Sports briefs: Big rugby wins for Ballina teams
Joe Murphy scored a crucial second-half try for Ballina away to Clonmel.
Rugby: St Muredach's College advanced to the Connacht Schools Senior ‘A’ Cup semi-final after they defeated Marist from Athlone last Friday afternoon thanks to a very impressive display in front of their army of supporters.
The Ballina boys secured a home semi-final on Wednesday, March 6, courtesy of a 36-24 victory, scoring five tries while the guests only got over the line on three occasions.
In perfect playing conditions at the Ballina 4G pitch, Conor Brown, Brian Donoghue, Conor Connolly, Mikey Caden and Alex Healy all got over for crucial scores. Conor Connolly added four conversions to boot, and kicked a long-range penalty from 50 metres to complete the 36-point tally.
The St Muredach’s line out was dominant with James O’Brien and Adam Forde ruling the airways, while the scrums were controlled by the home front row of Callum Green, Aodhan Lynn and Jason Duggan.
Behind the pack, Billy Ruane led the backs from scrum half and with the Feeney twins, Luke and Daniel, in the centre, the Moysiders bossed the Marist boys.
St Muredach’s: M Caden, T Tighe, L Feeney, D Feeney, A Healy. C Connolly, B Ruane; J Duggan, A Lynn, C Green, J Kenny, J O'Boyle, A Forde, C Brown, B Donoghue. Replacements: S Kenny, H Loftus, A Tuffy, I Quinn, M Quinn, J Gill.
Rugby: Ballina RFC recorded their first away win of the season in AIL Division 2C, with an impressive 21-13 victory over Clonmel last Saturday afternoon.
Bradley Nealon crossed the try line on seven minutes for the perfect start but after Darragh Whyte missed the resulting conversion, Joe O’Connell responded with two penalties to put Clonmel 6-5 ahead at the break, as the game was hampered by heavy rainfall.
Whyte nudged Ballina ahead with two penalties of his own, on 43 and 53 minutes, and while he missed a third minutes later, Joe Murphy’s try on 61 minutes put the visitors in firm control, even more so when it was followed by Whyte’s conversion.
Seamus Keating nailed Clonmel’s first and only try of the game on 72 minutes but it would be little more than a consolation as Whyte kicked a third penalty to see Ballina run out eight-point winners. Clonmel finished with fourteen men following a red card with two minutes to go.
Ballina remain bottom of the table but the result moves them to within one point of Bangor and four points of third-from-bottom Omagh Academicals, with Clonmel themselves now fourth bottom, seven ahead of Ballina – all after 13 games.
The Moysiders will look to build on their big victory when they welcome Midleton to Heffernan Park this Saturday at 2.30pm.
Soccer: Swinford and Manulla have secured their places in the Connacht Women's Cup semi-finals.
Manulla hit Moyne Villa for four with a 4-0 win on the Galway side's home soil last Sunday afternoon. Swinford had a trickier tie against Kilkerrin United where it finished 1-1 after extra time, with the visitors from Mayo winning 4-3 on penalties.
There was no joy for the other Mayo quarterfinalists, Castlebar Town, who went down 3-4 at home to Salthill Devon.
In the Connacht Women's Shield, Straide & Foxford United enjoyed a 3-1 win over Knocknacarra, but there was no luck for Killala in their joust with Mervue, who ran out 7-1 winners.
Kiltimagh-Knock United were the sole Mayo team remaining in the Under 17 Girls Connacht Cup where they suffered a 3-0 semi-final defeat at home against Corrib Celtic, a scoreline that didn't really reflect the closeness of the game.
The Mayo Under 17 Girls League got underway on Sunday morning and results were as follows: Premier Division – Westport United 0-3 Castlebar Celtic, Manulla 2-2 Claremorris; Division 1 – Ballina Town P-P Swinford, Ballinrobe Town 6-2 Snugboro United, Ballyglass 3-0 Conn Rangers, Ballyvary BB 2-5 Castlebar Town, Ballyglass A-A Swinford.
Soccer: The Mayo Schoolboys/Girls and Youths League had one of its girls’ sides in action in Milebush, Castlebar last Saturday afternoon, with the U14s facing Louth for a place in the Inter League Shield Final.
Mayo made a dream start on five minutes when Ava Mitchell crossed and Emily Coleman finished well. Great footwork followed by a rasper of a shot by Caoimhe O’Donnell saw her effort come back off the crossbar, but the same player was not to be outdone on ten minutes as she doubled Mayo’s lead.
A fine over the top ball from Sive Flanagan found Coleman who scored another great individual goal. Coleman duly completed her hat-trick before Louth got a late consolation goal to see Mayo run out impressive 4-1 winners.
This talented bunch of players will now compete in their third Inter League Final in the last three years, fully backing up the excellent work being done by their management team of John Hennelly, Martin McGreal, Susanne Cunnane, Melissa Devaney and Amy Dunleavy. A final in University of Limerick now awaits them.
Soccer: The highly anticipated FAI Schools Primary 5s programme kicked off last week with Mayo among the early performers in this season’s 5-a-side showcase. Schools from the central qualifiers district invaded Umbro Park, Milebush and other venues who will be facilitating the programme in the days and weeks to come are Westport United, Kiltimagh/Knock United, Ballinrobe Town and Ballina Town, where seventeen days of football will culminate in 104 schools from across the county (65%) having participated. Scoil Phádraig, Westport made it all the way to the Aviva Stadium for the 2023 FAI Schools Primary 5s National Finals and won gold in the Girls ‘B’ Cup for medium schools while Castlebar Primary School were runners up in the ‘C’ Cup for large schools.
Athletics: Michaela Walsh has launched her 2024 athletics season in style by representing Ireland at the Loughborough International Indoor Open. The Swinford shot-put star dominated her pool and took first place by over three meters.
GAA: The final tickets for the Parke-Keelogues-Crimlin GAA development draw are being sold this week, with the draw itself taking place on Monday next, February 19, at Ballyvary NS.
The top prize is an Audi Etron SUV worth in excess of €55k, or you can choose to claim €45k in cash instead.
Tickets can be sourced from the club website, Turlough Stores, Ballyvary Post Office or at www.winanewaudietron.ie.
Parke-Keelogues-Crimlin GAA are putting the money raised towards the continued development of its facilities, including a new sand-based playing pitch, warm up area, floodlights and walking track.
