Dundalk RFC Under 11 Sharks kicked off their 2014/2015 campaign against Boyne away at Shamrock Lodge on a lovely Sunday morning in Drogheda. After several ding dong encounters last year the sharks would have been forgiven for wanting an easier fixture than this to kick off the current campaign. They needn’t have worried, as what ensued was a rugby master class from the Mill Road men that was as good as anything they have produced over the last couple of seasons. Every facet of the game was in fine fettle, from powerful forward play at the scrum, ruck, breakdown and mauls, sublime ball handling, passing and incisive running that was a joy to behold. There were 2 equally skilled Dundalk teams who faced Boyne and both performed equally as well as the other, but unfortunately due to budgetary constraints three was only 1 reporter present on this occasion.
Up front there was aggression and power in the scrum, at the breakdown and in the ruck from Eoghan Staunton, Laurence Jones, Joseph Pheifer, Ronan McDonnell, Robert Malone, Lorcan Ticehurst and Liam Dorian. This was matched fantastic incisive running and passing from Kieran McArdle, Cillian Halpenny, Conal O’Callaghan, Ciaran Tiernan, Aaron McGuinness, Luke Andrews, Brian McCahill, Riain Rafferty and Luke Clarke.
The highlight of the day was the overall quality of the play which really was a joy to behold in addition to tries from the likes of Kieran McArdle, Eoghan Staunton, Ronan McDonnell, Kieran Tiernan, Joseph Pheifer, Aaron McGuinness and Conal O’Callaghan. However, the moment of the match was a fantastic try for Brian McCahill. Following ferocious counter rucking by Robert Malone which forced a turnover, the ball was passed to Brian and the smallest man on the pitch with the biggest heart set off at blistering pace, with over half of the pitch to run and with numerous Boyne men in pursuit doing their best to spoil the party. But this was Brian’s moment, and nothing was going to stop him as he beat off a valiant effort to stop him and scored a wonderful try.
Overall the coaches and parents could not have been happier with a brilliant display and the Sharks will look forward to training on Thursday night buoyed by a brilliant first run out against one of their strongest rivals.
