West Offaly Lions News

Ireland and Munster player Denis Leamy made the trip to Ferbane last friday to present the U13 squad with their Connacht Cup medals, Denis is a cousin of Marion Gilligan our club secretary and he made the trip from Cashel Co. Tipp where he had just finished training to present the medals to the lads, it was a very enjoyable evening. A very big thank you has to be said to Gallen Community School for allowing the hosting of the event to Mr John Irwin and Mr Bernard Quigley, and also to every one else involved who helped organise the ocasion and made food and refreshments on the night it was greatly appreciated.

 

 

Denis then made his way to Gleeson's where he also presented the Junior squad with their J1B league medals, the haggard was full to the rafters and a great night was had by everyone involved, and another big thank you to everyone involved in the organising of the event and to Danny Gleeson for hosting the event.

Pictured here is captain Colin Kenny with his parents after recieving the Cup.

The West Offaly Lions U13's created more history as the overcame a strong Sligo side to win there first and probably only Connacht Cup

Sunday the 11th of April saw West Offaly Lions Under 13s travel to a sun drenched Ballyhaunis RFC for the final of the Connacht Cup. Beautifully prepared surroundings and arguably the best weather of the year was the perfect backdrop for what proved to be an incredible game of rugby.
 
West Offaly had beaten Ballina, Castlebar and Ballinasloe on their way to the final and awaiting them was a much fancied Sligo team who had been very impressive on their march to the final. As the game kicked off Sligo established early dominance and set up camp in the young Lions 22. The first few minutes saw the Ferbane based outfit struggling for a foothold in the game but Sligo at this stage were into their stride with many of the West Offaly team coming up short in the early exchanges. West Offaly were relying on some last ditch tackles to keep the scores level and did so in the early minutes thanks to Ronan Butler and Tom Corcoran in particular who tackled with great bravery, however an early Sligo score looked inevitable and minutes later the pressure told forcing a mistake from West Offaly who were now 5-0 down after five minutes. Worse was to follow however as almost straight from the kick off Sligo again attacked and after some more mistakes by the Lions and some incisive attacking play Sligo had made it 10-0. The only positives for the Lions being that both conversions had been narrowly missed. The alarm bells were ringing loudly in the ears of the players now.
 
West Offaly at this stage were down but definitely not out and the belief that had grown in earlier rounds now started to shine through. Led by inspirational captain Colin Kenny the Lions started to carry ball back at Sligo and a mixture of great off loading and passing led to numerous line breaks. The incredible work of Dean Guinan, William Phair and Conor Kelly in the front row meant that West Offaly started to edge the physical battle and provide good ball for the accurate passing of the ever dangerous Joseph Daly Lowry. Midway through the second half a flowing move involving forward and backs saw Colin Kenny slice through the Sligo defence for a great try which he converted himself. 10-7 Game on.
 

Pictured here is Ronan Butler holding the cup with his parents and younger brother Conor

West Offaly now began to move through the gears and the remainder of the first half saw the game flow from end to end, Jack Clancy who had switched to full back was a calming influence and dealt confidently with the probing kicks of the Sligo half backs as well as attacking with great flair and imagination himself. With half time moments away West offaly mustered another attack, this time the ball fell to Ryan Heavin from a Colin Kenny offload. Moving with great speed Heavin sprinted toward the corner evading tackle after tackle before scoring in the corner. 12-10 to West Offaly. Half time brought a welcome break from the increasing heat but also a warning that a Sligo backlash was on its way.
 
Sligo started the second half like men possessed and this well drilled and talented outfit led by their number 8, out half and right wing  started to dominate possession. Their tactic was clearly to move the ball wide and attack!! Enter Oisin Kelly and Anthony Seery  who provided a display of aggressive tackling and control in midfield that symbolised the teams work rate never letting the Sligo attack through. In fact both players looked sure to be out of the game through injury but battled on bravely and led by example to those around them.
 
Sligo were eventually rewarded for their efforts and a penalty saw them retake the lead 13-12. The Lions refused to give up and marched down the field once more, accurate throwing in the lineout from the impressive Kevin Kelly gave a great platform to attack and a combination of pace in attack and great defence from wings Brian McEvoy and Diarmuid Guinan meant that West Offaly slowly started to pin Sligo back. Darren "The Bull" Buckley replaced the hardworking Jack Quinn  added dome freshness to a now jaded pack. West Offaly badly needed a score and their prayers were answered with 12 mins to go with an almost identical try to their second. Kenny sidestepped through the Sligo defence before being tackled, quick ball was supplied to Heavin who set off on an arcing run towards the corner in a foot race with the sligo defence, Heavin had to deal with an approaching side line and multiple tacklers but pushed on by great cheers from the West Offaly supporters and at full stretch managed to grab a vital score in the corner. Even though the conversion was missed The Lions still led 17-13. For the last ten minutes West Offaly attacked with great purpose this was highlighted by the runs of Tom Corcoran who was not only  playing for himself but also his injured brother John who had delivered man of the match displays in earlier rounds. West Offaly narrowly missed two kickable penalties to widen the gap and were almost made to pay for it when Sligo made a last brave charge for victory but tackles from Seery, Clancy, Kenny and most noticeably continuous tackles from flankers Butler and Corcoran ( both of whom had tackled hard from the first minute)  kept the attacks at bay. With the young Lions almost out on their feet they were greeted with the sweet sound of the final whistle. Cue great celebrations and joy as fans mentors and parents celebrated with the players on what was great achievement for all involved. Captain Kenny thanked Sligo for a great game as well as thanking all the members of the panel who had worked so hard to get the team to the final as well as all the support from parents and sponsors Sean Corcoran and a special thanks to Gallen CS for the use of their grounds throughout the year and all their support. The last job was to lift the cup for the large crowd which was greeted with the loudest cheer of the day and return to Ferbane as Champions.

Below we have the team after their hard earned victory.
 
Panel W Phair C Kelly K Kelly J Quinn R Butler T Corcoran Dean Guinan R Heavin J DalyLowry C Kenny A Seery O Kelly Diarmuid Guinan B McEvoy J Clancy M O'Shea D Buckley J Corcoran J Gannon D Ryan R Davis S Fleming

Congradulations to the West Offaly Lions U13 Squad who had a fantastic victory today in Ballyhaunis over Sligo  in what was a very tit for tat game with both sides giving it there all. Photos and full report soon.

Best of luck to the West Offaly Lions U13 side who face a stronge Sligo side this week end in the Connacht cup final. The lads have been going strong in training and there hard work is paying off on the field and under the excellent guidance of Conor Galvin Padraig Clancy and the other people involved lets hope they bring more silverware back to the club this season. The match is on in Ballyhaunis R.F.C. at 3pm Sunday so your support would b greatly appreciated.

  U13's

Best of luck to the U13 squad this Sunday who will make a long trip to Ballina too take on Ballina in the Connacht Cup, the side have been playing well under the excellent guidance of Conor Galvin and have preformed well in their recent outings against Buccaneer's and Ballinasloe, lets hope this good run of form carries through to Sundays game and their run in the Connacht cup is extended.

Seniors

The seniors took on a strong Connemara side last Sunday and the lads from the west showed no signs of fatigue as they tore into the Lions from the off, it was a tit for tat affair in the first half with West Offaly forcing the game and making a lot of errors and mistakes which lead to a very stop start first period, Tom Gilligan did cross the line in the first half and what seemed to everyone else a perfect try the referee deemed it had been held up and the score was not allowed but the Lions did start to play and begin to put in the phases and it was shaping up to be an interesting second half. The lions hit the ground running in the second half and start to build on the last few minutes effort in the first half but the strong Connemara defence didn't relent posing a strong wall to break down but as the half wore on it looked only a matter of time before the deadlock was going to be broken and it eventually was some strong work by the forwards got the lions inside the Connemara 22 and with some neat hands released Ronnie Guinan through for the games first try, a few minutes later Gramps put a nice chip through for Jeff Cuskley to touch down in the corner and in the dying minutes of the match Jason Clancy went through as well to finish the day off on a high, the Lions finished up the day 20 - 0 but were made work for every point, it will have to be a much better performance against UCG who proved to be the Lions stumbling block last season especially with the promotion battle heating up as the season draws to an end, the top 4 teams are all still in contention for promotion with Creggs top on 39 West Offaly on 38 and Loughrea snapping on West Offaly's heals in third its all a little to close for comfort and looks as though it will go right down to the final game. The Lions so far have the strongest defence this season in the league with the least amount points against and this is testament to the huge effort been put in by coaches and players and it would be a shame to see all that effort go to waste so starting this Sunday with the students West Offaly will be doing everything in their power to ensure a strong performance and a mouth watering finale Sunday 3 weeks in Creggs.

Development team

The development team travelled to Monivea last Sunday to take on the team top of the table and the home side showed exactly why they are top with a clinical performance beating the Lions 43 - 7 in a tough hard battle as these games always prove to be, the Lions never gave up and with some players missing due to injury and been called up to the first team to fill the voids the Lads acquitted them selves well and it was good to see some old faces back in the side and hopefully we will see them for the remainder of the season.