Charleville bow out of County Cup to Youghal
Kanturk's Jonathan O'sullivan makes a break from the pack against St Mary's last Sunday Credit: PICTURE: ERIC BARRY
WHAT was meant to be a weekend off for the Munster junior rugby sides ended up being a Sunday where Kanturk, Charleville and Fermoy all took to the field in cup action.
Charleville failed in their latest attempt to collect some silverware as they came up just short against Youghal in the County Cup.
Roy Mcardle, Dave Murphy and Keith Christopher Mccarthy scored the tries for Youghal with Aaron Daly kicking two conversions and two penalties.
Charleville showed great resolve and replied with tries from Dermot Brown and Shane Corkery. The latter also added two penalties, but it would all prove to be to no avail as the visitors took the spoils and advanced to the quarter finals.
Fermoy's O'neill Cup quarter final also ended badly as they came up just short away to Ballincollig.
Fermoy trailed by 15-0 at the turn after tries from Fergal Considine and Shane Murphy put the home side in control.
Murphy rounded off the first half agony with a conversion and a penalty to leave the away side with a mountain to climb in the second 40.
Fermoy to their credit stepped up a gear after the interval and fought their way back into contention with a try from Stephen Dunne and a conversion and penalty by Shane O'riordan.
Unfortunately for the north Cork outfit time ran out on their comeback and their O'neill Cup adventures for 2012 came to a premature conclusion.
Division 1 high fliers Kanturk had home advantage against division 2 side St Mary's in their rescheduled round four game in the Munster Junior Cup.
Kanturk have shown themselves to be one of the best teams in Munster junior rugby this season and this game was to be no different as they pushed past a highly regarded St Mary's side with plenty to spare.
Kanturk romped into a 24 point advantage by the turn thanks to tries from Michael O'sullivan, Michael Twohig and Gary Piggott.
Peter Earlie added to the St Mary's torment as he showed he is no slouch with the boot adding the extra points on all three occasions as well as slotting over a well taken penalty.
The second half saw a resurgent Mary's put it up to the home side. Tries from Niall Counihan and Rob Brockert cut the gap to 14 and with Sean Lyons converting one, the Limerick side were in with a shout of causing an upset.
Mary's fought bravely from that point on and they managed to threaten the Kanturk line on more than one occasion without being able to cross the well defended try line.
Kanturk withstood the Mary's pressure and were able to break clear to notch up their fourth and the game's final score. Earlie was the one that landed the final blow on the spirited Mary's challenge.
This Kanturk victory sets up a mouth-watering tie in Limerick as the Duhallow lads will have to make the trip to Dooradoyle to face Garryowen in round five of the top junior rugby cup competition.
That was as good as it got for the local sides as both Charleville and Fermoy came out on the wrong side of their respective challenges.
- Diarmuid Sheehan
