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Recent
Notes
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Our
Firsts and Seconds had no game last weekend. However, our
Thirds team played Newport RFC on Saturday last in the second round of the
Webb Cup. We started the game well, with John Noonan scoring under the
posts in the first few minutes, and Brian Clancy converting. Paul McDonagh
added another after another few minutes which was also converted. John
Noonan added a third try on the half hour mark with the backline seeing and
exploiting the holes in the Newport defence it looked like our Thirds would
rack up a good score. However, Newport rallied well towards the end of the
first half, scoring a try from a well worked maul, which they converted.
The teams came in at half time with the score line 21-7 to the home side.
The coaches made some changes at half time, looking to freshen things up.
Newport made some changes and responded well. They had a lot of possession
in the second half, but the Old Crescent defence held out well, keeping
them scoreless. John Noonan scored another 2 tries in the second half, one
being converted by Brian Clancy. The final score was 33-7 to Old Crescent.
There were notable performances by Trevor Whelan at scrum half, making some
fine sniping runs, Neil Treacy, who replaced the injured Alan Lynam, played
a fine game. Mike McDermott, who came on with 20 minutes to go to replace
Captain Bernard Quinn, put in a storming display at loose head, tackling
like a man possessed and scrummaging like an old pro in the 17 scrums that
were contested in the last twenty minutes.
Next up for our Thirds is the
semi final of the McInerney Cup in Rosbrien next Saturday, kicking off at
12 noon
Our Firsts play a very important
AIL fixture against Thomond RFC in Fitzgerald Park next Saturday at
2.30pm. Again, we ask for a full
turnout of Old Crescent supporters for this vital game.
In Under Age News, with the
under 14 league semi-final between UL Bohs and Shannon becoming a
protracted affair (after 2 draws already), we were back in competitive mode
over the weekend with a first round match against St Mary's whom
incidentally were our first competitive opponents in the league back in
September 2009. The game was played in excellent conditions in Rosbrien,
the pitch having benefited from overnight rain last Friday evening. As with
our league match, we got off to a flying start and got 2 early tries, one
of which was converted, with a penalty tagged on to lead by 15-0 after a
quarter of an hour. Our pack were very much in go forward mode and made
good inroads when in possession to provide a very good platform for our
backs who in the conditions were able to play with great width and add
strong running to their play. Our line out through the various second row
combinations was a good source of ball for us and the back row did
excellent work in the loose. Our front row ensured that our scrum was solid
throughout the game. The back line played very well as a unit with everybody
getting plenty of ball, resulting in us frequently getting over the gain
line and tackling everything in sight when St Mary's had possession.
Although St Mary's provided a spirited performance through their initial
starting team and substitutions, we had too much good quality possession
and ran out comfortable winners in the end. We await the winners of Thomond
and Shannon in the quarter finals.
Our U17’s lost a trilling 1st round
Cup match against Bruff. Down 17 points to nil at half time they stormed back
with two second half tries and penalties to lead 18 points to 17. They were
unfortunate to concede a late try which saw them lose out to a final score
of 22 points to 18.
In other club news, at last year's AGM, the
Treasurer's Report was deferred until our Final Accounts were
prepared. The Accounts are now fully
audited and ready for presentation to the Members for adoption. Therefore, the re-convened AGM for
Finance will take place in the Clubhouse at Rosbrien, on Monday next, 29
March, at 7.30pm. We would encourage
as many members as possible to attend.
Finally, heartiest congratulations to the
Crescent Comprehensive Junior Cup Team on winning the Munster Junior Cup,
by beating CBC by 17 points to 13 in Cork
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Club
Notes (week ending Fri 26-Mar)
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With
many players and members in Dublin for Ireland’s great win over Wales last
Saturday, we had no senior club rugby activity last weekend. Our Thirds are in action next Saturday
with a Webb Cup 2nd round fixture against Newport RFC at 2.30pm
at home in Rosbrien.
It was
also a quite weekend in our Under Age section. However, our Under 8’s had a wonderful
time at their blitz, chalking up great performances against Shannon and St
Mary’s, a lot of stars of the future for Old Crescent showed their worth!
Our
Under 13’s played their counterparts in Shannon RFC, and performed well
against a much big and stronger Shannon side, many of whom are already
playing school boys rugby. We played a running game doing our best to
move the ball out wide. From one
such move, Josh Page scored a well deserved try. While Old
Crescent U13 almost made it to the line a good few times, Shannon defense
held firm. It was another match in which we saw great improvement in
the team and by sticking together this group can look foreword to better
days.
Our
U17’s take on Bruff in a North Munster Cup first round match in Rosbrien on
Sunday morning next with an 11:30ko
Old Crescent is holding a "Texas
Hold'em" Poker Classic in the Clubhouse next Friday night, 19th
March, at 8.30pm. The last time this important fundraising event was held
in the Club, it was very successful.
Why not get a few friends together and come to the Old Crescent
clubhouse next Friday for an evening of fun. Your support would be greatly
appreciated.
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Club
Notes (week ending Fri 19-Mar)
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Old Crescent ground out a hard
earned victory in Rosbrien last Saturday against De La Salle Palmerston FC,
in a win that could prove vital as we reach the business end of the AIL
season. Old Crescent started in determined fashion, but DLSP were the first
on the scoreboard with a try after seven minutes, which they
converted. However, Crescent were determined not to let this one slip
away. The Crescent pack were particularly impressive and completely
dominated the scrums. Crescent efforts were finally rewarded just
before half time when Mark Woods converted a penalty, to leave the half
time score, Old Crescent 3 DLSP 7. DLSP again opened the scoring in the
second half, with a converted penalty after three minutes. Though we
didn’t know it, this was to be the last DLSP score, and Crescent dominated
for the rest of the second half. Mark Woods slotted another penalty
after seven minutes to bring us within four points. Continued Crescent pressure
yielded another penalty seventeen minutes into the second half, which Mark
put over to leave us just one point behind. With the team now playing
out of their skins, and cheered on loudly by a large crowd of enthusiastic
supporters, Crescent went in hunt of a vital win. With ten minutes to
go, continued Crescent pressure deep in the DLSP half finally produced a
drop goal opportunity which Mark Woods magnificently put over to put us in
front for the first time in the game. Crescent supporters endured an
anxious ten minutes but our defence held strong and we finished with a
vital win over a team at the top end of our division. Mark Ring, our
Captain, led by example, and the rest of our team, which included a number
of Under 21 players, are to be congratulated for the way they put past
disappointments behind them and fought confidently for this victory.
Our Third XV took the field in
Rosbrien last Saturday in the Quarter Final of the McInerney Cup against
Young Munsters. During the week, the Thirds had trained with the Senior
team which worked well for both sides, and allowed the Thirds to put their
game plans for both attack and defence into practice. We started well,
forcing mistakes with our aggressive defence and Brian Clancy, starting his
first game for 9 months, scored an early penalty from short range. While
Munsters enjoyed the majority of the possession, Crescent backed their
defence and forced mistakes and then capitalised on them. Brian Clancy
added three more good penalties to Young Munster’s one to leave the half
time score at 12-3. At the start of the second half, Munsters came out of
the blocks strongly but our thirds showed their experience and forced a
penalty and worked their way down the field again. From the ensuing
lineout, we again forced an infringement and Brian Clancy calmly slotted
his 5th penalty of the day to give the Thirds a 15-3 lead. Munsters again
applied pressure, seeking the score that would bring them back into the
game, but the well drilled Old Crescent defence held out comfortably. With
15 minutes left on the clock, Crescent forced a turnover in their own 22
and moved the ball wide quickly. John Noonan surged through a gap, and held
off three tacklers, before breaking up field. As the last man in
defence moved in to tackle John, he looked for support and Kieran
O’Brien was on hand to take the off load and score under the posts. Brian
Clancy converted to leave Crescent leading at the finish by 22-3. It was a
good team performance, but some players deserve special mention. Shane
O’Neill moved up from the Under 21’s and played well in both the loose and
tight. Trevor Whelan had obviously been practising his box kicking since
the Garryowen game and it showed on the pitch, and Brian Clancy returning
from injury put in a ‘man of the match’ performance with a 100% kicking
return.
In Under Age News, Garryowen
answered the call for an Under 14 friendly match in Rosbrien last Sunday.
We started off well and Eoin McDonnell got a fine try running in form near
half way after a break by Joe Doyle. Garryowen won the match by five
tries to three. Our other try scorers were Gerry Fitzpatrick and Val Mc
Dermott. There were good displays also by Thomás O’Donnell and Gavin Hogan.
However, the real man of the match was the man in the middle with the
whistle our own Noel ‘Wiry’ Sexton. His decisions were clear and he
continually spoke to all the players throughout the match explaining the
rules for everybody's benefit. At sixty summers young, he is a legend!! It
was great to see our walking wounded out in support of the team - Paul
McNamara and Cathal Egan O’Brien, who both sustained injuries in the past
week playing for Club and School respectively - we wish them both a speedy
recovery.
Old Crescent Under 10’s made the
short journey to the Comp to play in a blitz hosted by Garryowen last
Sunday. It was a fantastic day to play rugby and the U10’s certainly
relished the conditions and came away undefeated. The U10’s started off
against the first of two Garryowen teams but Garryowen couldn’t stop a
settled Crescent team and were easily beaten. The final match against
a young but determined St Senans was a one sided affair and the settled
Crescent team ran away with the match. It is hard to pick out star players
as all the squad played very well but players like Peter Cooney and Patrick
Hassett made some major try saving tackles. Maurice Smith made a name for
himself last Sunday by running some great lines and scoring some excellent
tries. Crescent may have a small Under 10 squad but they are a force to be
reckoned with and this winning side would welcome anyone interested in
playing rugby (experienced or inexperienced) to join us on Sundays at
10.00am in Rosbrien.
With a full international
programme this weekend, there are no senior fixtures scheduled for next
weekend.
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Club
Notes (week ending Fri 12-Mar)
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With last weekend being an
international weekend, most of our players took a break, and the only
senior team in action last weekend was our Under 21’s who went on a well
earned weekend tour to Bristol where they played a friendly against Bristol
University RFC. The 35 strong squad travelled out early on Friday
morning and back on Sunday. They trained in Bristol University Sports
Complex on Friday afternoon and played their hosts on Saturday morning. To
give everyone a game, the squad was split into two teams and they played
two matches against Bristol University sides at the same time. Both matches
were played in very wet conditions, and both Under 21 teams
started slowly against two very strong home sides. However,
after getting to grips with the conditions, both teams got into
their matches and were unlucky not to get more favourable results. There
were notable performances from wings, Canice Byrne and Rob O'Callaghan,
hooker Shane O'Neill, second rows, Mark Tierney and Peter Power, and
centre/backrow Niall Liston. Afterwards, our players watched the Ireland
England match with their hosts in their club house, and the Irish win made
up for the earlier results. Overall, it was a very enjoyable tour and our
Under 21’s were made feel very welcome by Bristol University RFC.
Special mention must go to Kevin O'Donoghue for all his hard work in
helping to organise the short tour.
In Under Age news, our Under
14’s had a great win against UL Bohemians in the Under 14 League Semi-final
in Rosbrien last Sunday. Bohs dominated for first ten minutes, with some
great defensive work by the Crescent backs which kept them at bay. There
were fine tackles in particular by Daniel O’Keeffe and Paul McNamara.
Having weathered the storm, after fifteen minutes, Crescent broke out of
their half and after some strong running Dylan Hennessy scored a fine try
in the left corner. We did not convert what was a difficult kick. Crescent
started the second half brightly and after some fine passing by Shane Eades
and Andrew Harrison, Daniel O’Keeffe was released to score a fine try in
the right corner, which we did not convert. UL Bohs dug deep and having
disrupted one of our better scrums, their scrum half scored a try up the
hill in the left corner after some good passing. They failed to convert,
leaving them trailing 12 to 5. We went in search of a game clinching score,
and having created several opportunities and putting on pressure, Paul
McNamara got in for another fine try for Crescent, which was converted by
out half Shane Eades to leave the final score at 19 points for Old Crescent
to 5 points for UL Bohs. The Crescent pack worked tirelessly for the whole
match and no doubt there were some tired men when the game ended.
Paul McNamara had to be taken off with a bad leg injury and we wish him a
speedy recovery. This was a fine open game of rugby and great credit
was due to both sides for a very exciting game.
In senior fixtures next weekend,
our Firsts play De La Salle Palmerston FC in a vital AIL match at home in
Rosbrien at 2.30pm next Saturday, 6th March. Given our precarious position
near the bottom of the AIL Division 2 table, this is a critical match for
the Club and all supporters are urged to come to Rosbrien next Saturday to
support our team.
Our Thirds have a home game
against Young Munster at 12.30pm in Rosbrien next Saturday, and our Under
21’s have a home game against Newcastlewest at 1.00pm in Rosbrien next
Sunday.
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Club
Notes (week ending Fri 5-Mar)
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Old Crescent supporters travelled
in great numbers to Clonakilty last Saturday for our important AIL fixture
against Clonakilty RFC. Played on a sunny but cold day, Clonakilty
began with the advantage of a strong wind behind them. Clonakilty
opened the scoring with a converted penalty after seven minutes, and
followed this up with an unconverted try half way through the first
half. Crescent had few attacking opportunities in the first half but
defended resolutely. With half time approaching, it looked like
Crescent would turn over only eight point down, having played into a strong
breeze, but unfortunately Clonakilty scored another converted try five
minutes before half time. Mark Woods got Crescent on the scoreboard
with a penalty just on half time, to leave us behind by 15 points to 3 at
half time. Crescent started the second half strongly with the wind at our
back, and within two minutes had cut the deficit to 5 points with a try by
Lemiki ‘Mac’ Viapula, converted by Mark Woods. Crescent hopes of
turnaround were high at this stage but they dashed when Clonakilty
immediately went up the field and scored an unconverted try. Mark
Woods put over another penalty to keep us in touch, midway through the
second half, but from there on it was all Clonakilty. In the last ten
minutes, they scored two converted trys, including an intercept when
Crescent were attacking the Clon line, to leave the final score Clonakilty
34 Crescent 13.
Our Third XV took to the field
on Friday night last against Garryowen in Dooradoyle. The squad had taken
the decision to give up home advantage and play the game on Friday night so
that they could travel to Clonakilty the following morning to support the
Senior XV. With a few players in key positions missing it was always going
to be a difficult task against a well drilled and organised Garryowen team.
Garryowen started well and scored a try early on, but Captain Bernard Quinn
rallied his troops and with good defensive pressure, forced a mistake from
the Garryowen centres. John Noonan anticipated the pass and juggled the
ball into his hands and crossed the whitewash to score a deserved try. John
converted his own score and with Garryowen adding another unconverted try,
our Third XV came in at half time trailing 10-7. In the second half we were
under a lot of pressure and defended resolutely showing commitment and
aggression in our play. Brian Clancy entered the fray, returning from a
long layoff due to injury and was influential in his organisation of the
defence. Peter Cusack was one of many who put in hard hitting tackles to
help keep the increasing Garryowen pressure at bay. Eventually, the
pressure told and Garryowen increased their lead, scoring two converted
tries and a penalty. The Thirds showed their fighting spirit, by rallying
towards the end, scoring the try of the game from their own 5 metre line
and moving the ball through the hands for Michael Callinan to score under
the posts. The team could not be faulted for effort, and with good
performances from Edward Chadwick and Gerry Fitzgibbon along with others, coupled
with the prospect of one or two players returning to the squad, it could a
good starting point for the cup campaign.
Old Crescent under age teams and
mentors travelled to West Cork in support of their Senior team last
weekend. 50 players and over 63 adults made up a great touring party
of 113. The Under 11’s competed in a blitz with Clonakility, Muskery and
CBC. The games went very well with the Old Crescent Under 11’s
setting the tone for the day with good wins. The Under 12’s divided their
panel of 30 into two balanced teams and played a similarly divided
Clonakilty Under 12’s. Each team had two games, with the Under 12’s
continuing the Old Crescent winning form and setting the tone for the
Senior game. Sadly, the Old Crescent Under Age winning streak came to
an end with the Senior game loss.
With an International weekend
coming up, there are no Senior games fixed for next weekend. In Under
Age, the Under14’s play the semi-final of their league on Sunday in
Rosbrien. All support would be appreciated.
Old Crescent members send their
sympathies to the Larkin family on the death of Old Crescent stalwart,
Aidan Larkin, last Sunday. Aidan was a founding member of the Club and was
Captain of the Club in the 1949-50 season.
Finally, a date for our diaries,
the Old Crescent RFC Fashion Show will take place in the Strand Hotel
Limerick on Wednesday, 24th March.
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Club
Notes (week ending Fri 26-Feb)
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A Crescent team combining
firsts, seconds, thirds and U21’s took the field on Sunday last in the
Munster Junior Plate match in Liam Fitzgerald Park against a strong Thomond
side. Joe Nix did a great job in assembling the team during the week, and
after a good warm up, the team gelled well from the outset. Shane Murphy
put in a captains performance, leading his team by example, with some
barrelling runs and good work at scrum time. Will Hanly, starting at full
back, showed his senior status in running the young back line, and he
kicked a fine penalty and conversion. It was heartening to see a side put
together on such short notice that was willing to play for each other, and
this surely bodes well for the future of the Club. Tevitha at number 8 put
in a strong performance and capped his fine display with a well worked try,
after a barraging 60 metre burst through the Thomond defence. Niall Kearney
was also on the score sheet after a well earned but undoubtedly fortunate
ricochet of the ball off a Thomond player’s boot. Other notable
performances came from Owen Croucher at centre, Shane O’Neill at hooker and
Mark Tierney at lock. Overall, the team put up a spirited performance
throughout the game and particularly towards the end, when Thomond were
hanging on dearly for their narrow win by 22 points to 15.
Our focus now turns to next
weekend when we play a vital AIL game against Clonakilty RFC away
in Clonakilty, at 2.30pm next Saturday. With Clonakilty just a few
points above us in the Second Division league table, this is a must win
game for Crescent in terms of moving us away from the dreaded relegation
zone. We therefore need as much support as possible in Clonakilty next
Saturday. To enable members and supporters to travel, the Club is
running a bus to bring our supporters to and from the game. The
bus will leave the South Court Hotel in Raheen at 11.00am on Saturday
morning and the return fare will be €10. Please contact bus coordinator, Frank
Larkin on 086 2070733 asap.
We will also have the support of
our Under 11s and 12s in Clonakilty next Saturday, when over 60 players and
mentors will travel to play Clonakilty before the senior game.
Our Thirds play Garryowen
in an important Gleeson League away fixture next Friday evening at 7.30pm
in Dooradoyle. Again, we would ask our supporters to turn up at
Dooradoyle next Friday night to support our Thirds.
In Under Age News, our Under
14's travelled to Tralee last Sunday to play Tralee for the second time
this season. The match was played in O’Dowd Park in fabulous weather. Due
to the absence of specialist hookers, we had to play uncontested scrums for
the entire match, which somewhat diluted the forward exchanges. We also had
a number of new combinations, mostly in the backs, and it was good to see
virtually all of our extended squad in action with everybody who was fit
and available getting lots of game time. Crescent scored first following a
marvellous break with a fine try from Fionn Whyte and converted by drop
kick by our outhalf David O’Malley. Tralee responded and won a penalty in
front of our posts which they successfully kicked over. After some great
running by David O’Malley and Evan Moloney, Gavin Hogan picked up a ball
from the side of a ruck and raced over to score a fine try. We were
unsuccessful with the convert to leave the scores at 12 points to three. A
period of sustained pressure by Crescent did not yield the expected score
as we spurned kicks at goal in pursuit of another try. Tralee responded
with some good attacking play and were rewarded a fine try which they
failed to convert. The first half finished just after another Crescent try
by Geoffrey Coyne, who squeezed through a small gap in the middle of both
packs, leaving the scores at 17 points to 8 at half time. In the second
half, Tralee got two fine tries which put them ahead at 18 points to 17,
having capitalised on some wayward kicking out of defence by Crescent and
also some slack tackling when Tralee ran back very strongly at us. However,
Crescent responded with another try after a great block down by Eoin Mc
Donnell and he succeeded in getting the touchdown. Again, Crescent were not
successful with the convert. In the last few minutes of the match, Tralee
scored a fine try under the posts, which was converted, to win the match 25
points to 22. Eight tries and lots of running rugby, this was a good game
to watch and played in perfect conditions. Fine displays by Gavin Hogan who
led from the front all day and from Val Mc Dermott. Many thanks to our
hosts Tralee for the match and the post match hospitality.
Back in Rosbrien last Sunday, we
hosted Tralee RFC at U9 and U11. A series of matches were played
with honours evenly shared between the two teams. Tralee RFC were on their
way to Limerick when their original fixtures were cancelled. Old Crescent
stepped into the breach and hosted Tralee with just one hour’s notice! Well
done to our U9s and U11s for helping out Tralee RFC in their time of need!
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Club
Notes (week ending Fri 19-Feb)
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Being an International weekend,
Crescent had only one senior fixture last weekend. Our Under 21’s played
Cashel RFC in a vital League decider in Rosbrien on Saturday and emerged
winners by 17 points to nil. By beating Cashel, our Under 21's won
the North Munster U21 League and ensured their promotion to Division One
next season. Congratulations to all Under 21 squad members and to the
team management!
The game itself was played in
windless foggy conditions. Both teams displayed some great rugby in a very
entertaining match. The Crescent defence held well, as it has done all
season, having only conceded only one try in the whole League campaign.
Cashel put us under pressure early on. However, midway through the first
half, from a good lineout win by Peter Power, the ball was moved quickly
out to centre Cian O'Brien who broke through into Cashel’s 22. After a
number of pick and go's from the forwards, Shane O'Carroll, our Captain,
showed good strength to get over for the try which was converted by Kevin
Meade. We continued to threaten, with some good breaks by Rob O’Neill,
winger, and Kevin Meade, fullback. Forwards, Mike Manning and Paul
Bogan, made life very difficult for Cashel at the breakdown, and Owen
Crachier and Mike McCormack worked hard in defence. With no further
scoring, we led by seven points to nil at half time. We started strongly in
the second half and began to take control of the game. Our front row of
Darragh O'Shea, Mike Cunningham and Robbie Walker, took control in the
scrum as the match went on. No 8, John O'Dwyer, linked up well with
the backline and made a number of telling carries. Ten minutes into the
second half, Cashel, under pressure, gave away a penalty 35 yards out which
Kevin Meade slotted over. Scrum half, Daragh Yelverton, and outhalf, Jason
Wycherely, controlled the game well. From a well worked lineout close to
Cashel’s line, we set up a maul which the forwards drove over for a try
scored by Gavin Herbert near the end of the game. Kevin Meade again
converted to bring the final score to Old Crescent 17 Cashel Nil. Being a
League, we didn’t win it with this one match alone. We had a strong squad
to call on all year. Notably, Paul Clayton, Kieran Murphy, Mark Tireney,
Shane O'Neill, Eoin O'Driscoll and Nial Liston, just to name a few.
The squad are now looking forward to the Cup.
With a further round of
Internationals games next weekend, the only senior club fixture next
weekend is on Sunday when our Junior Cup side take on Thomond RFC in the
Munster Junior Plate. The game kicks off in Fitzgerald Park at
2.30pm.
Under Age News: Old Crescent
played UL Bohs in the Under 14 League last Sunday in Annacotty. In
the first half, Old Crescent dominated play and scored two fine tries. Sean
Fitzgerald scored a fine try for Crescent under the posts after about 12
minutes after some fine running by Andrew Harrison. The try was converted
by our outhalf, Shane Eades. UL Bohs scored a try despite Crescent having
dominated play. Míchéal O’Neill scored another fine try for Crescent and
converted it himself with a fine kick from his left boot. Crescent went in
at half time leading 14 points to 5 ahead. Bohs started strongly in the
second half. Both sides spurned overlaps to score until late in the
half, Bohs got over for another try after a ruck close to the Crescent
line. The try was converted to leave the final score 14 to 12 to
Crescent. Míchéal O’Neill at full back looked very strong and Dylan
Hennessy on the wing made some excellent catches and breaks. Credit
is due to a fine Crescent squad and their coaches, as this team now
finishes unbeaten in their league section and advance to a home semi final.
The team would like to wish speedy recovery to two players who are out
injured, David Wixted and Chris Dunford. Old Crescent Under 10’s played a
friendly against Shannon Blues in Rosbrien last Sunday. Old Crescent
produced a stunning display to beat the visitors 35-10 in the first match
with tries from Maccon Casserly, Timothy Duggan, Cillian Toland, William
Campbell, and Eoin Murphy. The small squad also consisted of Luke Reilly,
Patrick Hassett and Ronan Reynolds, and each of these players made a
significant contribution to the skilful display. Shannon upped their game
for the second match and with a large squad to draw from they were able to
their rotate players. Crescent didn’t have that luxury and the team ran out
of steam and lost the second match. Had the full squad of players
been available, the second match would have been a cracker as Shannon
played well and got quick revenge over Old Crescent. In the end, both teams
can be happy with their performances and no doubt the two teams will cross
swords again this season.
In other news, the President’s Night function for our President, Niall
Sheehy, in the Strand Hotel last Saturday night, was the highlight of the
Old Crescent social calendar this season. The event was a great
success and was attended by a large turnout of members, players and
supporters. A great time was had by all.
Finally, a note for your diary,
the Under 17’s are holding a fundraising ‘1970/80’s Disco & BBQ with DJ
legend ‘Mickey Mac’, in the Old Crescent Clubhouse on Friday, 19th
February.
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Club
Notes (week ending Fri 12-Feb)
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A mixed weekend for our senior
teams – good wins for our Firsts and Under 21’s but defeats for our Seconds
and Thirds.
Our First team played a vital
AIL fixture against Greystones RFC last Saturday with the two teams
occupying third from bottom and bottom in the second division league
table. Crescent started in a determined fashion and played most
of the first half in Greystones half. Their efforts were rewarded
after 25 minutes when our Captain, Mark Ryan, burst through a number of
tackles to score under the posts. The try was converted by Brian
O’Shea. From the restart, Crescent continued to pile on the pressure and we
were awarded a penalty which Brian again converted. There was no
further scoring in the first half, and Crescent turned over 10 points to
nil ahead at half time. Ten minutes into the second half, Crescent pressure
resulted in a penalty which Brian O’Shea converted, and seven minutes later
Brian put over another penalty to put us 16 points to nil in front.
Greystones got their first score, a penalty, halfway through the second
half. However, any chance of a Greystones revival was snuffed out a
few minutes later when Billy Leahy went over for a well worked back line
try, which was converted by Brian O’Shea, putting us 23 points to 3 ahead.
With Greystones running out of steam, Crescent continued to attack and they
were rewarded with a try scored by Will Hanly as we approached full
time. The try was not converted. With the game deep in injury
time, and Crescent defending on our own line, it looked like our chance of
a 4 try bonus point was gone. However, in one last attack out of
defence, in a move started by first time senior player, Robert O’Neill, and
taken on by Mark Woods and James Cullinane, among others, Crescent went the
full length of the pitch before our Captain finished the attack by touching
down under the posts! Mark Woods converted and the final whistle
followed, giving Crescent victory by 35 points to 3, and adding 5 very
precious league points to our tally.
It was back down to earth the
following day in Ennis when our Seconds played the home side in the second
round of the Munster Junior Cup. With many of our team not having
played together, it was always going to be a difficult assignment against a
well organised Junior Cup side. Crescent battled gallantly and we
were only 6 points to nil down at half time, and only 13 points to nil
behind midway through the second half, but from then on Ennis were in total
control and won the game by 42 points to nil. Our Thirds lost to Cashel in
Cashel by 10 points to 3, and our Under 21’s had a hard fought win over
Kilfeacle in Kilfeacle by 16 points to 3.
In fixtures for next weekend, we
have only on senior fixture when our Under 21’s play Cashel at home in
Rosbrien at 12.30pm next Saturday. A win for Crescent would ensure
their promotion to Division One next year. All members are urged to
come out to come out to Rosbrien next Saturday to support our Under
21’s. Under Age fixtures next weekend are an Under 11 Blitz in
Rosbrien, and our Under 14’s are away to Ul Bohs, both on Sunday morning.
In Under Age News, our Under
15’s played Kilrush last weekend. Kilrush only had 13 players, and we got
the points, but we played a game (gave them 2 players) which we won 46-12
scoring some great tries, the highlights being a try from a tapped penalty
which involved 10 players and was finished by Mark Rickard and a 60 yard
sprint from Alan Crean for his first try for the Club. Our Under 15’s are
still unbeaten in the competition with two group games remaining.
Old Crescent Under 10’s hosted a blitz against Abbeyfeale, Newport, Ballina
Killaloe and East Clare Eagles at Rosbrien last Sunday. The home team found
it tough going in the first two matches, and narrowly lost to
Ballina/Killaloe and drew with Abbeyfeale. Maccon Casserly looked to
have scored a good try for Old Crescent in the drawn match but the referee
claimed he put a foot in touch and denied him the score. The
controversy seemed to make Old Crescent even more determined and we duly
produced an excellent display against East Clare Eagles with Oisin Hayes (2
tries), Eoin Murphy (1 try), Patrick Hassett, William Campbell and Luke
Reilly being the standout players for Old Crescent.
Congratulations to Crescent
College Comprehensive on their win against CBC last week, and
congratulations to the Old Crescent under age players who were involved in
the win by Castletroy College over Bandon Grammer, and the fine display by
Ard Scoil Ris against PBC.
Finally, we hope to see as many players and supporters as possible at our
President’s Night in the Strand Hotel next Saturday Night. Niall
Sheehy, our hard working President, deserves our thanks and our support.
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Club
Notes (week ending Fri 5-Feb)
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Old Crescent 1st XV
resumed their AIL programme on Saturday last with the visit of Malone to a
fog bound Rosbrien. With both teams in the bottom half of the table, points
were vital and it was the visitors that opened the scoring when after a
defensive lapse they crossed for a try which was duly converted. Our first
shot at goal was missed and Malone extended their lead to 10 points after
20 minutes with a penalty goal. Mark Woods opened the scoring for Crescent
with a penalty goal after 29 minutes but missed a second kick at goal
shortly thereafter. The half ended with an intercept by the visitors that
nearly led to a try but desperate defending by the Crescent side kept their
line intact. Given the fact that our side had the benefit of the elements
in the second half, there was an air of quiet confidence among the home
supporters that the 7 point gap could be made up. Crucially, the opening
score of the second period was a penalty goal scored by Malone to extend
their lead to 10 points. This however seemed to spur on the home team and
tries from Shane Spring and Mark Ryan, one of which was converted by
Mark Woods, put us in the lead for the first time in the match. Just
when it looked like our side would push on and consolidate their lead,
another defensive lapse allowed Malone to cross for an unconverted try to
regain the lead at 18 points to 15. They doubled their advantage with a
penalty goal in the 70 minute and when our side were awarded a penalty late
on the decision was made to kick for goal and Mark Woods obliged with his
second penalty goal of the game, to bring the score to 21 points to 18 in
favour to Malone. To the surprise of many in the ground, no additional time
was played so our team was left with just a bonus point to show for their
efforts. Next Saturday's visit of Greystones to Rosbrien is now a must win
game and we would ask as many supporters as possible come to Rosbrien on
Saturday to support the team.
Our Thirds had a win in
the Gleeson League against Young Munster last weekend by 10 points to
6. Crescent scores were a try by Conor McCarthy, and a convert and a
penalty kicked by John Noonan.
Under Age News: Our Under
17’s played a friendly against Shannon winning 29 points to 19 points.
Although both teams were suffering from a lack of players who are Schools
Cup tied, they still managed to produce a very entertaining 8 try
match, Shannon getting some respectability on the scoreboard with a last
play converted try. Our Under 15's played their first home game of
the league campaign on Sunday against UL Bohemians. Missing some players
due to various commitments resulted in a number of players playing out of
position which presented a great challenge to the team. However, our side
which features many of the McCarthy Cup winning Crescent College side
showed their superiority in the set pieces and that, along with some
excellent full back play from Steven Hackett in the first half, allowed us
to take control of the game. Two tries and a penalty goal gave us a
13 points to 3 lead at half time. We extended our lead to 15 points with
another try but we tired in the closing stages and UL Bohs scored a converted
try late on to conclude the scoring. We play Kilrush next Sunday in
Rosbrien at 11.30am.
Fixtures for next weekend: As mentioned above, our First
team play a vital home AIL game against Greystones RFC, at 2.30pm in
Rosbrien next Saturday. Our Seconds play Ennis RFC in Ennis at
2.30pm on Sunday in the second round of Munster Junior Cup. We would
urge as many supporters as possible to make their way to Rosbrien next
Saturday and to Ennis on Sunday to support our teams. Our Thirds
play Cashel away at 12.00 noon on Saturday, and our Under 21’s play
Kilfeacle away at 2.30pm also on Saturday. In Under Age fixtures, our Under
15’s play Kilrush at home in Rosbrien at 11.30am next Sunday, and our Under
14’s play UL Bohs away in Annacotty also at 11.30am next Sunday.
Our Under 10’s are hosting a blitz in Rosbrien on Sunday at 10.30am.
Our Hon Secretary, Dale Harrow,
says that he still has plenty of tickets available for the Ireland v Italy
International on 6th February. Please contact Dale asap. Members who
apply for tickets for the Italian game will be given priority in the
allocation of tickets for the Scotland and Wales Internationals.
course, members attending the Italian game on the 6th February will have to
leave immediately the final whistle blows, to be in time for our
President’s Dinner taking place later that evening in the Strand Hotel.
Tickets are available from Anna Murray at 086 1440000.
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Club
Notes (week ending Fri 29-Jan)
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Another week without rugby
goes by, with the IRFU and Munster Branch cancelling all rugby last
weekend, including our much anticipated home game against AIL table
topper’s Lansdowne. The Lansdowne
game has since been refixed for Saturday, 13th February, in Rosbrien.
Hopefully, a full rugby programme will resume next
weekend, when our First’s travel to College Park in Dublin to play Trinity
at 2.30pm next Saturday. We would
ask as many supporters as possible to attend this game, particularly, our
loyal band of Dublin based supporters.
After a disappointing first half to this season in 2009, we need to
get back on the winning trail in 2010 as quickly as possible.
Weather permitting, our Seconds will play
Killorglin RFC in the first round of the Munster Junior Cup next Sunday at
2.30pm at home in Rosbrien. Again,
we ask all members to turn up in support of our Junior Cup Team next
Sunday.
Again, weather permitting; our Thirds will play
Clonmel RFC away in Clonment at 2.30pm next Saturday. Our Under 21’s have no game this
weekend. Under Age training resumes,
weather permitting, next Sunday at 10.00am for the mini’s and at 11.15am
for the youths.
In other news, our Fundraising Walk has been
refixed for Sunday, 31 January, and sponsorship cards are available from
any member of the committee.
Our eagerly awaited President’s Night will take
place in the Strand Hotel Limerick, on Saturday, 6th February, and tickets
are available from Anna Murray at 085 1440000.
Applications from members for tickets for the Home
Six Nations games should now be made to our club secretary, Dale Harrow.
Members who visited our grounds in Robrien in
recent weeks will have noticed the newly tarmaced car park and approaches
to the Club House. Our Thirds
management committee, and Eugene ‘Valvo’ O’Riordain in particular, deserve
much praise and our thanks for organising and fundraising for this
magnificent job.
Members of Old Crescent will have been saddened to
learn of the death of Pat O’Connor, the well known Limerick butcher. Pat was a former member Old Crescent and
won a Transfield Cup Medal with the Club.
We extend our sympathies to his wife Kate and family, and to his
brother Noel and his sisters Carmel Lane and Ann Bradshaw, all of whom have
long standing connections with Old Crescent.
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Club
Notes (week ending Fri 15-Jan)
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Old Crescent played Old Wesley
RFC in the AIL last Saturday in Donnybrook, and despite playing some
attractive attacking rugby, suffered another defeat in what is becoming a
difficult season for the Club. The game was played in perfect conditions.
Old Wesley got off to a perfect start and led by eight points in as many
minutes through a try and a penalty goal. The Wesley try came
from a quick tapped penalty inside the Old Crescent 22 which caught
our defence napping. Despite Wesley going into an early lead, Old
Crescent knuckled down to the task and began to enjoy an increasing
amount of possession and tested the home defence at every
opportunity. Old Wesley opted for a running game and produced some
good moves but these efforts were thwarted by a well organised Old
Crescent defence and some excellent turnover ball at the breakdown. As the
first half progressed, Crescent came more into the game as an attacking
force and were unlucky to miss out on a couple of kickable penalty
opportunities. Wesley extended their lead with a penalty at the end
of the first half, to lead by 14 points to nil, a score that did not
reflect the effort put in by our team. Crescent started the second half in
determined mood and we got on the scoreboard with a converted penalty
kicked by Mark Wood after three minutes. Wesley had a forward sin-binned
and our pack increased the pressure on their scrum which had a
generally uncomfortable afternoon. Old Crescent owned the greater
share of possession and Old Wesley were forced into defensive mode for long
periods. With Crescent dictating the pattern of play, the home side had to
rely on counter attacking opportunities to relieve pressure and on 63
minutes this paid dividends with a break out try by Wesley which
effectively put the result beyond doubt. The conversion went wide but
Old Wesley led by 19-3. The score remained unaltered until the final move
of the game when Crescent crossed for a well deserved try by winger Martin
Treacy, which was unconverted, to leave the final score at 19-8. The last
time we played Old Wesley was nine years ago, after which they fell into
the Third Division, and it took them until last season to earn promotion
back to the Second Division. The Wesley experience is a reminder, as
if we needed a reminder, of the difficult task ahead of us for the
remainder of this season. However, looking on the positive side, our
First team are playing attractive rugby and are fully capable of turning
this season around. We must all rally round to ensure we succeed in
2010.
Our Seconds lost to Bruff on
Sunday, and our Thirds and Under 21’s had no game last weekend.
In Under Age News, our U17's
played a very entertaining friendly against Garryowen in Rosbrien.
Garryowen arrived with a very large squad made up of U17’s and U16’s and
started the game with a mix of many of their weaker U17 players with U16
players. Old Crescent, themselves missing a number of their usual starting
fifteen were still too strong for them in the first half and lead 19 points
to nil at half time, having run in 3 tries. Having replaced almost their
entire team Garryowen in the second half were literally a new outfit. They
soon got a grip on the game and ran in 4 tries to lead 20 point to nineteen
with 10 minutes remaining. Crescent eventually got back into the game and
were finishing strongly. Pressing hard they ignored a penalty opportunity
inside the Garryowen 22, that would have seen them retake the lead,
only to have Garryowen boot the ball down the field and score a breakaway
try which should have ended any chance of a Crescent fight back. As time
ebbed away Crescent gave one last push but their efforts were thwarted when
Garryowen stole ball on their own 5 meter line. Having stolen the ball they
should have easily cleared their line but inexplicably gave away a silly
penalty for which they were duly punished when Crescent ran in a very late
try under the posts which was duly converted and gave Crescent a very
pleasurable win.
Our Under 15s commenced their
league campaign with a tricky away trip to Newcastle West, the same side
that had knocked us out of the cup last season. The dry conditions
facilitated decent rugby and both sides did their best in this regard. We
opened brightly with our forwards dominating the set pieces but good
defence from the home team kept them in the game. We opened the scoring
midway through the first half when Cormac Blake crossed under the posts and
Shane Eades added the conversion. These were the only scores in the first
half. In the second half, despite dominating the set pieces, we were unable
to add to our points total. With five minutes remaining, Newcastle
West entered our 22 for the first time and after a period of pressure their
open side wing forward crossed near the post and the conversion was
successful to level the score. The remainder of the match was played in the
Newcastle West 22 but their defence held out and the match was drawn at
seven points apiece.
Fixtures for next weekend:
Our Seconds are away to Thomond RFC in Fitzgerald Park, at 2.30pn next
Sunday, and our Thirds play Garryowen in the Gleeson League at home in
Rosbrien at 2.30pm next Saturday.
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Club
Notes (week ending Fri 18-Dec)
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Old Crescent got back into
action after the November break in our home AIL fixture again UCD RFC.
Unfortunately, the break didn’t do us any good as we appeared rusty
compared to the students. With the breeze behind us, we started
brightly and were on the scoreboard after four minutes with a converted
penalty taken by Mark Woods. We went further ahead on ten minutes with
another penalty converted by Mark. However, midway through the first half,
having successfully defended against a strong UCD attack, a poor clearance
sent the ball straight to the UCD backs who went in for an opportunity try
which they converted. There was no further score in the first half,
leaving us one point behind at half time with the difficult task of playing
into a strong breeze in the second half. Three minutes into the second
half, the UCD pack mauled the ball from near the half way line to near our
try line. We finally pulled their maul down and were penalised, and
they scored a try from the subsequent attacking line-out. The try was
not converted. A short while later we were awarded a penalty which Mark
converted, bringing the score to Old Crescent 9 points to 12 points for
UCD. At this stage, we were playing well and back in the game.
Unfortunately, we were not to score again and UCD went further ahead with
three converted penalties, after 15 minutes, 20 minutes and 25 minutes play
to leave the final score Old Crescent 9 points UCD 21 points. All in all, a
disappointing finish from the home side.
A much depleted Old Crescent Seconds team played Young Munster on Sunday
and were defeated by 29 points to nil. Our Thirds also lost on
Saturday to Shannon by 10 points to nil. The only bright note on the
weekend was a win by our Under 21s who defeated a Newcastlewest/Abbeyfeale
selection by 15 points to 9. Our Under 21s are having a great season,
having lost only one game to date.
It was another busy weekend on
the Under Age front, starting on Saturday with the Under 14’s serving as
ball boys and manning the score board for the Senior game against UCD. On
Sunday our they renewed acquaintances with their pals from Tralee. Tough
conditions underfoot together with a cold day and some new combinations
made for a slow start as Tralee were out of the blocks very quickly.
Against the hill and the elements we were going backwards in the early
stages and two tries and a penalty later has us 13-0 down at the end of the
first third. With the elements behind us, we recovered lost ground with a
sniping break from Philip Spillane to get us on the score board, and with Fionn
White getting a second and Gerry Fitzpatrick a third, which he converted to
have us ahead by 17-13 after the second third. We were back playing against
the elements and Dylan Hennessy scored a try, a contender for try of the
year, having fielded the kick off and broken through two tackles, he then
beat several players up the line to round off a super score. Further scores
from Paul McNamara, Fionn White, and one more each for Paul and Dylan,
before Sean O'Rourke added his name to the score sheet, with Gerry
Fitzpatrick converting one and Val McDermott in near impossible kicking
conditions. Although no forwards scored, Joe Doyle provided very good
go-forward ball, with strong performances in the tight from Diarmuid
McDonnell, Gavin Hogan and Cian Reale and a great catch and drive forward
by Thomas O'Donnell being notable. Andrew Harrison had another strong
performance as did Paul McNamara, Dylan Hennessy and Philip Spillane.
On Monday night, our Club
President, Niall Sheehy, drew the winner of the Under 14s tour fundraiser -
2 tickets for Fridays Munster match V Perpignan - the winner was Ken
Johnson. Thanks for our ticket sellers and all who supported our venture.
Fixtures for next weekend:
Our Firsts are away next Saturday in Donnybrook in Dublin at 2.30pm
in what is now a vital game against Old Wesley RFC. Our Seconds play
Bruff at home in Rosbrien at 2.30pm on Sunday. Our Thirds and our
Under 21s have no game this coming weekend.
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Club
Notes (week ending Fri 11-Dec)
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Another weekend gone by when the
weather again played havoc with sporting fixtures. Only one senior Old
Crescent fixture survived the weather. Our Under 21s played their
twice postponed fixture against Cashel RFC at home in Rosbrien last
Saturday, and were unlucky to lose by 9 points to 3.
However, if our seniors are
experiencing problems with the weather, it certainly hasn’t affected our
Under Age players who were in action over the weekend.
Our Under 14s played Clanwilliam
in Tipperary last weekend and won comprehensively. The first half was
very competitive and our forwards took some time before they asserted
themselves. When they got into the game, 2 tries were scored by
Andrew Harrison, and one Joe Doyle. At half time we were leading
17 nil, with one try converted by Michael O'Neill. Second half saw two
tries by Paul McNamara and tries by Shane Eades and Dave O'Malley. Converts
were by Shane Eades. The team played very well with good performances from
Daira Egan-O'Brien, David Wixted, Luke O'Reilly, and Eoghan Ryan. Many
thanks to Clanwilliam for a enjoyable game in their new grounds - College
Grounds - though some parents had difficulty locating the ground and
possibly stat navs will be on the Christmas wish list.
Our Under 12’s travelled to St.
Senans RFC in Shannon Town for a blitz with Newcastlewest and Kilrush, as
well as St Senans. We travelled with 22 players and divided into two
teams, the Sharks and Barracudas. It was a bright but very cold
morning, and those who brought the club fleeces really appreciated them
before the games started. Each team played two matches. The
Sharks played Newcastle West and Kilrush, and won both. The Barracudas
played Kilrush and St Senans, and drew with Kilrush 4 all and beat St
Senans. The team performed well and are starting to show progress with this
years changes, in the scrums and lineout’s. When both sets of
forwards started to drive, we made good ground, although there were a few
lateral runs which will have to be commented on at the next training session.
All the players who made the journey got plenty of playing time. The
teams were: Sharks: Oran Collins, Gordan O’Neill, Jack Hegarty, Conor Ryan,
Brian Ryan, Padraic O’Neill, Cillian Reynolds, John Blake, Edwin Wixted,
and Mark Fitzgerarld. Barracudas: Matthew Hanley, Sam Ross, Mark
Walsh, Killian O’Shaughnessy, Christopher Leahy, Conor O’Farrelly, Joe
Gannon, Niall Gannon, Joe Lynch, John O’Donovan, Evan McDermott, and Robert
Greer.
Our Under 16’s are back in
training on Sundays at 11.30 am, and Shane Gleeson is looking forward to
the boys returning for the U16 development league. Our Under 8’s and
9’S trip to Kilfeakle was cancelled.
Senior Fixtures for next
weekend: our First’s restart their AIL campaign after the November break
with a home game against UCD RFC at 2.30pm in Rosbrien. The students are
going well, with 3 wins from 5 games, so a big performance will be required
on Saturday. Our Second’s play Young Munster away in Derryknockane at
2.30pm on Sunday, and our Thirds’s are away to Shannon in Coonagh at 1.00pm
on Saturday. Our Under 21’s are at home to Newcastlewest/Abbeyfeale
at 1.00pm on Saturday in Rosbrien.
A first anniversary mass is
being held in memory of our late President, Brendan McElduff, in St. Paul’s
Church, Dooradoyle, at 11.00pm next Sunday, 6th December. Brendan was
a very popular President of Old Crescent RFC, and members who were unable
to attend his funeral in Castlegregory last year are welcome to attend next
Sunday.
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Club
Notes (week ending Fri 4-Dec)
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In addition to
causing serious destruction and hardship throughout the country, the
weather played havoc with sports fixtures last weekend, and in the case of
Old Crescent resulted in only one senior club fixture going ahead last
weekend. Our Seconds played Nenagh Ormond in Nenagh last Saturday,
and lost by 15 points to 5.
The
only other rugby to report from last weekend is from our Under Age section,
where our Under 14s had a home league fixture last Sunday against Estuary
RFC in what were very demanding conditions for all concerned. With some new
combinations and many players playing to hold on to their places, and
others trying to break into the side on a more regular basis, the side
started very brightly with Michael O'Neill crossing the line for his side's
first two scores, converting the first.
With
our team adjusting to the conditions and putting the visitors under
considerable pressure, Joe Doyle broke through for the next score, but with
the windy conditions, we were unable to convert. Almost from the kick off,
Paul McNamara made a great break running 50 mtrs to score under the posts
with Michael adding the extra two pointer. Further good quality possession
from the forwards resulted in Eoin McDonnell scoring, with further tries
before half time from Cathal Egan O'Brien and another by Joe Doyle, two of
which were converted by Michael.
With
the wind at their backs, our forwards tied things up in the second half -
Sean Fitzgerald pounced for a try on the line as their scrum-half was put
under pressure by David O'Malley from a scrum five, with David adding the
conversion. This was followed by a great pick and take, and break
from the back of the scrum with the ball going through several pairs of
hands finishing with a score for Cian Reale converted by Michael, with
substitute Diarmuid McDonnell grabbing the final score of the game for a
comprehensive victory. Coke and Taytos in the clubhouse for both
teams were never so welcome!
The
lack of rugby this week gives your scribe the opportunity to mention a new
sporting initiative in which Old Crescent is very much to the fore. A
Sports Ambassadors Programme was launched this week in a bid to grow the
number of sports events in the city, and thereby increase the city’s share
of the lucrative national and international sports tourism market. A Sports
Ambassador is someone who is willing to help bring a national or
international sporting event to the city.
The
Old Crescent Pig & Porter Festival is an excellent example of what the
Sports Ambassadors Programme is hoping to achieve. From small
beginnings, our Pig & Porter Festival has grown to become Ireland
largest and best Tag Rugby Festival, with over 120 teams competing in this
year’s Festival, bringing a huge number of high spending visitors to the
City for a weekend.
Fixtures
for next weekend, weather permitting. Our Seconds play Garryowen at home in
Rosbrien on Sunday at 2.00pm. Our Thirds also play Garryowen at 12.00
noon on Saturday at home in Rosbrien, and our Under 21s play Cashel at home
in Rosbrien at 12.30pm on Saturday.
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Club
Notes (week ending Fri 27-Nov)
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We finally got
our AIL campaign back on track with our first AIL win of the season against
Terenure College RFC last Saturday. The win was overdue and comes on
the back of some good displays by our senior team which were not rewarded.
Old Crescent started strongly with the wind behind us and secured a penalty
after five minutes which Mark Woods converted to open our account.
After further Old Crescent pressure which brought play deep into the
Terenure half, our winger, Shane Spring finished off a well worked back
move with a try which wasn’t converted. Terenure scored an unconverted try
midway through the first half, but Crescent replied with two penalties
kicked by Mark Woods, to leave the half time score Old Crescent 14 Terenure
College 5. Terenure re-started strongly and were awarded a penalty after
just two minutes which they converted. The game was evenly contested
thereafter until Terenure scored their second try midway through the second
half. The convert was missed to leave Crescent in front by just one
point. Terenure went ahead with a penalty with ten minutes to go, to
put them two points clear. When it looked like Crescent would once
again lose by small margin, with 80 minutes gone our team made a final
attack which resulted in a penalty under the Terenure posts. Mark Woods
converted to give us our first AIL win of the season by the margin of one
point.
Our
3rd XV hosted Thomond in the Gleeson League on Saturday afternoon. Playing
against the conditions in the first half, we opened quietly but eventually
got into the game and on our first incursion into the Thomond 22 a
sparkling piece of back play resulted in a try in the left corner . The try
was not converted and we immediately surrendered most of our points
advantage by conceding a penalty which was duly converted. Discipline was
an issue for us in the first half and Thomond took the lead with another
penalty goal. We then advanced into the Thomond 22 and crossed for a try
under the posts which was converted by Paul McDonagh to bring the score to
12 points to 6. We stretched our lead soon after with another unconverted
try and the third Thomond penalty goal of the half concluded the scoring
leaving the score at the interval at Old Crescent 17 points to Thomond 9.
Playing with the elements in the second half, we continued to rack up the
pressure and exchanged penalty goals to bring the score to 20 points to 12.
Using the conditions to our advantage, we then rattled off 10 unanswered
points to make the game safe and then mounted an excellent defensive stand
in the last 5 minutes to keep our line intact. Final score was 30 points to
12 to give us our second win in a row in the League.
Our
Seconds and Under 21 games last weekend were called off.
With
no Under 14 match or training last weekend, 28 players and parents took to
the road by bus to attend Ireland V Australia in Croke Park - the
Doylemobile departed at 10am and we arrived in good time to see Australia
score just in front of us, as our seats were in the Davin Stand Lower. After
the weak start by Ireland things got better and Ireland were full value for
their efforts and were a bit unlucky not to go in ahead at half time. In
the second half, we had a great view of Tommy Bowe's try and an even better
view of Brian O'Driscoll's try to square the match and 'get out of jail’.
Well done and thanks to Peter Doyle for arranging it all.
Old
Crescent held a successful Under 8 Blitz with visiting teams from
Abbeyfeale, Newport and Ballina/Killaloe fielding five teams between them
and Old Crescent fielding a further two. The sight of almost sixty
budding stars was well supported by both parents and grandparents
alike! Foundation skills of tackling, passing the ball backwards and
running into space was evident in all matches. We had a fantastic
turnout of over twenty players allowing the fielding of two teams plus
substitutes. All players showed fantastic grit and determination, and
were perfect hosts and representatives of their Club at this level.
Senior
fixtures for next weekend: Our First team have no game this weekend.
Our Seconds play Nenagh Ormond away in Nenagh next Sunday at 2.30pm.
Our Thirds play Clonmel away at 2.30pm next Saturday, and our Under 21s
play Clanwilliam at home in Rosbrien at 2.30pm next Saturday.
Finally,
congratulations to Diarmuid McLaughlin who won the car in our latest
bi-monthly car draw which was held in the Clubhouse last Saturday.
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Club
Notes (week ending Fri 20-Nov)
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Old Crescent held a successful
U8 Blitz with visiting teams from Abbyfeale, Newport
and Ballina/Killaloe fielding five teams between them plus Old
Crescent fielding a further two. The sight
of almost sixty budding stars was well supported by both parents and
grandparents alike! Foundation skills of tackling, passing the ball
backwards and running into space was evident in all matches.
Abbyfeale had some players whose turn of pace would do many a parent proud on
an athletics field, never mind out pacing the defence on the rugby
pitch. Ballina/Killaloe showed an inept capability of winning
turnover ball while Newport’s
field positions and passing movements were worthy of teams several age
grades higher. On the home front we had a fantastic turnout of over
twenty players allowing the fielding of two teams plus substitutes.
All players showed fantastic grit and determination and were perfect
hosts and representatives of their club at this level.
|
Sun 15-Nov - U8 Blitz
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Old
Crescent 17 - 16 Terenure: Having
dropped from 12th place to last place after the previous round of matches
the team and coach knew they needed to lift their game and also get a bit
of luck in order to get back on track.
Playing with the wind and hill they started brightly against Terenure and
led 8 nil after 15 minutes, through a Shane Spring try and a Mark Woods penalty.
Terenure managed to score an unconverted forwards try before Old Crescent
increased their lead with two more Woods penalties, leaving the score at 14
points to 5 points at halftime.
In the second half it was all Terenure but for all their possession they
were still down 14 points to 13 points well into the second half, having
only scored one penalty and one try. Just as when we played Bruff and
had our conversion rebound off the upright to deny us victory their
conversion from an almost identical position also rebounded of the upright
and one had to wonder if providence was going to shine on Old Crescent this
time. However, with only 10 minutes left Old Crescent conceded a penalty in
front of the posts which Terenure gratefully took advantage of and took the
lead.
After a couple of further plays Old Crescent found themselves defending at
their 22 but somehow managed to steal ball which Billy Leahy ran to inside
the Terenure 22, the first time in the second half we were inside the
Terenure half it seemed. This gave Old Crescent the impetus to
continue attacking for the last three or four minutes of normal time and
with virtually 80 minutes on the clock managed to secure a penalty which
Mark Woods duly converted leaving the score at 17 points to 16 points in
favour of Old Crescent.
A nervous last couple of minutes
of injury time was greeted with much joy and relief at full time. A first
win of the season and moves the team off the bottom and into 13th place.
Well done to Andre Human, the
Team and Management.
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Sat 14-Nov -
18:00
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Our First team had no game last
weekend and the break should have help with team preparations for our AIL
game against Terenure next weekend. Our Second’s played Shannon in
Coonagh last Sunday, in a lively entertaining game in which our team played
some great rugby. At the end of the game, Crescent were attacking the
Shannon line, just 7 points behind, when an intercept by Shannon led to a
final score of 31 points to Shannon and 19 to Crescent. The final
score line didn’t reflect the draw that was on the cards if Crescent passes
had gone to hand.
In horrendous conditions, Old
Crescent 3rd XV took on UL Bohemians in the Gleeson League on Saturday
last. After an opening draw away against Bruff and a defeat against a very
strong Richmond team, it was crucial that Bernard Quinn and his team get a
win to kick start their league campaign. Playing against the wind in the
first half the starting XV put in a huge effort to keep a strong UL Bohs
team from crossing our line. We took the lead with a Paul McDonagh penalty,
but almost immediately we conceded a penalty with Bohs converted to level
the score and the half ended 3-3.
The half time team talk centred around making use of the wind and playing
rugby in our opponents half. We started well adding to our first half
penalty with another one by Paul McDonagh with ten minutes gone, bringing
the score to 6-3. UL Bohs made a number of changes to their pack and began
to get a foothold in the game. These changes and the wind dying brought
them more into the game, and they capitalised by scoring a try and
converting it to lead the home side 10-6.
Stout defence from our team kept
the visitors from scoring again. We regained our composure and began
to use the conditions, and in the last 5 minutes, Trevor Whelan, box kicked
over the onrushing Bohs defence and the ball trickled over the sideline for
good field position. Our lineout, which had worked well all day, managed to
steal Boh’s ball and after 5 phases of play moving the ball from one side
of the field to the other, the backs made use of the overlap with Tommy
Pratt crashing over the line for a try. Paul McDonagh converted to bring
the score to 13-10. Our defence held well for the seemingly endless injury
time and we held out for a hard fought, but well earned victory.
Our Under 21s game against
Cashel in Cashel last Saturday was called off due to an unplayable pitch.
In Under Age News, our Under
14’s travelled to Kilballyowen Park last Sunday to play Bruff on what was a
beautiful morning and dry pitch, despite the heavy rain on Friday and
Saturday. Having won the toss our team elected to play with the sun on our
backs and although we started somewhat slowly, we did not let the big Bruff
pack get into their stride early in the game. As we settled, we started to
win some very good quality possession, and but for some excellent tackling
by Bruff and some hesitancy by some of our backs we might have scored out
wide earlier on.
Eventually the breaks came and
some strong running out wide by our wingers Dylan Hennessy and Daniel
O'Keeffe resulted in scores, with Cian Reale scoring in between those two
scores, and two conversions from Shane Eades to leave us 19-0 ahead at half
time.
Further good work by our pack in
the second half, against a strong Bruff pack who made us work hard in all
areas of the game, led to a steady flow of possession and this, together
with good performances from those who game off the bench, resulted in four
further tries in the second half, all scored by our backs, including one
more each for Dylan Hennessy and Daniel O'Keeffe, as well as scores for
Paul McNamara and Micheal O'Neill, one of which was converted by Shane
Eades, to finish out comfortable winners by 41 points to nil.
Fixtures for next weekend:
Our First team play Terenure RFC in the AIL at home in Rosbrien at 2.30pm
next Saturday. Our Seconds play UL Bohemians at home on Sunday at
1.00pm. Our Thirds play Thomond in the Gleeson Leage, at home in Rosbrien
at 1.00pm next Saturday, and our Under 21s play their rescheduled game
against Cashel at 2.30pm on Saturday in Cashel.
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Club
Notes (week ending Fri 13-Nov)
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Our Senior team made the short
trip to Galway to play Galway Corinthians RFC in the AIL last weekend.
Corinthians were promoted from the Third Division at the end of last
season, and they had made a bright start in Division Two with two wins from
three games before last weekend.
The home side opted to play
against a strong wind in the first half, and it almost paid dividends for
them from the off. A strong drive by the Corinthians pack brought
them to the Crescent line where, thankfully, a spilt ball saved Old
Crescent from conceding an early try. Having relieved this early
pressure, Crescent regrouped and took total command for the remainder of
the first half. Fifteen minutes into the game, some good work by our pack
brought us to the Corinthian’s 22. Our scrum-half, Chirs de Looze,
got the ball away to our number 10, Mark Wooks, who broke the home side
cover and then set up our winger, Marcus O’Connell to touch down in the
corner for a well worked try. Brian O’Shea missed the difficult
conversion. Four minutes later, Crescent were over for another try,
following a line out on the Corinthian’s five metre line, the home side
were caught napping when our captain ,Mark Ryan, cleaned out the line out
and dived over unopposed for an opportunist try. The try was
converted by Brian O’Shea, bringing the score midway though the first half
to Old Crescent 12 Corinthians nil. Corinthians gave away a penalty on
thirty minutes, which was kicked successfully by Brian O’Shea to give us a
15 point to nil lead. Crescent were now in full flight, and with the
wind at our backs we were unlucky not to go further ahead before half time,
when two certain tries were missed due to the final pass going agonisingly
astray! Our pack had been dominant in the first half and hopes were high
that we would build on our lead in the second half, even though we were now
playing into a strong wind. However, the game changed dramatically
ten minutes into the second half when our most influential player, our
captain Mark Woods, was yellow carded. Corinthians scored two tries and
converted one while Mark was off the field, bringing then right back into
the game midway through the second half. Corinthians made good use of the
strong wind at their back, and finally went ahead with ten minutes to go
when they scored a try and a convert, to bring them to 19 points to Old
Crescent’s 15 points. Corinthians were now on top in the final ten minutes
and Crescent were hanging on for the losing bonus point. However,
worse was in store, and Crescent conceded a further 17 points in the last
ten minutes, a penalty, and two converted tries, to leave the final score
at Corinthians 36 Old Crescent 15. A very disappointing result after
a bright start.
In other results last weekend,
our Second side lost to Thomond by 9 points to 23, and our Thirds lost
Richmond by 42 points to 12. Our Under 21s had a very good win over
Kilfeacle by 33 points to 5.
In Under Age news, Our Under
13’s played a very competitive game against Garryowen which the final score
line does not reflect. Garryowens big forwards caused us considerable
trouble but the skill level shown by the Under 13s was pleasing to see. It
is clear that better days will come for this team. Our second half performance
was very strong, leaving aside a couple of break away scores. Our score was
created by Richard Bateman making a break from the ruck and off loading to
Joshua Page who drove over for try, which was converted by Sean Keane, a
wonderful score. Final score: Old Crescent 7 - Garryowen 34
Old Crescent attended an Under 12 blitz in Garryowen last Sunday. Our
good numbers attending training allowed us to field two very competitive
teams. Competitive matches against Garryowen, Ballina Kilalloe and St
Senans, showed continued improvement as the good work in training is paying
dividends. The Under 12s are showing great potential and plenty of future
senior players will come from this group.
Fixtures for next weekend:
Our Firsts have no game. Our Seconds play Shannon away in Coonagh at
2.30pm next Sunday. Our Thirds play Ul Bohemians at home in Rosbrien
at 12.30pm next Saturday, and our Under 21s play Cashel away in Cashel at
2.30pm next Saturday.
Finally, the winners of this
week’s AIL forecast draw were Ted Frost and Ray Dunne. Congratulations to
Ted and Ray!
|
Club
Notes (week ending Fri 6-Nov)
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Rosbrien featured our first AIL home game of the season
last Saturday, in front of a reasonable crowd of supporters and visitors,
when we entertained Bruff RFC in a close encounter where unfortunately luck
did not go our way.
Bruff started strongly with the wet and windy conditions behind them in the
first half and they established a 12-0 lead by half time, with four
penalties by their number 10, Brian Cahill. He scored his first
penalty after three minutes, and his other three penalties followed at a
steady pace throughout the first half as Bruff used the windy conditions to
pin Old Crescent in our own half. Try-scoring chances were few and
handling errors ruined any attacking continuity for Bruff. Old
Crescent were resolute in defence but had few scoring opportunities and
were scoreless at half time. Hopes were high that our team
would stage a comeback in the second half with the wind at their backs. The
second half was scoreless for a long period before our number 10, Mark
Woods, landed his first penalty 15 minutes into the second half. Mark
converted a second penalty five minutes later, to put us just five points
behind with 20 minutes to play. Old Crescent supporters were hopeful
of securing our first AIL of the season, however, Bruff defended strongly,
and when Mark missed a penalty it looked like our chance was gone.
However, in the 80th minute, Crescent rampaged forward for one last attack
and in injury-time, our experienced midfielder, Billy Leahy, found a gap in
the Bruff defence to touch down to the left of the posts. Old Crescent and
Bruff supporters held their breath as Mark Woods stepped up to the
difficult conversion. His kick looked to be heading between the posts but
in the windy conditions the ball struck the left hand post and fell out
rather than in, giving Bruff the narrowest of victories and more heartache
for Old Crescent players and supporters.
|
Pos
|
Team
|
P
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
F
|
A
|
TB
|
LB
|
Pts
|
|
9
|
Corinthians
|
3
|
2
|
0
|
1
|
49
|
66
|
0
|
0
|
8
|
|
10
|
Old
Wesley
|
3
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
46
|
85
|
1
|
0
|
5
|
|
11
|
Highfield
|
3
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
45
|
85
|
0
|
0
|
4
|
|
12
|
Old
Crescent
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
51
|
68
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
|
13
|
Malone
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
47
|
69
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
|
14
|
Dublin
University
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
57
|
80
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
|
15
|
Clonakilty
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
29
|
83
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
|
16
|
Greystones
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
23
|
96
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
Our Seconds played Bruff RFC on Sunday in the North Munster Seconds League
and lost by 26 point to 13. Our Thirds completed the Old Crescent versus
Bruff weekend line-up by playing their first game under lights in Bruff on
Friday evening, a game that was drawn 8-8. Our Under 21s lost to
Young Munster at home in a friendly on Sunday.
Under Age News: Last Sunday saw our Under 14 league campaign begin in
earnest against a strong Garryowen side with whom we had a number of
tussles over the years. Playing against the elements, we started very
strongly and put a lot of pressure on Garryowen and we secured the first
try of the game through Andrew Harrison. We continued to put significant
pressure on Garryowen, through strong forward play and could have scored on
a number of occasions if we kept the ball in hand. However, Garryowen
withheld the pressure and scored on their first venture into our half. Further
pressure from us might have yielded another score, and we were unfortunate
not to score near the posts, when Paul McNamara was prevented from touching
down. We did score before half time after a number of drives, with Eoin
McDonnell getting over to give us a 10-5 lead at half time. Playing
with the elements in the second half, the forwards continued to scrummage
very well and secured plenty of ruck ball, giving the back line plenty of
go-forward ball. Some lovely passing movements and strong running from our
backs yielded a second try for Andrew Harrison, duly converted by Shane
Eades. Further pressure from the pack resulted in Sean Fitzgerald scoring
our fourth try, with Jack Harrington close to hand. Shane Eades
converted and tagged on a penalty as the final score of the game, giving us
a satisfactory 27 - 5 victory.
Fixtures for next weekend: Our First’s travel to Galway to play newly
promoted Corinthians RFC in the AIL at 2.30pm next Saturday. Our
Seconds play Thomond RFC at home at 2.30pm next Sunday, and our Thirds play
their Gleeson League fixture against Richmond, at 2.30pm at home in
Rosbrien next Saturday. Our Under 21s also play at home next
Saturday, when they take on Kilfeacle at 12.00 noon in Rosbrien.
In other news, our President Niall Sheehy was the lucky winner of our
results forecast for AIL games last weekend.
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Club
Notes (week ending Fri 30-Oct)
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Old
Crescent out-half Mark Woods watched his late conversion attempt bounce
back off the left-hand post as his side suffered an agonising 12-11 defeat
to Limerick rivals Bruff on Saturday.
In wet and windy conditions at Rosbrien, Bruff had the blustery elements
behind them in the first half and they established a 12-0 half-time lead
thanks to four penalties from Brian Cahill. Cahill's opener in the third
minute, from a few metres inside his own half, was the best of the lot and
Bruff's territorial dominance grew as he added to their tally after 13, 18
and 36 minutes. Try-scoring chances were at a premium for the visitors, and
handling errors and poor decision making spoiled some
good approach work for a Bruff side that deserved a try for their
efforts. Still, Old Crescent's forwards excelled at the breakdown and their
commitment in defence was top notch and turning around with the wind in
their favour, the Mark Ryan-skippered home side looked good for a comeback
on the scoreboard.
The second half was scoreless until Woods landed his first penalty in the
56th minutes, and his second soon followed. Bruff's defence was holding up
well and when Woods fired wide with his next penalty attempt and the
80-minute mark arrived, the visitors looked like they had sealed the deal.
However, there was late drama when Crescent rampaged forward and in deepest
injury-time, centre Billy Leahy speared through a midfield gap to touch
down to the left of the posts. With the wind difficult to read, Woods was
left with the conversion kick to win the game for Crescent. His
effort looked to be curling over before it struck the post and fell away,
allowing Bruff to clear the ball to touch and celebrate with much relief. © IRFU
website
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Mon 26-Oct
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A real tail of
two half's with Bruff playing down the hill and with a strong wind blowing
at their backs scored four penalty goals to leave the score 12 nil at
half time. Old Crescent scored 2 penalty goals through Mark Woods in the
second half to leave the score 6 points to 12 points as the game entered
injury time . A last play try from Billy Leahy left a one point difference.
Unfortunately Mark Woods conversion attempt hit the post to leave the
Crescent players heartbroken at full time.
|
Sat 24-Oct
- Old Crescent 11 - 12 Bruff:
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Old Crescent
exited from the AIB Cup following a heavy defeat by First division side
Clontarf RFC last Saturday in Rosbrien. Clontarf won by 50 points to
5, scoring eight tries to one late try for Old Crescent scored by Paddy
Carroll. Even thought we were short a few key players due to injuries, and
Clontarf had the services of several players on the Leinster fringes, the
result does show the gap between First and Second Division rugby and it
also shows the level of rugby that we have to play if we hope to progress
to the First Division. Old Crescent never gave up and our team
battled throughout the game to try to get on terms against a far superior
team. In particular, the senior members of our team never stood back
and the team put together several periods of possession but unfortunately
couldn’t convert the possession into scores. There were no other
senior games last weekend.
Fixtures for next weekend: Our First team play their first home AIL
game against Bruff RFC in Rosbrien at 2.30pm next Saturday. Please come out
and support our senior team in their first important home fixture of this
season. Contact Vincent Collins, 087 9756033, if you wish attend the
pre-match lunch in the clubhouse next Saturday.
Our Second’s also play Bruff away on Sunday at 2.30pm, and our Thirds
complete the Old Crescent v Bruff match up with a game against the same
opposition at 7.45pm next Friday evening in Bruff. Our Under 21s play
Young Munster away on Sunday at 1.00pm.
Our Under Age members had a very busy weekend last weekend. A very
successful outing had by our Under 9's at Presentation RFC on
Sunday. All of our panel were rotated during the matches. Shannon were
defeated in the first match and this was followed up with a victory over
East Clare Warriors. The final match was a classic against Presentation,
despite conceding 3 early tries, the U9's rallied and clawed them back to 3
all. In the final minute, Ben Davey got over for a great individual try.
Overall, it was a great team effort with some excellent tackling, running
and passing. Old Crescent Under 10's took part in their first
home blitz of the season. Visitors to Rosbrien included UL Bohs, West Clare
Warriors, Ballyhoura and Young Munster. The U10's played very well
and certainly adapted well to the rules of U10 rugby. Old Crescent
were unbeaten on the day and secured wins against UL Bohs, Ballyhoura and
Young Munster. West Clare Warriors really it put it up to Old Crescent but
the match ended in a draw. Well done to all those involved. The U10's
are training hard for their next blitz which will see them take on some
difficult opposition in Garryowen, Shannon and Thomand. Our Under 12s
match went very well against Young Munster, we played 3 periods of 10
minutes each. Everyone got plenty of games time and there was a big improvement
in our rucking and willingness to get onto the loose ball. A big
improvement from our first blitz Our Under 14's played a
friendly against Nenagh on Sunday. We started very well, with an opening
try to lead 5-0 after just a few minutes, and things looked very promising
as we tried to move the ball wide. However, Nenagh began to capitalise on
some handling errors and grow into the match, scoring on a number of
occasions without reply to lead 17-5 at the end of the first third.
At this stage we rotated some players and we got back into the game, being
just 24-22 at the end of the second period. Further rotation and with the
settling of players back into their more accustomed positions, we went
after the game against a tiring Nenagh side and scores on a number of
occasions to win comfortably in the end. Next weekend we have two home
games for our U13’s and 14’s against Garryowen.
Tickets for the Autumn Internationals in Croke Park, against Australia on
Sunday, 15th November, and South Africa on Saturday, 28th November, are now
on sale from Dale Harrow, Club Secretary. Contact Dale at 086 3447197.
|
Club Notes (week ending Fri 23-Oct)
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Our
First team travelled to Dublin last weekend to play Bective Rangers in our
second game in the AIL this season. The game was played in cold dry
windy conditions in the new look Donnybrook stadium. As is often the
case in Old Crescent AIL games, our team started brightly and they took the
game to Bective. Unfortunately, this early period of Crescent
pressure failed to register a score, and it was Bective Ranger who scored
first with a try and convert midway through the first half. Bective
followed this with a second try five minutes later, which was not
converted. Bective completed all the scoring in the first half with
the addition of a penalty, to leave the half time score Bective Rangers 15
and Old Crescent scoreless. Hopes of a quick Crescent revival in the second
half were dashed when Bective scored a third try five minutes into the
second half, which they converted to put them 22 points ahead without
reply. Crescent finally got on the scoreboard with a penalty kicked
by Mark Woods eight minutes into the second half. However, this was
cancelled out by a second Bective penalty five minutes later. This penalty
by Bective turned out to be their last score of the game, and from there to
the finish it was all Old Crescent. Crescent began to get to grips
with the game, and good work by the pack was rewarded by a try scored by
Jack Corrigan midway through the second half. The try was converted
by Mark Woods to bring the score to Bective 25 Old Crescent 10. Old
Crescent has the upperhand and it was now a question of whether or not we
could claw back to Bective lead before full time. With two minutes of
normal time remaining, Lemiki ‘Mac’ Viapula, scored a try which converted
by Mark Woods, and on the stroke of full time, our Captain, Mark Ring,
scored a great individual try which was again converted by Mark Woods. The
game went into injury time with a now rampant Crescent just one point
behind and Bective desperately trying to hang on for a win. A great
drop goal attempt to win the game by Brian O’Shea just shaved the post and
went wide. However, the final whistle sounded without another score,
giving Bective a narrow win and leaving Crescent disappointed at having
left our best rugby to the end.
Our
Second team went down to a heavy defeat by Garryowen on Sunday by 48 points
to 10, however, our Thirds team won on Saturday against the same
club. Our Under 21’s won an important North Munster League game
against Abbeyfeale/Newcastlewest by 15 point to 7.
In
Under Age News, our Under 17s won their League fixture against Ennis
by 14 point to 5. A damp start to the morning was replaced by glorious
sunshine at the impressive Lees Road facility in Ennis. A tough
unyielding first half from both teams left the game scoreless at halftime.
Old Crescent’s superior strength in the scrum, lineout and at the
breakdown got more pronounced as the game went on, and with the wind at
their backs in the second half it was only a matter of time before they
would convert this superiority onto the scoreboard. However, Ennis
surprised us with an unconverted try just after the restart and the
team had to redouble their efforts. In the end they had most of the
possession, destroyed Ennis in the scum and ran in two “forwards” tries
from Padraig Ryan and Darragh Nunan both converted by Conor Barry to run
out worthy winners in the end.
Old Crescent Under 13’s were up against a visiting Bruff side who
proved too strong for the home team. In the first half Bruff scored
three tries and converted 2 of them. Going into the second half, our
Under 13’s fought hard but could not stop some of the very strong Bruff
players who managed to get two more tries and converted one. The game
ended 31 - 0 for Bruff.
The Under 11’s had a good outing in the first blitz of the year at UL Bohs.
We had 24 players which we divided into 2 even teams. All games were
competitive and of the six games played we won 3 and lost 3. Players
reacted well to their first experience of kicking. 5 man scrums and
contested lineouts. Strikes against the head were even recorded. It will be
interesting to see if players consigned to prop, hooker and second row etc
will remain there for their careers!! Certainly there was some reluctance
for second rows to put their head in and push but that trait remains among
adult players also. It was good to see how the skills are developing and
also encouraging to see good performances from some of the new players.
The U8s had a blitz against UL Lions and Young Munster. The first matches
consisted of 2 teams from Old Crescent playing 2 teams from UL Bohs, with
both sets of teams been well match competitively. Great movement and
technical ability was shown by players from both sides. Old Crescent
tackling was excellent and commented upon by the visiting coaches. Old
Crescent teams did very well with getting the basics right, in passing the
ball backwards, supporting their teammates and looking up for forward
movement. Young Munster fielded one team. Old Crescent went on to play
Young Munster in one match and UL then followed on with a match also
against Young Munster. Great morning of rugby for our future stars!
The
only senior fixture next weekend is our First Team’s second round game in
the AIB All Ireland Cup against first division side Clontarf, at 3.00pm in
Rosbrien next Saturday. All club members are urged to come out and
support our team in this important fixture next Saturday. Come out
early to Rosbrien and watch the Munster Heineken Cup game in the Clubhouse
before our game against Clontarf.
|
Club Notes (week ending Fri 16-Oct)
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Please
Note that the start time of our AIB Cup game against Clontarf has been move
to 15:00.
Old Crescent
made the long journey up north for the second time in a week last weekend
to play Belfast Harlequins RFC in our first outing in this season’s
Division Two All Ireland League.
Unfortunately, our second trip up north was not as successful as the
previous weekend, and we lost to Harlequins by 31 points to 16. Harlequins elected to play into the strong wind and Old Crescent kicked
off with the wind in the first half. We gave
away two soft tries early on, which were converted, but then Crescent put
in a credible performance for the remainder of the game and the final score
did not do justice to our team’s efforts.
Mark Woods kicked two penalties for Crescent, and Harlequins scored
a third unconverted try in the first half, to leave the half time score at
Harlequins 19 Crescent 6. Harlequins scored their fourth bonus giving try
six minutes after the restart.
However, our team upped their game and scored two unanswered tries,
the first by Mark Woods and the second by Phil Glamuzina, to bring Crescent
back into the game. Unfortunately,
our tries were unconverted. Crescent
continued to press for the losing bonus point but were denied by an injury
time fifth try, which was converted, to leave the final score Harlequins 31
Old Crescent 16.
Our Seconds
played Nenagh Ormond last Sunday in the North Munster Seconds League and
lost 28-18. Our Thirds played
Richmond in a friendly last Saturday and won by 14 points to 7. Our Under 21’s has no game last weekend.
Fixtures for
next weekend. Our First’s travel away for the third weekend in a row to
Dublin to play Bective Rangers RFC in the AIL at 2.30pm in Donnybrook next
Saturday. We would ask our many
Dublin supporters to make a special effort to support our team in Donnybrook
next Saturday.
Our Seconds and
Thirds teams both play against our near neighbours Garryowen next weekend.
Our Second play away in Dooradoyle at 2.30pm next Sunday, and Thirds play
at home in Rosbrien at 2.00pm next Saturday. Our Under 21s are away to a combined
Abbeyfealle-Newcastlewest side at 2.30pm next Saturday.
Our
AIL match forecasts fundraising started successfully last weekend, and
match forecast cards for upcoming AIL games are now available from any
committee member.
Old Crescent would like to extend our deepest
sympathies to Niall Herlihy on the recent death of his father, Martin. Niall was a respected Captain of Old
Crescent in the 1976-77 season.
|
Club Notes (week ending Fri 9-Oct)
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Belfast
Harlequins scored five tries - three in the first half - to run out 31-16
winners over Old Crescent in windy conditions at Deramore Park.
The highlight of a dominant opening 40 minutes from 'Quins was a sublime
solo try from speedster Fiyin Olayisade who left the Crescent
defence for dead and coasted over from his right wing berth.
Flanker Andrew Gillespie and impressive loosehead Tim Morton
grabbed tries as the hosts built up a 19-6 half-time lead. Ulster out-half Niall
O'Connor kicked two conversions.
Crescent, whoses first half points came from two Mark Woods
penalties, fell further behind when blindside Tamaiti Horua, another
member of the Ulster squad, broke free for a 46th minute try.
The Limerick men hit back with an unconverted effort from Woods and while
former Crescent captain Phil Glamuzina collected a late
five-pointer, 'Quins had the final say when their skipper Robert Logan
crashed over from close range, allowing O'Connor to convert and extend the
winning margin to 15 points. (Taken from IRFU website)
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Belfast
Harlequins 31 - 16 OCRFC
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Old Crescent made the long trek to Magherafelt, halfway between
Belfast and Derry, to play our first every game against Rainey Old Boys
RFC, in the first round of the AIB
All Ireland Cup. Rainey were first on the scoreboard with a converted
penalty, but Old Crescent were soon on level terms when we caught Rainey
napping at the front of a lineout to earn a close range penalty which was
converted by Mark Woods. After 27 minutes Crescent's back-row created
a try at the posts which was scored by Conor McNamara and converted by Mark
Woods. Rainey were unable to contain Crescent when we added a penalty by
Mark Woods, and a second try scored by Keith Ellis, and converted again by
Mark Woods, to leave the half time score at Rainey Old Boys 3 Old Crescent
20. We went off the boil a bit in the second half perhaps due to having
made the long journey north on the morning of the game. Rainey scored a try
and a convert ten minutes into the second half. Crescent stepped up a gear
with some great ball retention and driving and was denied a try by a foot
in touch. The score that clinched the game for Crescent arrived after 55
minutes and again it was our back-row that did the damage before the try
was scored by Emmet Dalton and converted by Mark Woods. Rainey scored a late try and convert to
bring the final score to Rainey Old Boys 17, Old Crescent 27.
The win earns us a home draw in the second round of the AIB
All Ireland cup, and we can now look forward to welcoming first division
club, Clontarf, to Rosbrien on October 17th.
Our Seconds lost heavily to UL Bohemians on Sunday by 62 points to
nil. Our Under 21s lost 13 points to 3 to Bruff, in a game played under
lights in Bruff last Friday evening. The Thirds had no game last weekend.
In Under Age news, last Sunday, our Under 14's had their first foray
into the competitive 15 a-side structure with their first league match of
the season against St Mary's. With difficult selection issues, those who
made the cut were anxious to reward the faith of the selectors and Crescent
started the game very strongly to gain a few early scores. With the
confidence that followed, we continued with a number of further scores,
thereby enabling the entire squad to get some valuable game time and
experience for what undoubtedly will be sterner fixtures in the weeks and
months ahead.
Old Crescent Under 13s first away league game was on Sunday against
Newport resulted in Old Crescent picking up full points. An enjoyable game
was played between the clubs with a number of Old Crescent players shining
in the new surrounding of a full pitch.
Registration for Youth & Mini teams continues on Sunday with new
players more than welcome.
Fixtures for next weekend:
Our First’s make their second long trip up north in the space of a
week to play Belfast Harlequins in the first round of the AIB
All Ireland League, at 2.30pm next Saturday. We wish them the best of luck on a
difficult assignment. Our Second’s
play Nenagh at home in Rosbrien at 2.30pm next Sunday, and our Thirds play
Presentation in a friendly at home in Rosbrien at 2.30pm next
Saturday. Our Under 21’s have no
game this weekend.
|
Club Notes (week
ending Fri 2-Oct)
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Last weekend was
a relatively quite weekend on the senior rugby front – the calm before the
storm – with only the Thirds and the Under 21s having a game. The Firsts
had the weekend off, and the Seconds game against the Guards was cancelled.
The Seconds did however have a very useful training session. The Thirds
lost their friendly against Richmond by 17 points to 5. Our single try was
scored by Niall O’Brien, and it was great to see Niall back on the field
again in an Old Crescent jersey. Our Under 21s lost to UK Bohemians in
their North Munster League game by 20 points to 13. The team gave a great
account of themselves and were very unlucky not to get a draw, losing by a
try and convert in the last minute of the game. The Old Crescent scores
were a try by Cian O’Brien and a convert and two penalties by Kevin Meade.
Fixtures for next
weekend: Our First team make the long trip to Magherfelt, halfway
between Belfast and Derry, to play Rainey Old Boys RFC in the first round
of the AIB All Ireland Cup, at 2.30pm next Saturday in Magherafelt.
Rainey Old Boys are a long established club but they only joined the senior
ranks three years ago. It is an unfortunate arrangement of fixtures that we
have to travel to the North again the following weekend to Belfast
Harlequins in the first round of the All Ireland League. Travelling
to the far end of the country two weekends in a row puts severe pressure on
our team and on our loyal band of travelling supporters. We wish our
team the best of luck and we hope that the long trips will be worthwhile.
Our Second team
are away to UL Bohemians in Annacotty at 2.30pm on Sunday. Our Under
21s are away to Bruff at 2.30pm on Saturday, and our Thirds have no game
this weekend.
In
Under Age News, our U17’s played UL Bohemians in the Under 17 League in
Annacotty on Sunday. Down 18 points to 6 at half time, they stormed
back in the second half to lead 21 points to 18 points only to have UL Bohs
steal the game with a last minute try and lose by two points. Compliments
to both teams for a great game. Unfortunately, Cian Ryan, our number 5,
received a serious injury suffering a dislocated ankle and fractured shin
just before full time. Best wishes for a speedy recovery to Cian from
all his team mates and coaches. Our Under 14’s played a friendly last weekend against
Ballina-Killaloe and recorded a good win. Next weekend our Under 13’s and
14’s start their North Munster League campaigns and all under-age
registration takes place in the Clubhouse from 10.30 onwards.
|
Club Notes (week
ending Fri 25-Sep)
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Welcome to another Season at Rosbrien and
hopefully it will be a successful one.
- We
will play our first Competitive game V UL Bohemians in the Charity Cup
in Rosbrien tomorrow night, 1st Sept @ 6.30pm.Come along
and support your Club and Local Charities. Admission will be €5.00
- The
most recent winner of the Club Car Draw was our Club Doctor, Dr.
Michael O’Flynn, Congratulations!
- Our
Golf Classic on the 13/14th August was an outstanding
success. Many thanks to all who entered teams or provided Sponsorship.
- The
150 Year Dinner in Dublin has been re-fixed for Saturday 7th
November, details on www.crescentcollege150.com
- Thomond
Park Season Tickets will be distributed towards the end of the week.
- Tickets
for Munster V Cardiff in the Magner’s League are available from
Thomond Park.
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GOLF CLASSIC: The Old Crescent
RFC Golf Classic, in association with St Vincent de Paul, was held in
Limerick Golf Club on 13th and 14th of August. The weather was
excellent and the sun shone for the two days. The event was
sponsored by Keanes Jewellers Limerick and attracted over 60 teams.
Club President, Niall Sheehy, thanked all those who took part,
and particularly thanked Aidan Liddy of Keanes Jewellers for
sponsoring the event.
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Pat Davern of Sisks, Aidan Liddy, Keane Jewellers (event sponsors) Niall Sheehy (Club President) & Tom Coleman of Sisks, winners of the event.
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Aidan Liddy, Niall Sheehy & Brian Clancy and John Browne of Kelliher Electrical - event runners-up.
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Brendan O'Connell of the Pat Keogh/Gerry Fitzmaurice team, taking third prize, Niall Sheehy & Aidan Liddy.
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Monday 4th May – playing with 5 players who
participated in last year’s competition Old Crescent U15’s won and retained
the Olly Brown (Young Munster) 7’s Cup in emphatic manner today, running in
50 tries over seven matches while conceding only 16 tries. Having won last
year’s nerve racking competition with a “golden try” win over Garryowen
they took it easy on their coaches this year, taking control of both their
semi- and final games when beating Young Munster by 7 tries to 3 tries in
the semi-final and then going on to beat N.C.W. in the final by 7 tries to
2 tries.
Picture gallery here!
U12 - Brain Fitzgerald & Pat Lawler competition Pictures Here!!
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U15 - Olly Brown 7's
U12 - Brain Fitzgerald & Pat Lawler
competition
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Our First team completed a very satisfactory season
with an uncharacteristic loss to UCC in the top four play-offs in Division
Two at the Mardyke last Saturday. Our long list of injuries finally
caught up with us in what turned out to be a game too many for us.
However, we can look back on one of the most successful seasons for the
Club in Division Two for many years, a great turn-around from bare survival
last year!
The game in the Mardyke was played in windy and wet conditions which made
ball handling difficult. UCC opened the scoring with a penalty after
five minutes, and Brian O’Shea levelled the scores five minutes later with
a Crescent penalty. We conceded another penalty a few minutes later
and UCC went in front again. Midway through the first half, Brian
O’Shea levelled the scores again with another penalty for Crescent.
We lost full back Ray Moloney with an knee injury in an unfortunate clash
with the UCC winger, which saw both players leave the field injured.
Just before half time, UCC converted a third penalty and went into
half time 9 points to 6 in front.
Old Crescent were still very much in the game at the start of the second
half, however, UCC were first to score with another penalty to widen the
gap to 6 points. Minutes later, we paid dearly for a missed clearance
which allowed UCC to go on the attack and score in the corner. Their
convert from wide out was successful, putting us 19 -6 behind and giving us
a mountain to climb.
Midway through the second half, UCC had a forward sin-binned, and Crescent
applied great pressure in his absence but were unable to score in this period.
The game was effectively over when UCC collected a lucky bounce from a long
kick to score again in the corner, which they converted to leave the score
26-6.
Crescent showed the fighting spirit that had stood to them all season when
Aaron Carroll went over for one of his hallmark tries which was
converted. The game was well and truly over when UCC scored a late
try to make the final score 31-13. We wish UCC well in the Division
Two final, and in the First Division next season.
In Under Age news, our Under 12s' were on the competition trial last
weekend, competing in the Brian Fitzgerald tournament hosted by St Mary's
RFC - it was a far cry from the balmy summer like conditions of our end of
season tour to Kerry the previous weekend, as we encountered monsoon like
conditions. This resulted in uncontested scrums and limited rucking for
safety considerations. First up were Ennis who provided stern opposition
but great commitment and intelligent use of the ball enabled us to secure
victory. Second up were Shannon Blues, with the winners to top the group,
which we did again by virtue of fantastic commitment and endeavour.
A semi final pairing, again with Shannon Blues, resulted in a very tight
match with victory deservedly coming our way by one score, although we had
more of the possession and territory and flashed the ball around despite
the poor conditions.
And so to the final against the stronger Shannon Black side who were
unbeaten and had not conceded a try in the tournament until then. Down a
score early in the game, we leveled the match mid way through the first
half and although having the better of both possession and territory for
the remainder of the first half, we could not make it tell. Having
played a match more than Shannon and against a physically bigger side, and
perhaps with our bodies tiring a little, we leaked an early second half
score but again had our chances to go level as we endeavoured to put
Shannon under pressure and chase the game, but it was not to be as we
conceded a further score just before the final whistle.
A runners up position in the main competition was not a bad result in the
circumstances. Our thanks to St Mary's RFC and the referees and well done
to all of our squad. Our final game of the season is the Pat Lawlor tournament
on Sunday, when hopefully we might go one step better - squad to be
announced after training on Thursday evening - hopefully after a Munster
victory in Dublin on Saturday.
Old Crescent Under 6/Under 7’s and Under 8’s hosted Munster at Rosbrien
last Sunday. This was the final match of the season and every player
tried their best to end the season on a high.
The Under 8’s were unlucky to concede a last minute try and draw with Young
Munster after it appeared they had done enough to win the match. Superb
tackling by all the players, particularly Joe and David Rickard, had given
Old Crescent the majority of possession and this possession resulted in an
early try for John Toland and three tries from star player, Eoin
Murphy. Young Munster never gave up and eventually produced a late
flourish to upset the home side.
The combined Under 6’s and Under 7’s were also disappointed on Sunday as
Young Munster were decisive winners. The Old Crescent team was somewhat
depleted as some key Under 7’s players had been promoted to the Under 8
team.
All Old Crescent players shouldn’t be too disappointed as they have had a
great season and their skills have improved dramatically over the season
and they will be formidable opponents next season. Key players to look out
for next season include: Ben and Oscar Davey, Joshua Fitzgerald, Cian
Kearney, Rory Murphy, Tony O’Sullivan, DJ O’Malley and Cillian Toland.
With the season drawing to a close, few fixtures remain with our Under 14s
playing Newcastlewest away at 6.30pm on Thursday, and our Under 15s
competing for the Bill Mardell Memorial Trophy again against Newcastlewest
but at home in Rosbrien at 7.00pm on Friday.
Turning to off the field activities, the Club held a very successful fund
raising Race Night in the Club House last Saturday Night. It was very
well attended and enjoyed by all. Our thanks are due to Anna Murray
and Anthony O’Dwyer for organising the event.
Old Crescent RFC in association with the Irish Tag Rugby Association (ITRA)
will host the 7th annual Pig ‘n’ Porter Tag Rugby Festival at our grounds
in Rosbrien, Limerick from Thursday, July 17th to Sunday, July 19th.
Ireland’s largest and best Tag Rugby Festival, is being expanded into a
three day event this July, and is expected to attract over 3,000 people to
Rosbrien for the largest Tag Rugby event to be held in Ireland this year.
The Pig ‘n’ Porter has always had a partner charity on board throughout its
existence and this year’s charity is the Brothers of Charity, Bawnmore,
Limerick. Tickets for the event priced at €10 are available from the
organising committee or from www.pignporter.com.
Further information is also available from the same website.
Finally, the AGM of Old Crescent RFC will be held in the Clubhouse at
8.00pm on Tuesday, 26th May. All members are requested to attend.
|
Club Notes (week ending Fri
1-May)
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Our First team made the long trip to Belfast to play their final AIL
fixture against Malone RFC. Old Crescent
were looking for a win to cement our top four position in the League and
extend our season into the play-offs. Malone were safely in the middle of
the table with little to play for, however, that did not stop them giving
us a very hard game which we could easily have lost had some Malone kicks
gone over. Crescent opened the scoring with a penalty after five minutes,
converted by Brian O’Shea. Both sides were playing open adventurous rugby
in the sunny dry conditions, and Crescent knew it would be no easy game
when Malone scored a try and convert midway through the first half. Brian
O’Shea pulled back six points with two converted penalties late in the
first half, and then Crescent made the decisive break with a well worked
try in first half injury time by our Captain, Phil
Glamuzina, which was converted by Brian O’Shea, to leave
Crescent comfortably ahead at half time by 16 points to 7. Malone continued
to press hard in the second half, in front of their home supporters, and
their pressure paid off mid way through the half when they scored a
converted try to bring them within two points of Crescent. With ten minutes to go, Kieth Ellis
scored a try out wide for Crescent which moved us seven points clear. However, Malone never gave up and they
scored a try with less than five minutes remaining. They had a convert kick to tie the game,
and Crescent were relieved to see it go wide. Malone continued to press in
the last few minutes, with Crescent desperately defending our two point
lead. Right at the end Malone were awarded a penalty right in front of the
posts. Crescent could only watch
anxiously as the Malone outhalf stepped up to kick what could be the
winning points. Thankfully, the kick
went just wide and the referee blew for full time. Crescent deserved to win, having been
comfortably ahead in terms of play and on the scoreboard for most of the
game, but we were relieved at the end to win by 21 points to 19, and secure
our place in the Division Two play-offs.
The First Team squad and management deserve the thanks of every Old
Crescent member and supporter for the entertaining rugby they have played
throughout the season. They now play
UCC in the play-offs at 2.30pm next Saturday in the Mardyke in Cork. We would ask all Crescent members and
supporters to travel to Cork in numbers to support our team.
In Underage results, our U15’s lost to Thomond by 6 points to nil,
our U14’s won against Young Munster by 18 points to 13, and our U18’s lost
to Garryowen by 32 points to 8.
Our U12 's headed to Kerry for their end of season trip and to fine
tune their game ahead of the forthcoming Brian Fitzgerald and Pat Lawlor
Tournaments over the next 2 weekends. First stop was Castleisland where on
a balmy summers' day both our teams proved too strong for the local
opposition and after some great free flowing rugby and some excellent
distribution, we scored some fine tries and emerged victorious in both
matches. On to Tralee then for some R&R on Saturday afternoon at the Aquadome
followed by watching our superheros Munster win against Connacht on
Saturday evening. At half time we had a visit from our Tralee host - Finbar
Walsh (and his son Donal, to whom we made a presentation of an autographed
picture of 'the Munster haka' and we wish him a speedy recovery from his
serious illness and hope to see him back on the paddock before long) -
Finbar reminded us all of the importance of making friends through rugby
and of maintaining them when we stop playing, which will be a while for most
of this touring party! A late dinner and some craic meant some tired bodies
on Sunday for our matches against Tralee. However in a much more
competitive scenario - Tralee had been runners up to Bruff in their own
under 12 tournament on Friday/Saturday - our forwards really got stuck in
and through playing more fantastic running rugby, probably our best rugby
this season, we came out winners in each of the 4 matches played to
complete a 6 match unbeaten tour and a "Gland Slam of the
Kingdom"! It was also nice to see a former Old Crescent player, Eoin
O'Neill, on the side line to meet some of his former colleagues. Best
wishes to all (11) of our players making their confirmations next Saturday
- we'll miss your participation in the Brian Fitzgerald. Good luck to that
team too.
A last reminder about our Race Night in the Clubhouse next Saturday
night. We appeal to all members and
supporters to come out and support this event and round off the season in
style. Details on our Race Night can be obtained from Anthony O’Dwyer on
087 2214140.
Finally, everyone at Old Crescent RFC sends their warmest
congratulations to Paul O’Connell on his well deserved selection as Captain
of the Lions. We send our best
wishes to him and to his fellow Limerick Lions, Kieth Earls, Gerry
Flannery, and David Wallace, for a safe and successful tour.
|
Club Notes (week ending Fri
24-April)
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Division 2 - Final Standings
|
|
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Pos
|
Team
|
P
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
F
|
A
|
TB
|
LB
|
Pts
|
|
1
|
U.C.C.
|
14
|
12
|
1
|
1
|
327
|
148
|
4
|
1
|
55
|
|
2
|
Lansdowne
|
14
|
12
|
1
|
1
|
281
|
128
|
4
|
1
|
55
|
|
3
|
Ballynahinch
|
13
|
10
|
0
|
3
|
363
|
171
|
5
|
2
|
47
|
|
4
|
Old
Crescent
|
15
|
10
|
0
|
5
|
273
|
215
|
1
|
4
|
45
|
|
5
|
Bruff
|
14
|
8
|
1
|
5
|
184
|
157
|
1
|
4
|
39
|
|
6
|
Dublin
University
|
14
|
7
|
2
|
5
|
264
|
221
|
3
|
3
|
38
|
|
7
|
Highfield
|
14
|
8
|
1
|
5
|
168
|
209
|
0
|
0
|
34
|
|
8
|
Malone
|
15
|
6
|
0
|
9
|
234
|
267
|
2
|
7
|
33
|
|
9
|
Bective
Rangers
|
15
|
6
|
1
|
8
|
248
|
309
|
2
|
3
|
31
|
|
10
|
Greystones
|
14
|
7
|
0
|
7
|
216
|
310
|
0
|
2
|
30
|
|
11
|
D.L.S.P.
|
14
|
5
|
1
|
8
|
198
|
248
|
2
|
2
|
26
|
|
12
|
Clonakilty
|
14
|
5
|
0
|
9
|
173
|
226
|
1
|
3
|
24
|
|
13
|
Belfast
Harlequins
|
14
|
5
|
0
|
9
|
192
|
246
|
0
|
3
|
23
|
|
14
|
Thomond
|
15
|
4
|
1
|
10
|
173
|
233
|
0
|
5
|
23
|
|
15
|
Wanderers
|
15
|
2
|
1
|
12
|
171
|
263
|
0
|
9
|
19
|
|
16
|
Instonians
|
14
|
1
|
2
|
11
|
200
|
314
|
1
|
4
|
13
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Our
First Team completed their AIL home fixture list this season with a
disappointing result against Highfield in Rosbrien last Saturday.
Hopes were high for a final home win but it was not to be. Ten minutes into
the game, after a period of sustained pressure which Crescent withstood
initially, Highfield scored a well worked try which they converted.
Midway through the first half, Crescent were awarded a penalty which Brian
O’Shea converted. Five minutes later, we were awarded another penalty
, which Brian again converted, to bring us to within one point of
Highfield. Coming up to half time, Highfield got a decisive try out wide
which they failed to convert. In the last kick of the first half,
Brian O’Shea kicked a penalty to bring the half time score to Old Crescent
9 Highfield 12. Hoping for a spirited comeback, the home support got behind
our team in the second half. Unfortunately, it proved to be a dour
affair with Old Crescent playing too much rugby deep in our own half.
With the scores so close, there was always a chance that Crescent could
sneak a win even though we were playing poorly, but Highfield, in the
bottom half of the league, appeared to want the win more than we did.
Two converted penalties were exchanged late in the second half, the only
scores in the half, to bring the full time score to Old Crescent 12
Highfield 15. A win for Highfield which cemented their position in
the AIL Second Division, and left us holding on a top four place by just
two points from Bruff. Next weekend, our First team make the long journey
north to play Malone RFC in Belfast at 2.30pm on Saturday, in our final AIL
game of the season. We wish our First team the best of luck in this
important fixture. In spite of some lost form in the last two games,
our First team squad have done us proud this season in achieving our
highest finish in the League for many years – a long way from where we were
this time last year. Our Under 20’s play UL Bohemians at 6.45pm next
Tuesday, 21 April, at home in Rosbrien. In Under Age news, our Under 14’s
lost out their league final to Shannon in Coonagh by 15 points to 6, our
points being two penalty converts by Eoin Walsh. Upcoming under age
fixtures include two home and away mid week fixtures against Thomond.
Our Under 18’s play Thomond in Fitzgerald Park at 6.45pm on Wednesday, 15 April,
and our Under 15’s play Thomond at home in Rosbrien at 7.00pm on Thursday,
16 April. Under 14’s play Young Munster in Rosbrien next Sunday at
11.30am. Finally, another reminder that Old Crescent is running a major
fundraising Race Night in the Clubhouse on Saturday, 25th April. We
appeal to all members and supporters to come out and support this event and
round off the season in style. Further details on our Race Night can be
obtained from Anthony O’Dwyer on 087 2214140. And last but not least, we send
our congratulations to Munster on their magnificent win against the Ospreys
on Easter Sunday. Friday 10th
A gallant Old Crescent U14's fell to Shannon by 17 points to 6 in Coonagh
this evening. Playing the more attractive rugby and leading by 6 point to
nil at half time Crescent succumbed to the strong wind blowing into their
faces and much heavier Shannon pack in the sceond half. (More to follow)
|
Club Notes (week ending Fri
17-April)
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Our senior squad had a rest
last weekend, with all the focus being on
Munster’s game against Leinster in Thomond Park. We send our congratulations to Munster on
a magnificent display. It was a pleasure to watch for those of us lucky
enough to be in Thomond Park last Saturday.
Everyone at Old Crescent sends their best wishes to the Munster
squad for next Sunday’s Heineken Cup quarter final against the Ospreys.
Our First Team play Highfield
RFC in their AIL Division Two game at 2.30pm next Saturday in Rosbrien,
with the objective of securing our top four place in the Div Two
play-offs. This will be our final
AIL home game for this season, and it will be a great opportunity for Old
Crescent supporters to come out in big numbers to show their appreciation
and support for the excellent performances of our first team squad
throughout this season, ably led by our Coach, John Broderick, and Captain,
Phil Glamuzina.
Our
3rd XV made the journey to Killballyowen Park on Saturday afternoon to play
Bruff RFC in the Webb Cup Quarter Final. It was the second time to play
Bruff in a cup game this season, with Bruff knocking us out of the
McInerney Cup earlier in the season. We had a positive start with a Brian
Clancy penalty cancelling out one for the home side to leave the half time
score at 3 point apiece. With the game on a knife-edge, we took the lead
early in the second thanks to an excellent try from back row forward Dave O
Neill. Bruff narrowed the gap to two points with a penalty goal and then
took the lead with a converted try with just 10 minutes remaining. Despite
having a number of chances we were unable to pull the game out of the fire.
This concludes the competitive season for the 3rd XV. Thanks to Joe
Nix, Fergal Kearney, and the players for the efforts that
they put in this season.
Having
lost to Clanwilliam RFC in the AIL League the previous week, our Under 20
team took to the pitch strengthened by the return to action of a number
of injured players to challenge the
same opposition again in the North Munster U20 cup at Rosbrien last
Saturday.
The first half was a tight affair with both forward
packs playing well in the tight and loose with very little between them.
Old Crescent back line displayed a little more flair and spectators were
entertained to some good incisive running from centres and wingers. However, Clanwilliam struck the first
blow with a penalty goal after 12 minutes to lead 3pts to nil. Late in the half the Old Crescent forwards steadily worked
their way into the opposition’s half, with a series of effective rolling
mauls and individual well supported breaks by Robert Costelloe and Jack
Corrigan in the front row, well supported by a strong driving display from
our second row, Cormac Ryan and especially Paddy Spillane. Back row
forwards, William Cuddy, Shane O’Carroll, and Captain Niall Liston, were
always in support and an eight phase movement resulted in Cormac Ryan
bursting through the defence to score a great try out wide, leaving the
score 5 pts to 3 pts in Old Crescent’s favour at half time. The second half started
brightly for Old Crescent with the entire team upping the pace after an
invigorating half time talk from coaches Euan Gee and Buffaloe. Scrumhalf Eoghan O’Driscoll and outhalf
Padraigh Kennedy got the back line moving, with the ball reaching winger
Rob O Callaghan and full back Eoghan Hennessy coming into the line and
breaking through the gain line on most occasions creating forward momentum. The forwards made great strides
with a number of sustained ‘pick and drive’ moves gaining many metres at a
time. Paddy Spillane was particularly noticeable in this regard and on one
occasion was pulled down a metre short of the line having carried the ball
a good 30 metres through 4 tackles. Jack Corrigan, as always in close
support, picked the ball to score and shortly after finished off another
forward drive to score a second try.
The fourth try was an excellent backs move resulting in centre
Diarmuid Lynch scoring close to the posts which Niall Kearney converted. Paddy Spillane was the
unanimous choice for ‘Man of the Match’, and he received a ticket to the
Magners League match later that evening for his efforts Overall, a very satisfying display from
an excellent Under 20 side with a 22pts to 3pts win which puts them in the
next round match against UL Bohemians
to be played in Rosbrien on Saturday 18th at 3pm.
In Under Age news, our
Under 14s traveled to Fitzgerald Park on Tuesday night to play undefeated
Thomond in the semi final of the U14 league. The difficult conditions
impacted greatly on the quality of the game. Playing against the elements
in the first half, our side defended well going behind to 2 penalties. Then
came the turning point in the game. Picking up a ball deep inside his own
22, Tom Ryan took off on a 80 metre run which resulted in him touching down
under the posts. Eoin Walsh added the conversion to give us the lead and shortly
afterwards added a penalty goal to give us a 10 - 6 lead at half time.
Defences ruled in the second half and there was no further scoring. We now
play Shannon in the final on Good Friday at 6.30pm in Coonagh and we ask as
many as possible to come out to support the team.
Our Under 7's and Under 8's
took part in a blitz in Coonagh on Saturday against Shannon and a visiting
Blackrock side. Joshua Fitzgerald, Ben and Oscar Davey were the star
players for the Under 7's, and Cillian Toland and Cian Kearney were
standout players for the Under 8's. To round off a very successful season,
there will be party for all U7’s and U8’s on Sunday, 19th April.
After
much delay, the majority of the Under Age Cup competitions have now been
scheduled to start with our U15’s down to play Thomond in Fitzgerald Park
next Tuesday (14th) @ 7 pm. Our U18’s will
play away to the winners of St. Sennans and Thomond on Wednesday next (15th) @ 7pm, while our U14’s
are scheduled to play Young Munster on Sunday 19th @ 11:30 am in Rosbrien.
Old Crescent will host the
Final of the Munster Junior Cup in Rosbrien at 2.30pm on Easter Monday, 13th
April, when Garryowen and UL Bohemians will compete for Cup honours. All are welcome.
Lastly, Old Crescent is
running a major fundraising Race Night in the Clubhouse on Saturday, 25th
April. We appeal to all members and
supporters to come out and support this event and round off the season in
style. Further details on our Race Night can be obtained from Anthony
O’Dwyer on 087 2214140.
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Club Notes (week ending Fri
10-April)
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Old Crescent travelled to Dublin last Saturday for our AIL match
against DLSP in confident mood following a string of recent good results
which placed us within sight of a promotion spot. Our loss to DLSP by 20 points to 13 puts
promotion out of sight but stills leaves us in contention for a top four
place in the play-offs.
Playing into a strong breeze, Old Crescent started brightly and
after ten minutes scored a close-in try which was converted by Brian
O’Shea. Brian then converted a
penalty midway through the first half to put us ten points ahead.
DLSP finally began to use the strong breeze behind them and towards
the end of the first half were awarded two penalties in quick succession
which they converted. Just when Old
Crescent supporters were hoping to hear the half time whistle, DLSP scored a try which the converted to put them in front by 13 points
to 10 at half time.
Old Crescent now had the strong breeze behind them and hopes were
high for another winning display in the second half. Unfortunately, we failed to use the wind
and instead spent long periods playing in our own half when we should have
been playing our rugby at the other end of the pitch. To make matters worse, DSLP collected an
intercept from another attempt to play out of our own half and went in
under the posts for a second try which they converted to put them ten points
in front. Crescent were awarded a
late penalty to bring the final score to 20 points for DLSP and 13 points
for Old Crescent, to salvage a losing bonus point on a disappointing day
for the Club.
Our Thirds played Clonmel away in the Webb Cup last Saturday and
came away with a hard earned win by 17 points to 6. Crescent opened their scoring with a well
worked try by backrow, David O’Neill, which wasn’t converted in the strong
breeze. Clonmel converted a penalty
to give Crescent a half time lead of 5 points to 3.
The second half was a game of penalties, with Crescent kicked four
penalties, all kicked by Brian Clancy, and Clonmel kicking one. All round, it was a good team performance
and bodes well for our Thirds in the next round of the Webb Cup against
Bruff.
Congratulations to our Under 14’s who beat Garryowen 13 points to nil
in their league play-off fixture in Rosbrien on Tuesday evening, they meet Thomond in the next
round. Our Under 18’s game was called off. (See Images here)
Old Crescent Under 7’s and Under 8’s
hosted Kilfeacle at Rosbrien last Sunday.
After impressive displays earlier in the season confidence was high
that both Old Crescent teams would record wins, however, Kilfeacle proved
to be too skillful and got the better of the Old Crescent teams. The Under 8’s battled extremely hard but
were defeated in both their matches, while the Under 7’s bounced back from
a defeat in their first match to record a well deserved draw in their
second match.
As the season draws to a close, we have a
chance to end the season on a positive note next Saturday when our Under
7/8’s take on Shannon and Blackrock (Dublin) in Coonagh. Kick off is at 12.00 noon. This is the
last match of the season and we hope that all the Under 7/8’s, who have
come out during the year, can make the event as we hope it will be a
special day for all.
Fixtures for next weekend: Our
Thirds play their next Webb Cup match against Bruff RFC in Bruff at 2.30pm
next Saturday. Our Under 20’s play
Clanwilliam at home in Rosbrien also at 2.30pm next Saturday.
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Club Notes (week ending Fri
3-April)
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The AIL resumes this
weekend with Old Crescent in joint third place with Ballynahinch in Division
Two, seven points adrift of the joint leaders, Lansdowne and UCC.
Results elsewhere would need to go our way, but we are still very much in
contention for promotion to Division One with three games remaining, and
our First Team and Coach are determined to fight hard to the end of the
season for this goal.
Our Firsts had a training
session with Bohemians last Saturday, consisting of four 20 minute
sessions. We played well in the first two sessions but took our eye
off the ball for the remaining two. It proved a good training
exercise for players returning from injury, however, we will need to be
clearly focused for next Saturday’s game against DLSP if we are to maintain
our promotion challenge.
Our 3rd XV left Limerick
early last Thursday morning to travel to Wales to represent the club in the
annual Linda Cantrell Memorial Cup game against our friends in Llandovery
RFC. Played under lights on Friday night against their 2nd XV, our team put
in a spirited and determined display against more skillful opposition. At
half time the score was 7-0 to the host side after a heroic defensive
performance by our team. Brian Clancy reduced the lead to 4 points
with a penalty goal early in the second half, making it anybody's game.
However,
a combination of the home side’s superior fitness and good support play
resulted in two late tries which gave them victory on the night and retained their grip on the trophy for another season. A very enjoyable
evening in the Llandovery clubhouse followed with members of the Cantrell
family and friends in attendance. We look forward to the return visit of
Llandovery RFC to Rosbrien next season.
Last Saturday afternoon,
our Under 18’s played a friendly against a visiting UK team - North Dorset
RFC. Following a competitive first half, which saw the home
side leading by 15 points to 5, Old
Crescent turned in an excellent second half
performance by running in seven unanswered tries.
Our
Under 13s hosted Newcastle West on Sunday morning in the first round of the
Cup. Our side has been improving as the season progressed and hopes were
high for a good cup run. Our team, led by hooker Pat Kelly, took the game
to our visitors and were unlucky not to be in front in the early stages.
Against the run of play, we went behind but soon equalised with a fine try
from Jason O'Sullivan after a fine break from Jack Hogan. However, tragedy
stuck soon after when our inside centre, Cormac Blake, broke his collar
bone for the second time in three months. We wish Cormac a speedy recovery
from his injury.
Newcastle
West regained the lead early in the second half and despite some great work
from our team we were unable to convert our chances into an equalising
score and so went out of the cup on a score line of 10 points to 5. Great
credit is due to the players and management of this team for their
improvement over the season and hopefully next season they will get the
success they deserve.
Our
Under 12's hosted Ballyhoura RFC and Estuary RFC, both of whom we were
playing in Rosbrien for the first time at this age grade. 33 players
turned out for us as we won four matches and drew one. This was followed by
a visit from the Heineken Cup - our thanks to Munster Rugby for this -
before it is housed in the Munster
Rugby Museum.
We also hosted a coffee morning for our forthcoming end of season tour and
our thanks to all who supported this, to our mothers (on Mother's day) and
to the sponsors of the various goodies and raffle prizes.
Fixtures
for next weekend: Our First Team play DLSP RFC away in Kilternan at 2.30pm
next Saturday. We look forward to seeing all our Dublin based
supporters at this game.
Our
3rd XV return to local action this weekend with a trip to Clonmel to play a
first round Webb Cup game at 2.30pm next Saturday.
In preparation for the
upcoming Under 18 Cup, we are playing Garryowen again in a friendly at
11.30am next Sunday in
Dooradoyle.
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Club Notes (week ending Fri
27-Mar)
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With the focus on events in Edinburgh last weekend, it was a quiet
weekend on the domestic rugby front. Our Firsts and Seconds had no
fixture last weekend, and our Thirds travelled to Clonmel last Saturday to
play Clonmel RFC in the first round of the Webb Cup. Unfortunately,
when both teams were warming up, the match was called off when no referee
turned up due a mix-up in match times. The Webb Cup match will be
replayed at a later date. In under age, our Under 18’s played a
friendly against Young Munster, and lost by 17 points to 5, although the
18’s put up a brave display and the score does not reflect the game between
two evenly matched sides. Our Under 14’s beat Shannon in the Under 14
League.
The Old Crescent Golden Oldies side put together by Anthony O’Dwyer
play an entertaining friendly against a visiting veteran’s side from
Cambuslang RFC in Scotland last Saturday in Rosbrien. It was great to
see so many former Old Crescent ‘greats’ in the club jersey again.
Not too much notice was taken of the score but I am informed that Old
Crescent won by six tries to two and a great time was had by all,
especially by our visitors. Our Scottish visitors, looking
resplendent in their kilts, were mistaken for members of a visiting band at
the band parade on O’Connell St on Sunday morning.
Looking ahead to next weekend, our Firsts will have a training
session with UL Bohemians at 11.00am in Rosbrien on Saturday morning.
Our Under 18’s will play a touring side from North Dorset at 1.00pm in
Rosbrien next Saturday.
Congratulations to our U14’s who, by beating Shannon 5 points to 3
in LIT last Sunday, ended their season on joint top position with Shannon
and Garryowen. They will now play Garryowen to decide who plays Shannon in
the U14 League Final (Shannon getting directly to the final by
way of a random draw).
All rugby eyes will be focused on the Millennium Stadium next
Saturday afternoon, and Old Crescent members send their best wishes to the
Irish squad. We are confident they will bring off a win and achieve
their goal of a historic grand slam.
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Club Notes (week ending Fri
20-Mar)
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Our 1st XV played their
final derby game of the season on Saturday against Thomond RFC. Points were
vital for both teams but for different
reasons.
As in all derby games, the formbook was
thrown out the window as both sides are keenly motivated to give 110% on
the day. Playing with the benefit of the conditions in the first half, the
visitors were expected to mount the early pressure, but our side lifted
their game and was unlucky not to take the lead early on with a missed
penalty kick from short range.
The scoring was opened by
the visitors after 25 minutes when Anthony Hartery converted a penalty
kick. He doubled the Thomond lead in first half injury time with another
penalty kick. Brian O'Shea got the vital first score of the second half by
kicking a penalty goal after 48 minutes, and four minutes later, after some
excellent handling by our backline, crossed for a try which he duly
converted to put Old Crescent into the lead for the first time in the match
by 10 points to 6. Thomond to their credit came back and after the
sin-binning of one of our forwards, pounded our line for 10 minutes.
However in one of the best
defensive efforts seen in Rosbrien in recent times, our defense held firm
and we did not concede any point during this period. This seemed to deflate
our visitors and we extended our lead when following a backs move off a
line out on the Thomond 22 metre line, Ray Moloney touched down and Brian
O'Shea added the conversion to further extend our lead.
Both sides used their
benches in an attempt to change the course of the game but there was no
further scoring until late in injury time Eamon Broderick scored the third
Old Crescent try of the afternoon which was converted by Mark Woods. At the
final whistle, the 24 points to 6 victory keeps us on the road for
promotion with 3 league games left.
Our Under 20’s game against
Cashel due to be played last Saturday was called off. The only underage
game played last weekend was the Under 16 league game against Newcastle
West, which we lost. In winning the game, Newcastle West won the
Under 16 League, and we send our congratulations to them.
After our great win against
Thomond, the other highlight of last weekend was our President’s Dinner in
the Strand Hotel on Saturday evening. In a fitting tribute to our President,
Glenn Quin, for his hard work thoughout the year, the President’s Dinner
was an outstanding success and was enjoyed by a large gathering of players,
supporters and friends of Old Crescent. Sean Lally and his team in
the Strand Hotel provided us with excellent service and served up a top
class meal. Highlight of the evening was the presentation of our
annual club awards. Eugene McGovern won our Player of the Year Award,
James ‘Ham’ O’Neill won the Best New Player Award, and Joe Nix, won the Clubman
of the Year Award. Congratulations to all our winners on their well
deserved awards.
Looking ahead to next
weekend, a 6 Nations weekend, our Thirds who take on Clonmel RFC in the
Webb Cup at 12.30pm on Saturday in Clonmel. Our Under 20’s play
Clanwilliam away at 2.30pm on Saturday, and in under age, our Under 13s
have a league game against Young Munster on Sunday at 11.00am in
Derryknockane.
Anthony O’Dwyer has
assembled a team of Old Crescent Golden Oldies to play a friendly against a
visiting veteran’s side from Cambuslang RFC in Scotland at 11.30am next
Saturday morning in Rosbrien. We look forward to welcoming our
Scottish friends and to seeing many former Old Crescent players (aged 35
and over) donning the club jersey again. It should make for a great
morning’s entertainment!
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Club Notes (week ending Fri
13-Mar)
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Following
Ireland’s tenacious victory over the ‘ould enemy’ on Saturday, Old Crescent
supporters regrouped on Sunday and headed for Rosbrien for our refixed AIL
game against Clonakilty RFC. Our team and supporters were in
confident mood after a run of three consecutive AIL wins.
Crescent got
into action right from the kick-off, when after just two minutes play, Juan
Pablo Ruiz (otherwise known as JPR) scored a well worked try, which wasn’t
converted. Ten minutes later, however, a lapse of concentration by
Crescent allowed the Clonakilty No.10 to score a try, which he converted.
Mid-way through the first half, Clonakilty were awarded a penalty which their
No 10 again converted. There was no further scoring in the first
half, leaving the half time score at Crescent 5 Clonakilty 10.
Crescent had allowed Clonakilty to dominate for long periods of the
first half and were fortunate not to be further behind at half time.
For a club
languishing near the bottom of the Second Division table, Clonakilty
continued to give a good account of themselves in the second half, and
caused a lot of problems for Crescent. There were no scores in the
first 30 minutes of the second half and Crescent continued to lag 5 points
behind with ten minutes remaining. However, our coach, John
Broderick, managed his bench very astutely and brought on fresh legs for
the last ten minutes. In particular, the arrival of ‘super-sub’, Mark
Woods, changed the game dramatically in our favour. In the space of
five minutes, Mark kicked two penalties to put us one point ahead in the
dying minutes of the game. Then, in injury time, Mark put the win
beyond doubt by nipping in for a try beside the posts, which he then
converted, bringing his tally to 13 precious points for as many minutes
work.
The
win over Clonakilty puts us into the top four of Division Two, a far cry
from this time last year!
In fixtures for
next weekend, we play Thomond RFC at home in Rosbrien next Saturday at
2.30pm in the eagerly awaited Division Two local derby. Our Under
20’s play Cashel RFC away in Cashel at 2.30pm next Saturday.
Our Under Age
Section is in full swing at this time of the year, and all age groups in
action last weekend. In our Under 18 League
game against Ennis, a very strong Ennis side were deserving winners
but somewhat flattered by the score line - scoring two tries against the
run of play. Crescent's only try, which was scant reward for our
efforts, was scored by Michael Manning. Final score Old Crescent 5 Ennis 31.In the Under
16 league, we maintained our unbeaten record in
beating Bohemians.
James Rael scored all three of our tries. Final score Crescent 15 UL Bohs 7. Our Under 16’s play
Newcastlewest nest Sunday in Rosbrien which will be a top of the table
clash. Our Under14s played Ennis and
won.
Our Under 12's
travelled to Nenagh for a friendly last Sunday morning, with a compliment
of 34 players. We played 4 matches, winning all 4 games, and in the process
produced many fine individual performances. However, what was more
satisfying was the collective effort of all players in matching the strong
Nenagh packs and securing good ball for our pacey backlines to score a
number of first class tries. Players displayed great commitment and heart
as they put into practice what they have been learning on the training
field. Next up, our Under 12’s play Garryowen away under lights at 7pm next
Friday, 6th March.
Last Sunday, Old
Crescent Under 10’s hosted another great blitz. There were two teams
from Shannon, one from Newcastle West, Kilrush, and St Marys. Old
Crescent had 30 Under 10’s togged off and ready to go. Instead of
having two teams with subs, we decided to field three balanced teams of ten
each, a great decision by our coach. This meant that all players got
4 full games. The games were all played in good spirit, competitive,
and the odd time might have even reached ‘hot’.
Each of the three groups
worked well as teams, and learned to support each other and faced up to
their responsibility, knowing there was no sub to replace them even if they
were tired or sore. It pushed them all that extra little bit, and some
players surprised themselves at how well they can perform when they focus,
concentrate and don’t get distracted. While we didn’t keep an exact
tally of the results each of the red, yellow, and green teams, they all won
at least two of their four matches and were very competitive in the others.
On a different
topic, it is hoped that this group of players will have a day out on
Sunday, March 22nd, with a bus trip to Tralee, taking in two
games en-route against Abbeyfeale, and Newcastle West, in Abbeyfeale, then
onto Tralee for a swim in the Aquadome, followed by a 3 course gourmet
dining experience in chez McDonalds.
Neat dress & club blazer essential!! Parents support will be
needed to make this happen.
Our bi-monthly
car draw was held in the Clubhouse last Sunday, and we send our
congratulations to the winner, Dr Eric Carr of Kilrush, a long time
supporter and former player with Old Crescent.
Finally, we send our best
wishes to our President, Glenn Quin, and his wife, Pacelli, for our
President’s Dinner in the Strand Hotel next Saturday evening. It promises
to be a great night for Old Crescent players and supporters, past and
present.
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Club Notes (week ending Fri
6-Mar)
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Our First team
continued on their winning ways last Saturday with a hard earned victory
over Greystones RFC by 22 points to 9. The win moves Old Crescent to within
two points of a top four position in the Division 2 table.
Old Crescent began brightly
and were 10 points up without reply after 10 minutes, with a penalty
converted by Brian O’Shea, and an opportunist intercept try by Brian also
which he converted. 20 minutes into the game, Brian converted another
penalty to put us firmly ahead, in front of the large crowd of vocal
Greystones supporters. Greystones finally got on the scoreboard with
a converted penalty mid way through the first half, but this was matched by
another penalty for Crescent which was again converted by Brian O’Shea, to
leave the half time score at Old Crescent 16 Greystones 3.
Greystones were awarded a
penalty just after half time, which they converted, and Crescent followed
this ten minutes later with another penalty conversion by Brian O’Shea.
Greystones had another penalty conversion midway through the second half,
and the two teams exchanged converted penalties before the end of game, to
leave the final score Old Crescent 22 and Greystones 9. Another very
satisfying win for Old Crescent!
Our 3rd XV made the short
journey to Dooradoyle to play Garryowen in a Gleeson League play off on
Saturday. Our | |
