Match Report: Stephen O'Brien, Photos courtesy of Mary McCarthy

Last weekend saw Killarney’s u-16’s hosting a trio of cork clubs in the form of a joint team from Dolphin/Douglas/Carrigaline in the first round of the Munster u-16 plate. Home comforts in this competition are quite an advantage as the bigger distances to be travelled on away-days can make the challenges all the tougher so Killarney were looking forward to making good use of the familiar territory.

From the start though it was the Corkmen who took the game to Killarney as they attacked from the word go putting pressure on the Killarney defence and lay an early siege on the Killarney goal line. Clearing their lines from a penalty the Killarney lineout once again took good ball. Possession changed hands once apiece before a clearing kick for Killarney failed to make touch and the kick-chase was beaten by the visitors who ruthlessly punished some defensive panic under the Killarney posts to take an early 7-0 lead.

Killarney attempted to recover and gain an attacking foothold in the opposition half and good awareness from Hugh O’Malley at the scrum had him swallowing up the scrumhalf in the middle of the pitch & won back possession leading to an attack taking Killarney right to the line only for a double movement call denying a home try. Straight carries for Killarney made inroads against the defence but these lines weren’t ran as often as needed and space was easily closed down by the defence as Killarney searched in vain for gaps far too often. Some good maul work off the lineout led to another score originating from long range for the cork boys.

Killarney were now feeling the pressure as their opposition had their tails up with a good breeze at their backs to drive them on and from a lineout around halfway another break for Douglas/Dolphin/Carrigaline had them camped on Killarney line and managed to drive over for a third try to bring the score to 19-0 at half time.

In truth Killarney couldn’t but admit that defensively they could have worked harder and that some decision making was regrettable during the first half. Serious reflections and honesty were seen from players during the break but again it was the visiting team with the scent of blood in their nostrils punishing mistakes and loose play from Killarney & scored under the posts to make it 26-0 and a mountain to climb for the home team. With the wind at the their backs the Killarney men regrouped with a sense that pride was at stake now, and scored a fine try resulting from first phase possession from a lineout inside the Carrig/Dolphin/Douglas ’22, resulting from strong and direct attacking play finished by Mike Moriarty put wind in the Killarney sails but the boost was short lived as they were unable to build on the break through as the visitors shut down the attack for the remainder of the game, and a late yellow card for the Cork boys had little effect on the contest as the result had been effectively secured with tries in the “championship minutes” either side of half time.

Final Score Killarney 7, Douglas/Dolphin/Carrigaline 26

Despite being without some strong starters, and the loss of 3 to injury on the day Killarney will still be disappointed not to have put in a stronger performance at home on the day. The standards the team would expect from themselves were not reached but there were some performances of note, with the back row in particular having a very good day as they performed admirably around the pitch often back tracking and under pressure to make important tackles & carries & at the lineout where the cold & wind had to be overcome. Honourable mentions also to Josh Coffey who attacked well at every opportunity and also to Chris Doody and Dara Looney also making notable contributions in defence and attack.