Youths Rugby- All Ireland Semi Finals

Muskerry U16’s through to All Ireland League Final, while Clonakilty U.18’s narrowly lose out in their All Ireland League Semi Final

All Ireland U16 League Semi Final

Connemara 0 Muskerry 5

Flying the flag for Munster in the U.16 All Ireland Semi Final was Cork side Muskerry RFC, who triumphed over Connemara at the Sportsgrounds in Galway on Saturday 5th March last. Although having won South Munster Cup titles in previous years, it s the first time a Youths team from the club has won a South Munster league title, and gone on to compete for an All Ireland title. Saturday s match was a tight game, with sheer determination and excellent defence winning the game for Muskerry. The only score of the match came from scrum half Eoin Kennedy, who went over for a try midway in the first half. Muskerry were the more convincing team on the day, but despite the upperhand, were unable to capitalise on their advantages and put more points on the board.

It s a fantastic achievement for the club, who will be assured of strong support when they play Navan in Naas on Sunday 20th March at 1.30pm in the All Ireland U.16 League Final.

All Ireland U18 League Semi Final

Sligo 18 Clonakilty 17

Having comprehensively beaten Tralee in the Munster U.18 League final on Tuesday last, Clonakilty travelled to the Sportsgrounds in Galway to face Sligo in the All Ireland U.18 Semi Final on Saturday. With Sligo winning 18-0 at half time, a Clonakilty comeback looked too hard a task for the West Cork side. However, Clonakilty dug deep, and a fantastic second half performance brought them back to within a point of Sligo, keeping Sligo scoreless in the second half, but not quite enough to win them a place in the All Ireland Final. Clonakilty s tries came from prop Steven Lowney, winger Cillian O Donovan and centre Darragh Lynch, with out half Ciaran Calnan converting one of the tries. Scoring 17 points in the second half, Clonakilty had two missed kicks late in the game denying them a place in the All Ireland Final despite a brave performance.