U-16 Friendly - Balbriggan

Swords 17 Balbriggan 5

STERN defence and three hard-earned tries ensured Swords took the honours in an entertaining Fingal derby at ALSAA on Saturday. The hosts failed to deal with the kick off and allowed Balbriggan to gain possession in the Swords 22. The Balbriggan attack looked threatening, but defence initially held them out.Swords then conceded a penalty, which Balbriggan ran and scored off of several rucked balls.

The game settled down after that, with Balbriggan still looking the more threatening. Swords eventually got their attack going and the backs and forwards mixed well as they took turns in carrying the ball to bring play from their own half to within 5 metres of the Balbriggan line.Balbriggan gave away a penalty, Swords weren't leaving without a try and Dave Foley drove over from close range shortly after.

Swords continued to dominate possession and territory for the remainder of the half, but the wet ball and good effort from Balbriggan in defence held them out, with the scores level at 5-5 at the break. Swords continued to control the play from the second half kick off with some massive tackling from Peter Carr and Niall Hewson in the backs keeping Balbriggan pinned into their own half. The forwards were working hard too, with the back row of Dave Reilly and Conor Greenan standing out in particular as the pack as a whole got down and dirty in the mud, turning over many balls. Swords attacked down the blind and despite the Balbriggan defence holding out several bursts at their line, they were eventually unable to stop Dave Reilly crossing for the try.

Reilly, who was recently selected for the Leinster North-East team, came from deep to take a good pop and carried two tacklers with him over the line. Swords continued to push and once again the forwards stepped up and carried many balls when it looked like the better play might have been to let it out wide. However, the forwards ensured their hard work wasn't wasted as Foley drove Brendan Linnane over the line from a close in ruck for a try under the posts. Peter Carr converted and Swords had a bit of daylight at 17-5, with 15 minutes left. Unsurprisingly considering the effort both sides put into this game, the players began to tire and mistakes crept into the game, but neither side were throwing in the towel with the game being played between the 22s.

Balbriggan were pushing hardest, trying to get the score that would give them the chance of victory, but time and time again the tackles went in. Both sides are to be complimented for the effort, courage and skill shown on a difficult day to play rugby. Though it was hard to choose a man of the match, for his lineout takes, ball carrying, tackling and his try, Dave Reilly took the award, capping off a memorable week.

Swords RFC - Chris Long, Martin Ryan, Ray Boland, Niall Hewson, Warren Callanan, Peter Carr, Daragh Carroll, Sean Tracey, Dave Foley, Brendan
Linnane, Eoin O' Hobain, Liam Linnane, Conor Glynn, Conor Greenan, Dave Reilly.