Under 18.5’s beat Naas 22- 17

Cill Dara 18s retain the Osbourne Cup with win against Naas.

Naas started this game the brighter and it was only four minutes old when the Naas scrum half broke through the Cill Dara defence to set up a try under the posts. The conversion made it seven nil to the hosts. Despite a very strong wind and playing up the hill Cill Dara forwards began to dominate in attack and defence and after 14 minutes they set the backs up with good field position and Ryan Curran took advantage with a converted try under the posts. Cill Dara were now the better team but the Naas defence was up to the job and neither side looked like taking the lead until a dropped ball from Cill Dara on the half way line was pounced on by the Naas full back and he sprinted to the goal line to score just on half-time.

Half Time: Naas 14 Cill Dara 7

Two minutes into the second half Tadhg Murtagh reduced the gap to two points when he took on the Naas defence on the blind side of a scrum and having ghosted past the scrum half he had the speed to make the line. Cill Dara with the aid of a slight breeze at this stage dominated both possession and territory and having turned down an earlier shot at goal took the lead for the first time after 14 minutes with a Ryan Curran penalty. Four minutes later however a rare journey into the Cill Dara half resulted in a penalty in front of the posts for Naas and as they re-took the lead. A series of dropped passes and errors frustrated Cill Dara in their quest for a try and it wasn’t until the 27th minute that they got their just rewards when a well worked backs move resulted in Eoin O’Loughlin touching down in the corner. An excellent conversion from Ryan Curran put five between the sides. Naas tried hard to get back into the game but the outstanding defence, particularly a one handed jersey grab from Reece Delaney with five minutes to go and good game management saw out the remaining minutes and a well deserved victory for the lads.

Full Time: Naas 17 Cill Dara 22

Team: Cian Buckley, Eoin O’Loughlin, Adam Meehan, Ryan Curran, Sean Conway, Tadhg Murtagh, David Vaughan, Sam Downey, Matthew Conway, Rory Mahon, Jake Conway, Michael John Prendergast, Ross Dooley, Reece Delaney, Conor Smyth. Replacements: Darragh Whelan, Daniel Giltrap, Sean Bowden, Padraig Howard, Robert Miller, Cody O’Reilly, Christopher Walsh, Kyle Walsh, Liam Kehoe, Taran Clifford-Broughal, Ben Savage, Michael Nash

Scorers: Try: Ryan Curran, Tadhg Murtagh, Eoin O’Loughlin, Conv: Ryan Curranx2 Penalty: Ryan Curran

Naas: Oscar Earley, Jack Hartnett, Niall Rooney, Alex Reilly, Cian Lehane, Jack Sargent, Derry Lenehan, Jack Coyle, Jack Birchall, Arron Penrose, Harry Smith, Michael Clancy, Ryan Carter, Michael Curran, David Whitaker Replacements: Paul Carroll, Adam Costello, Eoghan Duffy, Eoin Fitzpatrick, Mark ColcLough, Killian Nugent.