Balreask Old side stay in pole position after win
DLSP3
Navan 9
NAVAN were the dominant force at Stepaside on Saturday and they maintained their position at the summit of the Harry Gale Cup table with an impressive victory over hosts De La Salle Palmerston.
All of Navan's scores came in the opening 10 minutes with Ciaran Smyth kicking two penalties and David Sheridan adding a third to secure a 9-0 interval lead. De La Salle missed a penalty to narrow the deficit, but Navan were the better team.
The hosts did find their range from a penalty to close to within six points, but that was as close as they could get. Alan O'Keeffe gave a fine display of textbook tackling and John Meade and Ciaran Smyth also impressed for the Meath side who are now ensured of a semi-final place.
Navan - P Flynn, K Ekanem, A O'Keeffe, P Flood, G O'Brien, J Finnegan, G Cullen, C O'Shaughnessy, R Duane, C McGovern, W Bellew, J Meade, D Sheridan, O Clarke, C Smyth. Subs - D Costello, J Brennan, M Byrne.
LADIES
Tha Navan Ladies team traveled to Malahide on Friday night to contest a 10-a-side tournament and came home as overall winners following excellent victories over the host club, Malahide and English side Shrewsbury.
Ruth Collins tagged on two tries in the opening round 4-1 victory over Malahide. Sarah crosbie and suzanne Desmond completed the scoring to seal the easy win. The English visitors provided much stiffer opposition, but once navan settled they ran out 4-2 winners.
Mas Reilly, Paula Keating, Donna Finlay and Collins all crossed for the vital touchdowns.
Navan - J King, E O'Flynn, E Farrell, M Mullins, S Crosbie, R Collins, P Keating, D Finlay, C Quinn, M Reilly.
UNDER-18
The South East defeated the North East 13-12 in the inaugural final of the Shane Horgan Inter-Area Cup at Ashbourne RFC on Saturday afternoon.
The South East took a 13-5 lead into the interval after a try from Liam Phelan which was converted by the excellent Evan Brennan. The Carlow out-half had earlier chipped in with a brace of penalties and they appeared to be coasting to victory.
Ciaran Smith, from Boyne, had earlier powered over for the North East's only points of the opening half. After the resumption the North East lads reaped one more try from Boyne centre Graeme McQuillan, with Dundalk's Gearoid McDonald adding the points, but it wasn't enough to claim victory.
North East - R Newsholme (Skerries), P Carr (Swords), G McQuillan (Boyne), G McDonald (Dundalk), C Walsh (Ashbourne), P O Loghlen (Skerries), A Carron (Skerries); M Burke (Boyne), C Tonge (Skerries), J Sherwin (Skerries), C Ryan (Navan), C McDermott (Dundalk), M Fay (Boyne), S Rock (Ashbourne), C Smith (Boyne). Subs - C Verdon (Balbriggan) for Carr, D Colley (Ashbourne) for Walsh, G Kennedy (Ashbourne) for Carron, A Keating (Navan for Sherwin, G Cooney (Boyne) for Rock.
UNDER-16
Ratoath10
Athboy 32
Two early tries from the rampant Robert Murray set Athboy on their way to a comfortable North East League u-16 victory over Ratoath. The vanquished side responded with a brace of touchdowns themselves, but Athboy were always in command.
Shane Mooney settled Athboy against when he crossed for a try which he converted to ensure a seven point interval lead for Athboy. After the resumption Athboy stepped up a with two tries from Chris Gilsenan and one from Joe Griffin converted by Mooney putting the game beyond the reach of Ratoath.
Ciaran Farrelly was outstanding for Athboy and was supported well Marc Lenehan, David Bartley and Alan Magnier.
Athboy - S Mooney, A Geraghty, J Bird, J McEntee, M O'Rourke, A Magnier, D Bartley, D Mullen, J Griffin, C Gilsenan, R Murray, D Bashford, M Lenehan, G Boland, C Farrelly.
UNDER-14
Mullingar3
Navan10
Navan's preparations for the u-14 cup received a timely boost on Saturday when they travelled to Mullingar and earned an impressive victory.
Mullingar opened the scoring from a penalty and maintained that advantage until the second-half. As the game wore on Navan became more dominant and Akhlaque Khan's try edged the visitors in front. Four minutes later Brian Cunningham doubled the advantage with a fine try. And navan held on.
Navan - B Bowe, J Carpenter, H Martyn, F Clarke, D Jordan, A Khan, E Dixon, K O'Dwyer, M Goodwin, K Duffy, R Feeney, D Clabby, C Blake, M Clarke, B Cunningham. Subs - D Cunningham, P O'Brien, K Devine, C Dunne, S Carberry, D Regan, B Regan.
UNDER-12
Navan's u-12s traveled to Boyne with their Kiwis and Pumas in their latest North East fixture. The Puma's, Navan's development side, faced tough opposition from Boyne's second team and despite a valiant effort they were defeated 1-13.
The Kiwi's produced a strong game against Boyne but were finally beaten 3-4 with scores coming from Jack Shealy, Peter Gavin and Shane Faulkner. The u-12 Frogs stayed at home to meet Gorey in an exhibition match ahead of the Navan Towns' Cup game against the Wexford club.
There was great continuity from the Navan side and the dominant forwards led to a 7-0 lead at half time. Great ball handling skills from the backs led to exciting entertainment, finishing with a 10-1 victory to warm up the home crowd.
Frogs - S Faulkner, D Meegan, N Jennings, H Hester, C Weldon, C Farrell, S McEntaggart, R Bourke, N Kane, J McKeever, R Clarke, E Sheridan, R Morrells, M Melvin, J Shealy.
Kiwis - M Melvin, G Garland, D Meade, D Green, C Carpenter, R Meegan, M McQuillan, J Shealy, C Dixon, R McLarney, P Gavin, A Kenny, H Purcell.
Pumas - S O'Hare, R Clarke, P McGrath, G Mullen, D Parkes, T Dineen, A Beggy, P Walsh, T Hamilton, M Finnegan, M Griffin.
UNDER-11
As part of the Towns' Cup extravaganza at Balreask Old on Sunday the Navan u-11s hosted their Gorey visitors in an exhibition match on the main pitch prior to the senior side's game.
A strong home side dominated from start to finish with the forwards securing a lot of ball for the speedy Navan backs to rub in nine tries. Gorey never gave up and the biggest roar of the afternoon came when they scored with the last play of the match.
Navan - L Kenny, K Lynch, C Hand, C Farrell, J McKeown, E Sheridan, A McGoey, C Jennings, P Doherty, R Fox, T O'Reilly, S Gallagher, A Kenny, J McAleese.
UNDER-10
Boyne was last weekend's venue for the latest round of North east League u-10 fixtures and it was a hugely successful outing for Navan as their Lions and Tigers won, while the and Pumas put up a brave fight before going down narrowly.
The strolled to a 9-0 victory over thgeir hosts in the opening game. The Tigers got off to a great start and raced into a 3-0 half-time lead. Conor Nash, David Ahern and Calum Curran added second-half tries to secure an 8-3 win.
The Boyne team that faced the Pumas were very strong, but Navan put it up to them for long period before finally succumbing by 2-7.
Lions - E O'Kelly-Lynch, J Hennigan, M Rattigan, B Conlan, K Mooney, JJ O'Dea, T Waddington, P Weldon, F Toomes, T Meade, F Searle.
Pumas - A Crowe, P Safford, J Love, D McKenna, W Bellew, E Reid, B Gallagher, P Nulty, M Doherty, B McEntaggart
Tigers - C Birmingham, F Finegan, C Nash, A Corscadden, H O'Sullivan, E Hickey, G Monaghan, D Ahern, P Doyle, C Curran, L Morgan-Doherty.
UNDER-9
The Navan u-9s followed a similar path as their older colleagues when they visited Boyne on Sunday. Both Navan teams played twice and the Balreask Old boys recorded four impressive victories.
The Kiwis played great rugby from the off and totally dominated Boyne. Daniel McGill-Brecknell gave a man of the match performance and set the standard with some great rucking, tackling and support play. He was ably supported by Tommy Muldoon as they ran out easy 12-0 winners in the opener and 6-1 in their second match.
The Pumas also had far too much for their opposition and they won their first match 6-2 and the second 10-0. Again the Navan boys were much better drilled at the ruck and maul areas and were able to support each other in sweeping attacks from one side of the pitch to the other.
The Pumas success was built on the quick ball secured by the forwards and the outstanding performers on the day were Eoghan Monaghan and Ronan Hannon.
Pumas - M Farrell, S Kelly, E Rooney, R Hannon, M Kettle, A Monaghan, D Halligan, E Monaghan, J Murphy, J Tully
Kiwis - D McGill-Brecknell, J Parkes, S Lynch, T Muldoon, C Monaghan, D Staunton, E O'Reilly, N Lamont, J Rooney,