Reports from Youth Level

Barnhall RFC U17 Leinster League match report 21 /11/09
Barnhall 41 Mullingar 3

The Young Bulls kicked off game 6 in the Leinster league competition in NUI Maynooth with driving rain and swirling wind making playing conditions difficult, but with the Young Bulls squad training every week in this weather the mood was positive in the Bulls camp.

The early exchanges saw both sides making a number of handling errors with the Young Bulls playing into the wind in the first half. The Bulls began to take the upper hand and a well worked move saw flanker Casey put winger Maher in for the first try which was not converted.

Bulls attacked again down the same right wing with swift hands from Dwyer and Mahon putting winger Maher in for his second try, which was not converted 10-0 to the Bulls at half time.

The Bulls now playing with the wind pressed straight from the second half kickoff and superb handling saw fullback McDonagh put winger Cullinane into finish in the corner and a great conversion from centre Dwyer stretched Barnhall 17-0.

Sustained Bulls pressure now saw the game open with tries from fullback Mc Donagh, hooker Quinn, centre Mahon and man of the match flanker Casey scoring the 7 th try of the game for the Young Bulls. The bench was now emptied and the total squad performance saw final score 41-3 with Barnhall dominant in every aspect of the game.

Team

Jake Harries, Emmett Quinn, Dewi Harrison, Dylan Shannon, Gareth Byrne , Jim Casey,

Cian Smith, Oliver Clarke, Sean Guiney, Cain Forde, Shaun Horgan, Stephen Dwyer,

Fergus Mahon, Michael Maher, Liam Mc Donagh ,Connor Smith , John Cullinane, Cain Walsh, Alan Dardis, Shane O'Gorman, Jamie Murphy, Daire Mc Bride.

Coaches

John Cassidy, Martin Dwyer, Rob Harrison.

Contact

John Cassidy 087 3290137

Barnhall RFC U17 Leinster League match report 7 /11/09
Barnhall 17 Boyne 5

Game five of their Premier North Leinster league season saw the Young Bulls at home to old rivals Boyne, with good news for the Bulls that seven of the current team has been selected for the Leinster metro development squad.
The game kicked off in poor conditions with wind and driving rain, Boyne went on the attack early on and poor defending from the Bulls gave Boyne territorial advantage and number of missed tackles saw Boyne cross the line for soft try which was not converted 5-0 Boyne.
Young Bulls began to step their game up with Bulls pack dominant at almost every scrum. Forwards included Harries, McBride, Smith and Murphy who made the age grade change this season and have played their way onto the first fifteen.
The young Bulls pressed again and a Barnhall scrum inside the Boyne 22 saw hooker Quinn crash over and level the score 5-5 with the try unconverted and the score remained like that to halftime.
Sustained Bulls pressure saw increase penalties from Boyne and two penalty kicks from centre Dwyer saw score 11-5 to Barnhall. Well worked back moves saw winger Horgan go close and another Barnhall press saw forward Clarke go over the line 16-5 Barnhall. This was a performance from which the Young Bulls will improve and now have won 4/5 in the league.

Team

Jake Harries, Emmett Quinn, Daire McBride, Jim Casey, Cian Smith, Dewi Harrison

Jamie Murphy, Oliver Clarke, Sean Guiney, Cain Forde, Shaun Horgan, Stephen Dwyer,

Fergus Mahon, Michael Maher, Liam Mc Donagh ,Connor Smith , John Cullinane, Cain Walsh, Alan Dardis, Shane O'Gorman, Ramon FernandezmcGinn ,Lee Bracken Kennedy.

Coaches
John Cassidy, Martin Dwyer, Rob Harrison.

Contact
John Cassidy 087 3290137

Barnhall RFC U17 Leinster League match report 31st Oct 2009
Barnhall 17 Navan 35

Barnhall U17‘s played their fourth game of their Premier North Leinster league season with a top of the table clash with last year's All Ireland U16 Champions Navan who like the young bulls came into this game unbeaten in this year's league.

The early exchanges saw a penalty give Navan the lead but the young bulls responded with an unconverted try from wing Shaun Horgan. Turnover from a lineout saw Navan take the lead with an unconverted try 8-5 to Navan. Sustained pressure paid off for Navan with a converted try, to take Navan to a 15-5 lead at half time.

Young Bulls scored the best try of the game from the second half restart, with the ball moving through forwards and backs with superb hands from backs Dwyer, Mahon, and McDonagh Maher and linking with no8 Clarke and see scrum half Sean Guiney to finish in the corner 12-15.

Navan again on the attack crossed the line in a hotly contested decision which took them to 20-12 ahead. The young bulls attacked straight away and winger Michael Maher crossing the line to make the score 17-20.

Penalty to Navan increased the lead to 23-17 and two quick tries against the run off play saw final score 35-17 to Navan. The score did reflect the balance of play and the Young Bulls can be proud of the team performance and will surely finish in the play offs.

Special thanks to all the parents who made sandwich's for our Navan Guests.

Team
Jack Harries, Emmett Quinn, Daire McBride, Gareth Byrne, Cian Smith, Dewi Harrison

Jamie Murphy, Oliver Clarke, Sean Guiney, Cain Forde, Shaun Horgan, Stephen Dwyer,

Fergus Mahon, Michael Maher, Liam Mc Donagh ,Connor Smith , John Cullinane, Cain Walsh, Alan Dardis, Shane O'Gorman, Ramon FernandezmcGinn ,Connor Hill.

Coaches
John Cassidy, Martin Dwyer, Rob Harrison.

Contact
John Cassidy 087 3290137

Barnhall RFC U17 Leinster League match report
Saturday 17th of October 2009
Barnhall 21 Tullamore 17

Barnhall U17‘s played their third game of their Premier North Leinster league season with an away game to Tullamore RFC. This was on opportunity for young Bulls to go three from three and remain unbeaten in the league.

Kick off saw Tullmore straight on the attack and two missed tackles in the Barnhall centre saw the opening score of the game to Tullamore 7-0 up. A Stephen Dwyer penalty reduced the gap to 7-3 and a well worked back move shortly after saw winger Shaun Horgan go over for the first Barnhall try and go ahead 8-7.Sustained pressure from the Bulls pack put hooker Emmett Quinn in to take the score to 13-7, but a penalty to Tullamore on half time left Barnhall ahead 13-10.

Tullamore continued to press right from the start of the second half but Barnhall defended superbly and kept them out. Barnhall almost score a breakaway try when centre Stephen Dwyer intercepted a Tullamore pass on his own 22 and was brought down just inside the Tullamore 22.

Shaun Horgan went over after some great hands by the back line to make the score 18-10.Tullamore pressed again, and were awarded a try after a push from the pack, however it appeared Bulls captain Dewi Harrison had held the player up but the score stood and now was 18-17 to Barnhall. The last few minutes saw all the pressure from Barnhall and a sustained press from the pack resulted in a penalty to the young Bulls which Stephen Dwyer converted with 1 minute to go and final score 21-17 to the Bulls.

Team

Dewi Harrison, Emmett Quinn, Daire McBride, Gareth Byrne, Dylan Shannon, Jim Casey

Jamie Murphy, Oliver Clarke, Sean Guiney, Cain Forde, Shaun Horgan, Stephen Dwyer,

John Cullinane, Michael Maher, Liam Mc Donagh ,Connor Smith , Cian Smith, Lee Bracken Kennedy, Cain Walsh, Alan Dardis, Shane O'Gorman, Ramon FernandezmcGinn .

Coaches

John Cassidy, Martin Dwyer, Rob Harrison.

Barnhall U19s back on track with win over favourites Dundalk in the Leinster Premier League 10th of October 2009.

In perfect conditions for rugby on Saturday morning in Parsonstown, Barnhall's young bulls produced a much improved performance to win 7-0 in a very close and bruising encounter over 2009 Leinster Cup winners, Dundalk.

Barnhall started the match well and had much possession in the Dundalk half of the pitch. Keeping their opponents deep in their own territory paid dividends when on 15 minutes the Blues scored from a scrum on the Dundalk 22. A much improved scrumaging effort from Barnhall's pack gave good possession to their half backs and out-half Peter Carr went in under the sticks after the Dundalk defence bought his dummy pass and the gap opened up for him like the red sea. Peter added the conversion for what was to be the final score of the game.

Barnhall's line out dominated for the whole match and this was in no small part due to the return to the team of Joey Hynes in second row, who stole three of the visitor's line outs with clean catches and disrupted many more. Michael Wade, in his first start at loose head prop did a great job and overpowered his opposite number more and more as the game progressed and after a whopping 22 scrums his opposite man was well beaten. Good tackling from outside centre Luke Bray and a solid U19s debut from Stephen Murphy at twelve ensured the Barnhall backs were much improved this week. The next league game for Barnhall is against Navan, who are back on form this season, getting a 40 point win over Mullingar in the first round. This season, for the first time there will be losing bonus points but no extras for scoring four tries, with 4 points for a win and 2 for a draw. After two rounds, Barnhall are one of five teams who are all on five points.

Barnhall Team:

1 Mick Wade
2 Stephen Hynes
3 Darren Smith, captain.
4 Joey Hynes
5 Barry Doran
6 Thomas McGuirk
7 Conor Cribben
8 Daire Heneghan
9 Darren Higgins
10 Peter Carr
11 Andrew Birchall
12 Stephen Murphy
13 Luke Bray
14 Sean O'Sullivan
15 Paul Flaherty (Colin O'Reilly 45min)

Subs not used:

16 Stephen Carroll
17 Matthew O'Grady

Barnhall RFC U17 Leinster League match report 10th Of October 2009
Barnhall 29 Dundalk 8

Barnhall U17‘s played their second game of their Premier North Leinster league season with a home game to Dundalk RFC. After last week's wins against Birr the young Bulls faced a tough match from one of the league's top sides.

From the whistle Barnhall put Dundalk under pressure all over the park with some very aggressive forward play led by Captain Dewi Harrison and some swift hands from backs, resulting in a try saving tackle on Barnhall wing Shaun Horgan with only a few minutes gone.

The sustained pressure paid off with try for Jamie Murphy and another try from winger Michael Maher his second in two weeks, both converted by centre Stephen Dwyer ,who had another great game with the boot.

Barnhall continued to press right from the start of the second half, tries coming from Hooker Emmet Quinn and Fergus Mahon who moved into the centre from full back put the game beyond Dundalk.

The final quarter saw increase pressure for Dundalk now playing for pride but relentless tackling and superb defense from the Young Bulls saw the line crossed only once for token try for Dundalk.

Barnhall U17 next game away to Tullamore Saturday 17 th October 11.30.

Team
Dewi Harrison, Emmett Quinn, Jake Harries, Gareth Byrne, Dylan Shannon, Jim Casey
Jamie Murphy, Oliver Clarke, Sean Guiney, Cain Forde, Shaun Horgan, Stephen Dwyer,
John Cullinane, Michael Maher, Fergus Mahon, Daire McBride, Cian Smith, Lee Bracken Kennedy, Cain Walsh, Alan Dardis, Shane O'Gorman, Liam Mc Donagh.

Coaches
John Cassidy, Martin Dwyer, Rob Harrison.
Contact
John Cassidy 087 3290137

Barnhall U19s lose first league game in last few minutes.
Final score Longford 12, Barnhall 5
Saturday 3rd of October 2009

In a very windy affair at Longford on Saturday, Barnhall's young Bulls were just not good enough to come away with a result. Although for periods, Barnhall looked to play far more rugby than their counterparts a solid defence and some very questionable refereeing kept the Blues out. Longford were very solid in the tackle and their scrum was very powerful, winning several balls against the head, but Barnhall's biggest problem was some weak tackling right through the team and poor decision making in the half backs. It was never going to be easy with so many players missing and the game started with two wingers playing at centre which proved to be a big negative in terms of attacking options. Add to this that the hooker is a flanker, one prop a hooker the other a lock, the two locks are back row, one winger a scrum half, the other a forward, the full back a winger. So all in all, the blues had only 5 players in position, such is the cost of such a small squad this season.
The 19s will need a big improvement to beat Dundalk at home next week end.
.

Barnhall Team:
1 Darren Smith
2 Stephen Hynes
3 Barry Doran
4 Conor Cribben
5 Tom McGuirk
6 Mick Wade
7 Stephen Carroll
8 Daire Heneghan
9 Darren Higgins
10 Peter Carr
11 Aaron Creagh
12 Conor O'Sullivan
13 Andrew Birchal
14 Sean O'Sullivan
15 Paul Flaherty

Barnhall RFC U17 Leinster League match report 3/10/09
Barnhall 5 Birr 0

Barnhall U17‘s kicked of their Premier North Leinster league season with an away game to Birr RFC, after two preseason wins against Guinness and Suttonians the young Bulls had high hopes for the new league season.
The team captained by Dewi Harrison took to the field in wet and windy conditions and where under pressure from a determined Birr team from the kickoff.
The match was played at high intensity with both sides defending well and not conceding any points in early stages. Barnhall had the better of the play with a number of well worked moves on the right wing resulting a try for centre Stephen Dwyer, the conversion was missed and at half time Barnhall went in 5-0.
The second half started in a similar fashion with neither side giving any ground. The Barnhall pack played well. Particularly at the lineout winning virtually all the lineout ball through the game. Oliver Clarke and Dylan Shannon where outstanding at these set plays.
Barnhall turned up the pressure throughout the second half and a well worked move save prop Daire McBride crash over the try line only for the referee to deem the ball was knocked on.
The final few minutes saw increase pressure for Birr pushing for the win but some tremendous defense from Barnhall kept them out and won the game by narrow margin 5-0.
Barnhall U17 next game home to Dundalk Saturday 10 th October 11.30.

Team

Dewi Harrison, Emmett Quinn, Jake Harries, Gareth Byrne, Dylan Shannon, Jim Casey Jamie Murphy, Oliver Clarke, Sean Guiney, Cain Forde, Shaun Horgan, Stephen Dwyer,

John Cullinane, Michael Maher, Fergus Mahon, Daire McBride, Cian Smith, Lee Bracken Kennedy, Cain Walsh, Connor Hill, Shane O'Gorman, Sam Paul.

Coaches
John Cassidy, Martin Dwyer, Rob Harrison.

Contact: John Cassidy 087 3290137