Kanturk start AIL campaign with win over Sea Point
well deserved one point victory over a highly fancied Newcastle West side.
The 15-14 point victory was secured in the dying minutes of this one and mean that Muskerry start this season in a much more positive light than they did the last.
A try a piece from Daniel Horgan and Stephen Murray meant that Muskerry led this one by 10-6 at the break. The visitors battled hard to stick with the Cork side with Michael O’Leary adding a brace of penalties to keep in touch.
Sean Neville slotted over a penalty soon after the resumption with a try from Sean Murphy putting the Limerick side into a seemingly winning position however Muskerry showed great resolve and a real never say die attitude – with Dave Hennessy finishing off a brilliant surge to touch down for the winning scores.
The loss was hard on the vanquished side however all at Ballyanly were delighted with this brilliant start to the campaign.
Muskerry will take to the road next weekend to take on a St Senan’s side that are to say the least dangerous however Muskerry will look to bring some points back down the road with them.
Both Mallow and Charleville were out in the J2 last weekend with the former taking on St Mary’s at Grove Road while the latter entertained Ballincollig in north Cork.
Mallow would have fancied their chances of taking something from their visit to St Mary’s but unfortunately it wasn’t to be as they came up just short of a losing bonus point, 11-3.
This game was a close fought out affair with the home side just edging the first half by a score to nil.
Brian Purcell’s early try had St Mary’s in the lead by 5-0 at the turn however Mallow responded in the second period with a Jimmy Glynn penalty.
St Mary’s pushed clear again with a brace of Sean Lyons penalties which on the day secured the points and denied Mallow anything from the day.
Mallow will be back in more familiar territory next weekend as they entertain Waterford City at St Joseph’s Road. Mallow will be keen to get points on the board sooner rather than later before the other top sides pull too far ahead.
Charleville’s loss to Ballincollig was a little bit more productive than Mallow’s game however a loss was still the ultimate outcome.
Losing to Ballincollig is nothing to be beating yourself up about and fortunately Charleville got a losing bonus point from their 19-12 loss.
Ballincollig got the only try of the game from Dave Power while Charlie Boland added four successful penalties to secure his side’s win.
For Charleville, Michael O’Flynn hit back with four penalties of his own but ultimately it wasn’t enough to take the win.
Charleville will head to County Clare next Sunday to face Ennis – a test that will be difficult to overcome for the Cork side.
In senior rugby, Kanturk are still flying the flag for North Cork and last weekend they got their first win of this season when edging out Sea Point at Knocknacolan. This AIL Division 2C game was a great opportunity for Kanturk to get a win on the board and they weren’t going to miss the chance to get themselves into the mix of mid table. Stephen McAuliffe and David Fitzpatrick were the try getters for the winners with the boot of Conor Cremin securing the spoils with a brace of penalties. Next up for Kanturk is a trip to Sligo to face a side more than capable of holding their own at this grade.