Co Cavan U16s advance to Ulster Cup final

Rugby

Co Cavan RFC U16s 27

Banbridge U16s 14

Cavan advanced to the final of this year’s Ulster Carpets U16 Cup with a dominant win over Banbridge in front of a full house at Swellan Park on Saturday morning last.

Both sides showed some understandable nerves in the opening minutes of the semi-final match, but battle-hardened Cavan were first off the mark with Lachlan Maguire testing the visitors by easily running through for the opening try, successfully converting for the full points.

Cavan moved with menace on the first attack when Freddie McGuigan ran the field, offloading to Hamish Vickerman who was hot on his heels, Vickerman was brought down with 10 metres to go, his quick thinking and fantastic hands ensured the ball was passed right to Conor Doyle for the second try of the day.

A quick dink over the top by Bobby Hanly proved a good idea, catching Banbridge unawares as the ball was chased down by Conor Doyle who had the speed and agility to beat three players for a stunning try, his second of the day to leave 17 points between the two sides in the first 15 minutes.

Cavan grew in confidence with powerhouse captain Ryan Duffy, Eoin Cassidy, and Fionn McDonnell helping to drive the team forward to within the five-metre line, a quick ball through the hands seeing Mac Quigley held up agonisingly short of the line.

Cavan suffered a huge blow in the dying minutes of the first half when second row Fionn McDonnell suffered a shoulder injury, his replacement Dylan Smith quickly showing the visitors he was up for the challenge.

The final minutes of the first half seen Cavan flanker Patrick Cahill powered through two tackles to get the home team deep into Banbridge territory, quick passing of the ball through the hands of Aodhan Dinneny, and Josh Reilly finally saw the ball arrive to the hands of inform centre Lachlan Maguire to get over for his second try of the day.

The Banbridge side didn’t let the disappointment last long from a penalty miss as a strong carry off first phase off a lineout sucked in some Cavan defenders, allowing the visitors to collect the ball and slalomed through three tacklers to score their first try of the second half, with the light wind in their favor the conversion proved no problem, leaving the score at 22 – 7 in the opening minutes of the second half.

The Cavan front row of Dallan Greaney, Ryan Duffy and T.J Brady piled on the pressure to win the next scrum getting the ball out to Aodhan Dinneny and Freddie McGuigan quickly getting the ball to replacement winger Riain Monahan only to be driven into touch.

Jack Kelly made smart yards from a slick lineout move. Just when their attack looked like coming to nothing, Freddie McGuigan picked up the loose pass, weaving through a thicket of bodies, but found himself to isolated to get the ball back into Cavan hands.

Banbridge began to up the intensity as a superb carry brought play deep into the Cavan’s 22′. The visiting team spread the ball wide and crossed in the corner, leaving a difficult conversion attempt that was sent over the posts.

Cavan began to empty the bench with Caiden Brady, Ben Murphy, and Zion Odjegba showing they could hit the ground running.

Bobby Hanley made smart yards from a slick lineout move. Just when their attack looked like coming to nothing, Lachlan Maguire picked up a loose pass, weaving through a thicket of bodies for an unlikely try, his second of the day.

With the game approaching the final 15 minutes, Cavan received a big boost when some good passing and handling from Tommy Molloy and Freddie Mcguigan brought play deep in the Banbridge half where Lachlan Maguire was on hand to score under the posts to give Cavan a 27-14 lead.

Credit to Cavan, they kept battling right to the final whistle where they now look forward to playing Rainey OB in the Ulster U16 cup final in Kingspan Stadium this on April 22.

All supporters welcome!