the May bank holiday Monday (May 2).
Going into the match as underdogs Mullingar were under pressure from the kick off and conceded a try to go down 5-0 after a period of dominance from Newbridge.
But conceding the score seemed to spark the Mullingar boys, and after some really strong forward carries, Newbridge gave away a penalty in front of the posts which outhalf Finn Brennan duly kicked to make the score 5-3 to Newbridge.
From the kickoff, Mullingar dominated the rest of the half both in terms of possession and territory with some fantastic carries by Evan Heeney, Jack Keena and Darragh Hanley.
It was after another strong carry from Darragh Hanley that Aidan Doyle moved the ball to Finn Brennan to dive over on the stroke of half time. Finn added the extras for a 10-5 lead to Mullingar at the break.
After the restart, Mullingar picked up where they left off again with fantastic forward play and pressure defence from Fionn Carey and Jack Conlon, who dealt with the big Newbridge forwards with ease.
It was from a Newbridge scrum which was own against the head by hooker Jack Kenna that the ball was moved wide for the game’s killer score. Conor Williams and Liam Weblin moved the ball to Tomás Brennan, who stepped inside the chasing Newbridge defenders and powered over through three would-be tacklers.
Again, Finn Brennan added the extras to make the score 17-5 to Mullingar with only minutes remaining. To their credit the Newbridge boys stuck at their task and we’re rewarded with a fine try just before the end to make the final score 17-10.
After the restart, Mullingar won the ball back and the ref blew the match up. In what was a fantastic season for this group of 43 Mullingar men, they finished their 35th competitive game of the season with the Leinster U13 Cup, joining the class of 2015, 2012 and 1992 as fourth team from Mullingar RFC to do so.