Search Results for 'Connacht Junior League'

Buccaneers are away to leaders Old Belvedere in their refixed AIB League division 1B game at Anglesea Road, Dublin, on Sunday January 31. The original scheduled match fell victim to the bad weather a couple of weeks ago and has been slotted in for Sunday as Buccaneers host the AIB Cup finals on Saturday.

Sligo native Niall O’Hara has been named club captain of Buccaneers as they return to division one rugby this season.

Both Ballina and Westport got their Connacht Junior league campaigns off to winning starts last Sunday, while Castlebar had to make do with a share of the spoils at home.

With the Connacht Junior League taking a break this weekend after the first couple of rounds of games got the paddocks across the province muddied up for the rest of the season, it will give the Mayo sides involved a chance to regroup and get their game plans down for the remainder of the year. With five rounds of the league gone so far Westport are the best placed Mayo side and sit in sixth position in the league tables on 12 points with two wins from five. They sit a point ahead of Castlebar thanks to the four bonus points they have picked up. Castlebar, despite having won the same number of games and picking up a draw, trail their near neighbours because they have only managed to pick up a solitary bonus point in their five outings.

It’s must win time for all three of the Mayo clubs in the Connacht Junior League this weekend. After the last few rounds have seen them all stumble out of contention for the title and left them scrapping around to stay in the race for All Ireland Junior Cup place for next season. And unless there is a draw one of the three Mayo sides’ losing run will continue into the next round of fixtures. This weekends round of games features a crunch all Mayo derby in north Mayo where Ballina will host Westport.

Corinthians produced a solid team effort against struggling Buccaneers to remain in the top quarter of the Connacht Junior League division 1A table with a 37 - 10 victory at Corinthian Park on Sunday.

•Corinthians are riding a high at present. With the senior side currently sitting in pole position in division three of the AIB League, the club’s u-20s have now reached the AIL division one play-offs. Last weekend they overcame Bruff by 25 - 7, posting both the win and a bonus point to qualify ahead of Cork Con, Shannon, and Young Munster. Led by captain James Robinson, Corinthians opened the scoring after 10 minutes with a well worked try off a scrum when No.8 Liam Carpenter broke left and fed winger Kevin Russell who raced from the half way line before finding the supporting Brendan Carpenter who finished off. The Corinthian pack dominated the bigger Bruff counterparts, and after sustained pressure in which man of the match David Ott was prominent, James Robinson crashed over for a well deserved second try. Bruff countered with a try, but Corinthians grabbed try No 3 when winger Aengus O'Connell set up Finn Gormley for a 15-7 half-time lead. It was over within minutes of the restart when Colin Raftery’s line-out steal produced the fourth try which winger Kevin Russella scored.

Lunch on Easter Saturday in the Corinthian clubhouse is fully booked (with a long waiting list) in anticipation of history being made by the club in their penultimate match of the All Ireland League. Top of the table Corinthians meet second placed Queen’s University Belfast (K/O 2.30pm). A win for Corinthians secures the Division 3 title and promotion to Division 2. To lose merely puts Corinthians back into the melting pot.

With the summer over it’s time to get back to the cut and thrust of the action on the rugby paddocks across the province as the Connacht Junior League crashes back into action. With four Mayo based clubs and Corrib crossing into south Mayo, there will be plenty of interest around the county as the season progressed. While the defending champions Corinthians and Monivea will be the favourites to pick up the title at the end of the season, that won’t deter the Mayo sides launching a bid for the title, while getting a place inside the top four exclusive junior clubs will be the initial aim for most of the Mayo sides with that place in the All Ireland Junior Cup up for grabs.

Ballina currently lead the way for the Mayo clubs in the Connacht Junior League following three rounds of Division 1A. The north Mayo men picked up their second win of the season last weekend thanks to a bonus point win over Tuam at home. It was just what Ballina were looking for after going down in the previous round to second place Monivea. The Creggs Road side crossed the line with tries from Robert Forbes, Conor Forde, Paul Neary, and David Newman to wrap up a 29-3 win. This weekend the Ballina men will make the short trip to Cloondeash to take on a winless Castlebar side in round four of the competition. Last weekend the county town side went down to a 22-7 defeat at the hands of Corinthians, and despite leading by 7-5 at the break, thanks to a David Staunton try which was converted by Ronan Conway, they weren’t able to hold on to the lead and were steamrolled in the second half, with Corinthians hitting two tries. Castlebar haven’t had a good start to the season and will be looking for a much improved performance on Sunday against Ballina.