Castlebar RFC win through to a Sportsground final

Castlebar RFC travelled to Dunmore to play the semi-final of the Connacht Junior Plate last weekend and emerged the victors with a promising display of fast-paced rugby, the game ending in the visitors' favour on a scoreline of 22-10.

Both sides started with intent but it took 15 minutes for the first score to arrive, coming from a penalty kicked by Stephen Rogan to give Castlebar a 3-0 advantage.

Stephen’s kicking was superb all day and with another penalty opportunity on the 30-minute mark, he extended Castlebar’s advantage to 6-0.

As the game progressed towards half-time, Dunmore gained a penalty chance of their own but the kick was missed. However, from the restart Dunmore’s fly-half, Gert Jacobus Coetzee, gathered the ball and ran through the Castlebar defensive line before offloading to Devon Bough to score the first try of the game, a score that was converted to give Dunmore the lead at 7-6.

With the first half coming to a close, Castlebar progressed into Dunmore’s territory with excellent work from Matthew and Simon Staunton along with Sean Tonra and Daire Mugrew. Their efforts were again rewarded with a penalty kick to restore their lead, leaving it 9-7 at the break.

The second half started with Castlebar again on the attack and they looked the sharper side, with Mark Staunton running through tacklers and passing the ball out to the quick-footed Eoghan Hughes to score Castlebar’s first try. Again, a difficult conversion was kicked by Stephen Rogan to extend the lead to 16-7.

However, Dunmore were digging deep and were rewarded with a penalty to close the gap to 16-10. Castlebar were dominating the line-outs, with Aodhan O'Donaghue and David Staunton excellent in the air, and with 10 minutes of the new half gone, Castlebar kicked another penalty to bring the score to 19-10.

Soon after, Fintan Casey was unlucky to have put a foot in touch with a terrific run down the wing to score a try that was subsequently disallowed.

With the game coming to a close, Castlebar had a number of opportunities to go further ahead. Barry Walsh attempted a drop-goal and another try opportunity was deemed to have been held up across the line.

However, with eight minutes remaining another penalty was kicked by Stephen Rogan, and that was enough to seal the win at 22-10 and secure a place in the Connacht Junior Plate final on Sunday week, April 17, where they will face NUI Galway, who beat Ballinasloe 45-5 in the other semi-final. The final will be played at 1 p.m. in the Sportsground as part of a double header, with Connemara and Buccaneers 2nds contesting the Connacht Junior Cup final at 3.15 p.m.

Castlebar had some excellent performances on the day, with stand our displays from some of the younger players such as James Balaski and man of the match Liam Hegarty.

Castlebar: Simon Staunton, Sean Tonra, Daire Mulgrew, Aodhan O'Donaghue, Matthew Staunton, Liam Hegarty, Pat Carolan, David Staunton, James Balaski, Barry Walsh, Luke Staunton, Mark Staunton, Eoghan Hughes, Fintan Casey, Stephen Rogan.

Replacement: David O'Donnell, Ruairi Hughes, Connor O'Neill, David Lavelle, Ultan McDyer, Donovan McHale.