Mullingar Rugby has a very bright future

Mullingar were facing the table toppers Old Wesley a very prestigious senior club and of course were well expected to be given a lesson by their highly rated Dublin opponents. But the future of Mullingar RFC is looking good if this display has anything to go by. Mullingar looked very polished very well drilled and extremely well organised but so did their opponents and there was very little between the teams in the opening encounter.The hitting in both the tackle and the rucks was ferocious with no holds barred from both teams. Mullingar lost Stuart Flynn through a very bad injury with Connor Murphy coming on in his place.Firstly they got a penalty which they missed. From the 22 drop off they ran it back at them and were held up just short and in fact knocked the ball on. But from the ensuing scrum Adam Kerroum put pressure on their number 10 and blocked his kick and the quick thinking Ethan Connolly raced on and tipped down for his first try this year. Mullingar missed the conversationMullingar's front 5 of Colin McCormack, Robert Bourke, Mark Reilly, Ethan Connolly and John Hughes were awesome in the loose and in the tight. The back row of Dan Kenny, Daragh Daly and Adam Kerroum were like ground hogs snapping at every Wesley's lads heels making tackles and ripping ball. Mullingar pressed and pressed but could not add to their score in the first half and in fact it was Wesley who finished the half best with last 5 minutes in the Mullingar 22 in fact it was first time in the match they were in the 22 and they got a penalty which they converted to leave the score at half time 5 points to 3 in favour of Mullingar.The second half started badly for Mullingar with a very bad injury to Ethan Connolly but with Greg Berry on the Bench they had an able replacement. They probed and probed Old Wesley and nearly scored on a few occasions. Our back line of Alan Brabazon, Conor Murphy, Patrick Simpkin, Kevin Pyke, James Neale and Gareth Flowers are a serious unit and capable of turning fast ball into serious attack at any stage and there defence is so strong and aggressive. It was this backline coupled with the important link man our captain David Butler at scrum half that made all the ground.Wesley started to turn the screw on Mullingar and increased the pressure.An excellent Mullingar lineout won a Wesley throw and then a fantastic block down by Daragh Daly, David Butler picked up and ran in for a super team try and put Mullingar 10 points to 3 ahead which was only one score between the teams. James Neale produced a wonderful kick which sailed just over the bar left Mullingar 12 points to 3 ahead with 8 minutes remaining.The last 8 minutes it was all Wesley which was expected and after wave after wave of defending Wesley eventually went in for a try and converted it to leave it 12 points to 10 in favour of Mullingar and still 4 minutes remaining. But Mullingar never let Wesley out of their half until that eagerly awaited whistle went and Mullingar had done it and deserved it.This team is not back out again for 2 weeks when they play there last league game of the season against Tullamore who are also on 22 points the same as Mullingar and this game will be another big one as if Mullingar can win they top the group and get a home semi final against Wanders or De La Salle if they lose they will possible be drawn in a semi final away to Old Wesley.Let's see a big crowd out this Saturday night also for the first round of the Towns Cup where the Mullingar Firsts take on Ashbourne under lights at 7.30pm. There will be a very big crowd expected for this night as towns cup is the pinnacle of the season at this level. With the under 21s off next week we hope that some of their players could boost up our senior squad and hopeful we can have a good run in this competition. Go, Mavericks go!