Superb Under 17s overcome Naas in League

A great weekend for the club was set up by the three youth teams, who were in league action on Saturday afternoon, all winning their respective games. The Under 13s and Under 15s were both playing Longford in the Midland league, with the 13s winning by 30-0 and the 15s winning by 24-7, although they had a much tougher game than the score suggests.Next up were the Under 17s who played Naas in the Leinster league and this game was a close encounter with Mullingar scoring a try first and Naas taking a lead of 6-5 with just three minutes left. In a dramatic finish Mullingar won with a penalty, which was the last kick of the game to win by 8-6. Not alone was the penalty about 35/40yds out with a stiff wind blowing but it was also near the touchline.There was a great turnout for training on Saturday morning by all squads and it was great to see that the girls tag rugby is up and running and like the boys the weather did not put them off.The Under 12s were given the privilage of being the first youth team to play under lights when they played at 7.30pm in an exhibition game before the seniors played at 8pm. Unfortunately both Longford and then Edenderry were unable to field as their opposition but such is the great number of players in the squad that they had no problem in fielding two teams. They enjoyed themselves and they gave a great exhibition of mini rugby.A big thanks must go to Eoin McCormack, Jordan Gilmore and Stephen Woods from the 19s and all the other helpers on Saturday who worked very hard to have the grounds ready for the big opening of our lights on Saturday night.FixturesUnder 8s, Under 10s and Under 12s, going to Edenderry for a Blitz on Saturday morning, departing from club at 10.30amUnder 9s, Under 11s Training at 10amUnder 14s Training at 11.30amGirls Tag Training at 11amUnder 13s Midland league v. Tullamore away, departing club at 10.30amUnder 15s Midland league v. Tullamore away, departing club at 10.30amUnder 17s Leinster league v. Boyne, away, departing club at 10amUnder 17 Leinster League Premier DivisionMullingar 8Naas 6This was a very closely fought match and was in the balance right up to the final kick which was a brilliantly struck penalty by Seanie Daly to win the match. Mullingar have now put two consecutive wins together in the Premier Division, having beaten Birr 13-12 last week. Indeed that match went right to the final kick also, with Birr missing a conversion attempt to win it.Mullingar were by far the better team in the first half on Saturday and scored a good try after 10 minutes when Larry Rasinskas made good ground down the left and offloaded to Eoghan Gantley to cross for the touchdown. The home side put pressure on the Naas defence with good running and ball retention and should have scored more in the first 35 minutes. Luke Peppard made good sniping runs all day and with good support from the back row, was always threatening. The lineout and scrum worked really well for the home side in the first half and they dominated both. Sean O'Neill took some great catches both on his own and opposition ball.Naas came into the game after the turnaround and began to gain more possession. Their kicking improved and their centre converted a penalty from just inside the Mullingar half to make it 5-3 after 55 minutes. Mullingar were tiring at this stage but the defence held firm and tackling was strong. With just three minutes left on the clock the referee gave a penalty for offside to the visitors, about 20m out, almost in front of the posts. This made it 5-6 to Naas and they seemed to have stolen the day. However, the home side showed great character to fight back up the pitch and have a go at the Naas line for a winning score. They were rewarded with a last gasp penalty, on the 22m line but only 2m in from touch. Seanie Daly stepped up, the crowd held their breath and he curled it expertly over the bar.The result was well deserved but Mullingar almost came up short.Next Saturday the team go to Drogheda to face Boyne, kick off 1pm. All support welcome.Squad: David Garvey, Neil Harrison, Larry Razinskas, Garry Burke, Robert Jones, David Faulkner, Luke Peppard, Eoghan Gantley, Cian Burke, Seanie Daly, Killian Daly, Adam Moore, Conor Blythe, Conor Walsh, Ciaran O'Donoghue, Sean O'Neill, Alex Moran, Sean Ennis.Under 15Mullingar 24Longford 7What makes good teams is when they have to dig deep in the the second half to win the game. Well at half time in Cullion it was 7-0 to Longford and Mullingar were still in their beds or was it the fact that they were in shock. Whatever it was, it got sorted at half time with some hard talking.The fact that their clean sheet of seven out of seven wins was not going to be given up so easy and all the hard work to get to that point, got the lads thinking.When they started thinking the gates opened and with well worked control of the ball by the forwards and fast ball from the scrum half, the backs made it all look easy. Longford put in a great performance for the first part of the second half as they had the whole first half, but their heads dropped when Mullingar gave them no chance of getting the ball and setting up the overlap in the backs time after time.The team play Tullamore next Saturday away. Bus leaving club 10.30 sharp. We will travel with the Under 13s on one bus so any cars that can go would be great. All meet in Cullion at 10.15am.Under 13 Midland LeagueMullingar 30Longford 0The Midland league start against Longford gives Mullingar a first win. With the squad selected to play, there were 13 lads left to have a training session which went on at the same time. This was time well spent and there was a commitment given by these lads that they want to make the squad. We got off to a good start with strong forward play through the middle of the pitch and were ahead by three points with a penalty slotted over by Ronan O'Toole.We then scored a try courtesy of a good attacking lineout and a breakaway held up and after a few further phases we went over to increase the lead to eight points, the conversion being missed.We were good in the kickoffs and kept good possession. The forwards played well in general and the rucking was much better. The clean out was lazy however with too many ball watchers and not enough pushing from down low.The scrum was strong and hooking was much better and won all of our own scrums and even stole a few of theirs.The Longford scrum half was very quick and put ours under pressure. The wing forwards need to protect the scrum half better. The backs did well and were much more committed to coming up in defence and the running was straighter and crisper.Apart from a few misjudged passes the performance was decent. Good running from the wingers needed committed tackling from Longford and they were not exposed.All in all we scored five tries and only converted one and the final score was 30-0.Well done to Mullingar. We take on Tullamore in Tullamore next week with a 12 noon kick off time. Bus leaves at 11.00 (to be confirmed). Training continues on Thursday evening at 7.30pm.Panel was Patrick Trapp, Eoin Hayden, Patrick Phipps, William Hayes, Jacob Powles, Joe Hyland, Peadar Scally, Cashel Slevin, Roy Cleary, Jack O'Leary, Paul Rock, James Butler, Ronan O'Toole, Billy Flynn, Rory Johnston, Thomas O'Rourke, James Cox, Jack Kennedy, Pauric Kincaid, Alex Butler, Mark Reynolds, Eoghan Mullarkey.