Under 15’s  Leinster  Cup

Birr 3 – Tullamore 39

Tullamore travelled to Birr on Saturday for the second round of the McAuley  Cup with a quarter final place up for grabs.

Tullamore showed a lot of nerves in the first ten minuteswith poor handling.Birr were awarded a penalty for off side and their  out-half put the three points on the board.  Tullamore settled down after this setback.When  the forwards drove over a ruck and secured the ball,it was let out through the backs to winger Stephen Norton who has excellent speed when given a ball in space and he  scored Tullamore’s  first try.  Karl Dunne added the two.  Late in the first half, Liam Varley on the opposite wing, kicked out of his own half, followed up, and with the assistance of Leonard Gavin, secured the ball and went over for his first try leaving the score 12 – 3 to the visitors at half time.

Still with everything to play for, the first score after half time was always going to be very important.  Tullamore put the pressure on and with good forwards play, the ball was let out to Liam Varley who scored after five minutes. Karl Dunne added the two.  This was followed up by tries for Micky Keogh, Oisin Cusack and Karl Dunne (2).  Tullamore emptied the benches and introduced fresh legs in the second half who added greatly to the game.

This was a great squad performance .  The pack played very well against heavier opposition and gained in confidence as the match progressed.  The backs have great speed and flair and with ball in hand are difficult to stop by any opposition.  Next cup game is away to Longford on 27^th March.

Squad: Tiernan Mealiffe, Glen Bagnall, Kealan Feery, Anthony Kane,  David Brophy, Leonard Gavin,  Adam Mangan, Sean Milner, Frankie Deegan, Karl Dunne, Declan Byrne, Micky Keogh, Stephen Norton, Liam Varley, Oisin Cusack, Ronan Daly, Aaron Pierse, Jerome Scully, Conor Martin, James Lalor, Kieran Guinan, Jack Fox and Eoghan Galvin.