This article is from page 61 of the 2011-05-10 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 61 JPG
ENNIS RFC’s under 12 panel recently travelled to Frankfurt to play in SC 1880 Frankfurt RFC’s annual underage rugby tournament. With forty players travelling it allowed Ennis to play three teams in the competition against their German and French counterparts. It is the second year Ennis has taken part in this tournament that caters from under 8’s up to under 14’s, with over 700 players taking part in the tournament over the two days of competition. The touring party enjoyed great hospitality from SC 1880 Frankfurt and enjoyed their stay.
It is with great credit to the panel of players that the tour was self financed with multiple fundraising events held over the last six months by the players, their parents and friends with help also coming from the ‘Temple Gate Hotel’ and sponsorship from ‘McDonalds (Ennis)’ after a ‘Drive Thru challenge’.
Last year Ennis got to the under 12 final only to be beaten by their hosts and were hoping to go one better this year. With Ennis Green, white and gold teams playing in different groups it was the Gold team that made the best headway in the first day by wining their 2 matches in their reduced group with the Green team winning 2 and loosing one while the Green team were unfortunate to be playing in the most difficult group and didn’t register a win.
Day two saw all three teams playing two games and it was the Ennis Gold team that had to play the favourites Lille RFC in the tournament semi final and what can only be called an act of defiance, they met the larger French team head on and with aggressive tackling and great ball handling skills beat the what were now the favourites by 4 trys to nil with the help of some great vocal support from their teammates on the line.
This rewarded them with a final against the ‘Rheindahlen Rhinos’ Black team that was mostly made up from players of British army families stationed in Germany and coached by an Irish man from Abbyfeale, Co. Limerick. It was a fifteen minute game with no halves so there was no time for poor starts. Ennis still a little stiff from their earlier battle started the slower and looked to be in second gear when Luke Carmody scored the first try after five minutes.
The Rhinos stepped it up a gear and harried and scored within one minute of the restart. When the Rhinos’ outstanding centre tracked down David Mescall on his own line after a long kick down field, Ennis were against the ropes from the resulting penalty for holding on the ground and the Rhinos scored from the ensuing phases of play.
With 3 minutes on the clock this was to be the winning score and it just didn’t afford Ennis enough time to reply with a levelling score. At the final whistle the agony on the player’s faces was evident but they regrouped to congratulated a very surprised Rhino team that has only been in existence for 2 seasons. After such a hotly contested semi final, where all players stepped up their game, it was considered that the final was just a bridge too far for an Ennis team that had great performances from the likes of Darragh ÓSé, Grainne McNeilis, Ronan Corey, Niall O’Brien, David Mescall and Luke Carmody and with some great individual trys scored throughout the tournament by Cathal Talty, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Stephen Hogan, things are looking bright for Ennis RFC underage programme.
As with the ethos of rugby, some Ennis players even played with German Teams in the closing day with Cian Chapman, Stephen Hogan, Tim Hannon and David Kirwin playing for ‘Heusenstamn RFC’ with Jack Connolly, Harry Meechan, Aidan Cleland, Jason Warren and Nathan Coote playing for the ‘Rheindahlen Rhinos’ Red team.
Although experiencing disappointment after the final whistle it was acknowledged that all players, coaches and parents that travelled have great memories to take with them into the future.
Ennis Green:
Garreth Kelly,Aidan Cleland, Connor Sheedy, Hugh Black, Mark Cabey, Jack O’Donnell, Jack Connolly, Connor Cahill, Eoghan Grace, David Kirwin, Cian Chapman, Stephen Hogan, Jack Colleran
Ennis White:
Breifne O’Reilly, Fionn Nolan, David Kelly, John Hartigan, CallumFarrell, Cian Keogh, Harry Meechan, Leon Byrne, Mark Fitzgearald, Stephen Maher, Stephen Magliocco,Tim Hannon, Nathan Coote, Connor Tierney
Ennis Gold:
Cathal Talty, David Mescall, Eoin Leen, Eoin O’Ceallaigh, Grainne McNeilis, Jack DColleran, JasonWarren, Luke Carmody, Niall O’Brien, Ronan Cahill, Ronan Corey, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Dara ÓSé