08 Oct 2016
The U14s continue their great start in the Midland League with a comprehensive victory over Longford
Birr u14 lads travelled to Longford for their first away game in the Midland league on Saturday 8th of October. We travelled to the match with confidence at a high point knowing that we could extend our unbeaten start to the season if we played with the intensity that we are putting into training, it is great to see an almost full turnout on Tuesday and Thursday in the Esso pitch so that Tony and Stephen can impart their gems of wisdom to this bunch of eager beavers.
Yet again we were blessed with the weather and the warm welcome from our Longford hosts and our merry band of travelling support settled in for for an entertaining game of rugby. The match started with Joe Boyd on the left wing having played his way onto the team after some impressive runs from the bench and Connor Hanamy, Patrick O Connor and Martin Lawlor all starting in the pack, the game started at a hectic pace with Longford playing a fast off loading but unstructured style of rugby and we were under pressure all through the game to get to grips with the Longford players, we worked very hard to try and keep our shape as the Longford team played like the Mayo GAA team against Dublin, running and hand passing, cutting back into tackles and off loading but failing to make a dent in our defence. The 8 forwards were having a cracking match and were very dominant in both the scrums and open ruck play and it was from a scrum that our number 8 Martin had time to look up and take the ball and power through from 30 yards to score, 5 to 0, he was to score again a few minutes later again after some great play from the pack he powered over again under the posts. This was after a lapse in concentration let Longford in for a soft try, the first half ended after Joe Boyd made a great break on the left wing and was only 5 yards out from the try line when he was hit by a high tackle which was deemed dangerous by the referee and he awarded a penalty try under the posts. Half time score 17 to 7.
The second half followed in the same pattern as the first but our backs got to grips with the running blitz style attacks from Longford and started to spread the ball wide faster and vary the play with some clever box kicks from scrum half Sean Finneran and long kick and chase ball from Joe Hoctor and the Morris brothers, this approach let us score 3 more converted try's to Longfords 1. The interplay between backs and forwards was a pleasure to watch and the control and quick hands from Patrick O Connor and hard running of Orey Higgins and Adam Kiely let the backs have the glory touching down the try's.
Full time score 38 to 12 and a jubilant Birr team and supporters sampled some of the spread that was laid on by the Longford club, it's always nice to finish up an afternoons rugby with a cup of tea or coffee, a good ham and cheese sandwich or chocolate bun and a few words with the opposition supporters, this sets rugby apart from other sports and that extra half hour after games builds up to good club and a sence of community.
