West Offaly Lions News

Ballinasloe V  West Offaly Lions

The season so far has got of to a good start for the West Offaly Lions picking up where we left off last yerar with some impressive rugby and with 4 wins out of 4. On october 24th the lions travelled to Ballinasloe and in what was a hard night and the rugby was just as tough as well with the lions under pressure from the off but to there credit the composed themselves well and began to break down the stronge Ballinasloe defence and began to find the space which eventually lead to the first try of the night which was scored by Ritchie Clancy. The lions crossed over for another try in the first half and two more in the second in what was their best display of rugby this season with the players running good lines and off loading well and working the phases. Although it was a good win for the lions they will be disappointed that they took so long to really close the game off going most of the second half without scoring and defending the gain line but this was credit to the never say die attitude of a Ballinasloe team who were looking to score the first try this year against the lions but it wasn't to be and the lions held out for a 30- 0 win.

Westport   V   W.O.L.

The Lions made the long trip west last sunday to Westport to play a much fancied Westport Bulls side and the Lions weren't disappointed. The lions have never beaten the Bulls at home and we knew going there it was going to be a huge task but one which they would not shy away from.  The game started at a very fast pace with both sides not willing to give an inch in the rucks and mauls and this proved to be the story for the day, but when the lions did get it to the backs thats when they started to carve the holes and the off loading game started to take shape with Donal Corbett making a great break and going over for the first try af the game, Tomas Bennett then crossed over soon enough for the second try when given a great off load by Ciaran Coughlan and a miss match with scrum half and prop to touch down under the posts, the lions got flowing and looked very fluent when moving and should have had more points to the score board but it wasnt until the second half until the lions crossed again with a brilliant try, under serious pressure in there own 22 Ciaran Coughlan robbed the ball poped to Rory Walshe who sped away he then off loaded to Niall Flaherty just inside his own half way line who in turn used his pace to out run 3 Westport players only to be caught by the full back under the posts but he had the awareness to pop the ball to the ever supporting Tom Gilligan who touched down under the post and scored the follow up conversion. This did not how ever stop Westport and they went looking for blood and were with 13 men camped inside the West Offaly 22 for the remainder of the half but the stronge Lions defence proved why they haven't conceeded a try this season by meeting every attack head on and holding onto their nil scoreline which is a huge achievment especially to a stronge Westport team. The game ended 24 - 0 to a tough day on the field and to a welcome break.

West Offaly Lions R.F.C had a fantastic win over Gort in the Connaught J1B League in Ferbane on Sunday 18^th October 2009.

From the kick off, West Offaly Lions had Gort under pressure with a huge charge forward by team captain Ronan Guinan who led from the front throughout the entire game.

West Offaly Lions first score came from a great pass from Jason Clancy who put Tom Gilligan through for the home teams' first try, which unfortunately was not converted. After 30 minutes of play Gort had 2 missed penalty kicks. West Offaly Lions place kicker Donal Corbett found his kicking boots with two successful penalty kicks. Gorts' only score of the day was a penalty kick leaving the score line 11-3 at half time in favour of West Offaly Lions.

While not playing well in the first half West Offaly Lions found their rhythm in the second half and began to take control of the game. Scores came from a try by Thomas Bennett and converted by Donal Corbett. Soon after, Tom Gilligan stormed over the line for his second try again converted by Donal Corbett to put the game out of Gorts reach. In the last few minutes after the best move of the day by Richie Clancy and Ciaran Coughlan, Rory Walsh crossed the line for West Offaly Lions fourth try converted by Donal Corbett to leave a finishing score line of West Offaly Lions 32, Gort 3.

Development Team

West Offaly Lions Development team played the Galwegians in the Connaught J2 South League also in Ferbane with an early kick off at 1pm, it was a very evenly fought contest with both sets of forwards unwilling to give an inch and it proved to be this way for much of the day, the lions how ever with a smaller pack got wore down from added pressure and got sucked into the rucks this gave the Galwegians side the opportunity they needed and they crossed the line. The lions did fight back and were very unlucky not to have gone into the second half in front when they were stopped short of the Wegians line on two occasions late in the first half. The second half proved to be much like the first a battle of the forwards The Galwegians forwards were that bit stronger on the day and wore the pack down again and were clinical in there finishing converting the only two chances they got which proved the turning point on the day. The lions can take a lot from this game they battled hard and with just a little more composure in front of the line the team will turn these results around. The final score of the day was 18-5.

Thanks to our food sponsors Supermacs' Ferbane, and also to Danny Gleeson (Gleeson's Bar & Lounge)