West Offaly Lions News

MINI Rugby will be taking a break on Sunday 25^th November 2009 due to the Bank Holiday week end. It will continue on 1^st November 2009 at 11.30am in the Ferbane Vocational Field.

  West Offaly Lions News

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)

  WEST OFFALY LIONS R.F.C

 

 

West Offaly Lions Development Team had a superb win over the Buccaneers Thirds Team at Dubarry Park Athlone last Sunday 11^th October 2009, in the Connaught J2 league.

The first half saw a lot of hard hits and tackles from both sides but it was West Offaly Lions who scored first with a penalty kick by Donal Corbett. During the game there was three fantastic try's from Padge Malone, Stephen Cornally and Adrian Coughlan; one conversion and a drop goal from Donal Corbett brought West Offaly Lions tally to 23 points. The Buccaneers only score of the game came from a try by Niger So, who also converted the try to leave the Buccaneers at 7 points for the day.

West Offaly Lions wish a speedy recovery to two of the Buccaneers players, Gerry Glynn and Dave Shaughnessy after injuries early in the second half.

The final score of the match was West Offaly Lions 23, Buccaneers 7.

 

The West Offaly Lions commenced their playing season in the Connaught J1B League with a winning score line of 28 - 3 over a fine Ballyhaunis team on Sunday 4^th October 2009 in Ferbane.

After a lot of West offaly pressure the first score of the match came from a penalty kick by scrumhalf Paul Deely, who went on to score a further 2 penalties during the game.the Lions had the Ballyhaunis team under a lot of pressure but in fairness there defence stood strong and it wasnt until late in the first half that Colin Malone crossed for the first try and Anthony Quinn crossed half way through the second half for the second try which the conversions were kicked by Paul Deely who's place kicking was excellent all day. Donal Corbett came on in place of the injured Richie Clancy, this being the only substitution of the day for the home team and West offaly started to carve holes and gaps in the Ballyhaunis defence but only for silly mistakes and handling errors the Lions cold not increase there score. Ballyhaunis did force the Lions into defence for a lot of the second half in search of a score but Ballyhaunis's only score of the day was from a penalty kick taken by Martin Finnegan in the second half of the game, which pays tribuite to the hard work done in defence by the West Offaly Lions.The final score came from a try by team captain Ronan Guinan. However, on this occasion the West Offaly Lions failed to make the conversion with a near miss by Paul Deely. It was a good start to what promises  to be an interesting season for the West Offaly Lions and hopefully the wins continue.

Many thanks to Danny Gleeson (Gleesons Bar & Lounge, Ferbane) for the use of his premises after the match. Also thanks to the management and staff of Supermacs in Ferbane as sponsors of the food for the season.

 

MINI Rugby continues next Sunday 11^th October 2009, at the Technical Field in Ferbane at 11.30am. All welcome.