O’Brien brace kills Castlebar comeback against Connemara

Connacht Junior Cup Semi Final

Connemara 31

Castlebar 17

Paul O’Malley at Monastery Field

Castlebar’s long wait for a Connacht Junior Cup goes on after a 14-point defeat away to Connemara on Sunday afternoon.

They came to within a converted try having trailed 19-0 after 45 minutes but their comeback was cut short after John O’Brien put down two tries in the last 10 minutes.

Connemara’s constant early pressure paid dividends when second row Niall Staunton nearly took the ball over the line by himself following a penalty. It took three Castlebar men to stop him but there was no stopping Tommy Mullen following in. Enda Connelly’s conversion was good and Blacks had a 7-0 lead early on.

Castlebar’s Luke Staunton was shown a yellow card with 26 minutes played after preventing a probable try. Connemara continued to have most of the ball and Henry O’Toole was the next try-scorer.

Castlebar had a chance to get points on the board and at least have something to show for a poor first-half outing. However, Stephen Rogan’s kicked penalty flashed wide.

Two minutes into the second-half, Enda Connelly broke through and his try between the posts made the following conversion an easy task.

Castlebar had struggled but soon started to find inroads. Paddy Flannelly showed smart, dancing feet to make it over the try line and Rogan’s conversion was good to make it 19-7. Then, replacement Conor King hit an outrageous cross field pass that Eoghan Hughes latched onto and grounded with aplomb. From a difficult angle, Rogan failed to convert.

Connemara’s Jack Keaney broke through and was brought down at the last by a Castlebar man. The ball fell loose into the hands of former Galway footballer John O’Brien who finished the move off. O’Brien replicated this five minutes later to bring an end to Castlebar’s comeback hopes.

They battled to the end and were rewarded with another try for their efforts. Damien Togher brought it over the line and the conversion fell short from a tough angle.

Connemara: Henry O’Toole, Eoin Bourke, Ethan Griffiths, John O’Brien, Enda Conneely, Ian Heanue, Michael O’Toole, Eugene Conroy, Barry Gibbons, David O’Reilly, Conor O’Malley, Niall Staunton, Oran O’Neill, Tommy Mullen, David McDonagh. Replacements: Alan Keogh, Shane Hathaway, Jack Keaney, Michael Ryan

Castlebar: Stephen Rogan, Zack Wright, Patrick Flannelly, Luke Staunton, Eoghan Hughes, Michael Brink, Barry Walsh, Simon Staunton, Joseph Howley, Ronan Ipek, Carl Jackson, Sean Connolly, Bryan O’Flaherty, Matthew Staunton, David Staunton. Replacements: James Balaski, Donnacha Flynn, Liam Hegarty, Damien Togher

Referee: Shane Tuohy