Garryowen FC Notes w.e. 01^st April 2007

Flanker Anthony Kavanagh continued his rich vein of form by scoring two tries to take his tally to five in his last two games as our seniors beat Blackrock 39-5 in the AIB League in Dooradoyle last Saturday. Leading 22-0 at the break, the expected fight-back from the Dubliners never materialised and we went on to increase our try haul to six by the finish. David Sherry, Cillian O’Boyle, Adam O’Loughlin and Gerry Hurley were the other try scorers. Conor Kilroy added a conversion and an in-form Gerry Hurley kicked two conversions and a penalty. Fionn Carr got a consolation score for the visitors just before the final whistle. However all the teams above us in the table won and it will come down to the last two games to determine who books a semi-final place. The AIB Cup semi-final sees the novel meeting of Garryowen and Clonakilty in Dooradoyle at 2.30 on Saturday. The Cork side have been putting some very impressive performances in at the top of Division 2 and it promises to be a fascinating game. Weather conditions were almost benign last weekend and the quality of back play was a noticeable feature. With the ground set to turn firmish, the game may turn out to be a high scoring affair. The penultimate stages of the Munster Junior Cup take place on Sunday and traditionalists couldn’t have asked for a more appropriate semi-final pairing than Garryowen and Young Munster. The team had a warm up game away to Cashel last Sunday and although we took time to establish control, we eventually ran out 31-3 winners. John Paul Hartigan, Niall O’Driscoll and Fredrico Quaglia (2) were the try scorers. John Paul added two conversions and scrum half Alan McNamara also kicked a two-pointer. The venue for this eagerly awaited game was still unclear at time of going to press. Should the game take place, it will surely go down to the wire with precious little between the teams at the end. The Webb Cup semi-final turned out be a real humdinger of a match that ended Garryowen 6 Old Crescent 6 after extra time. A tough uncompromising game saw both teams play some excellent football and it would have been an injustice for either to have lost on the day. Crescent took the lead with a first half penalty and Fergus Sheahan brought us back to parity just before the break. The second half was much of the same with Crescent taking a 6–3 lead again from a penalty and Dave Madden replied with another penalty to leave the sides level again. Extra time was scoreless although Dave Madden was very unlucky with a difficult penalty that just skimmed the upright. Finnian Chesser had a fine game, as did Niall Keogh and John Mark Griffin. Damian Fahey was the pick of the backs. Both teams will have do it all again on Saturday in Rosbrien at 1.00. The under 14s progressed to the North Munster Final with a fine 15 –8 win over UL Bohs. Three well worked first half tries by Ben Drew (2) and Andrew Fullen paved the way for a satisfactory win. While there were many excellent individual performances, it was our back line that defended and attacked very impressively and eventually turned the game. Up front Ronan Hogan and John Fyfe led the way with a lot of very strong running and tackling. On Sunday they play a fancied Shannon team in the Final. Having narrowly lost last year’s Cup final, the squad is keen to make amends. Tom Barry’s U16’s had a bit too much gas for Newcastlewest in the NML, eventually running out comfortable 22-0 winners. Alan Barry, Cian O’Shea 2 and Eoin OToole were the try scorers. Eoin also added a conversion. Meanwhile Tom Butler’s U13’s kicked off their NM Cup campaign with a hard fought 15-5 win away to Scarrif. Liam Glynn and Seamie McDermott’s U18’s have been coming along nicely in training and they play St. Mary’s on Sunday in the NM Cup.