Connacht GAA PPS U15 ‘C’ Championship
RCC 3-07 Mountbellew 3-08
Our U15s took on Holy Rosary Mountbellew on Monday in Pairc RCC in perfect conditions for Gaelic Football. This was our third match in the Connacht PPS C championship, having already defeated by Garbally and drawn with Glenamaddy. RCC were fastest out of the blocks, and we were 0-4 to no score after 15 minutes. This was mainly due to a stubborn RCC defence and wayward shooting from Mountbellew. Jack Lally scored the first point of the day playing in his new position at full forward. Jack would end the match scoring 3 points from play. Mark Naughton was proving very accurate from frees and any fouls on Jack, Mark punished the opposition. RCC were looking comfortable, but the second quarter belonged completely to Mountbellew, rattling off a goal and 5 points before the break. The last play of the 1st half was an RCC goal as Jack Lally won a high catch on the D and laid the ball off to Aaron Leonard who fought off would be tackles to blast the ball to the net and leave just a point in it at half time.
Upon the resumption Mountbellew came out with the urge to bring the fight to RCC. They added on a goal and two points in a row to the scoreline. Ten minutes into the second half, RCC found themselves down by six points and a mountain to climb. However, this team showed tremendous spirit and courage to drag themselves back into the game. Tom Og Reddington fielded a kick-out and sent a long kick pass to Coman Campbell. He handpassed to the on running Senan Shaughnessey who broke several tackles to lay it off on the edge of the box to Aaron Leonard was pulled down for a penalty. Mark stepped up to send the keeper the wrong way. With 10 to go, we were four behind. A brilliant block down in defence from Eli Okambawa was collected by Daniel Connolly who sent a long kick pass to Luke Hayes who spotted Harry McDermott in space. His shot on goal was saved by the keeper but Daniel Monaghan followed up the rebound and palmed it to the net to leave just a point between the teams. Alas it would be the last play of the match. Our u15s saved their best performance of the year for this match unfortunately it wasn’t enough to beat a highly skilled Mountbellew side.
RCC-Ruari Kerr, Eli Okambawa, Daniel Connolly, Ryan McCann, Harry McDermott, Luke Hayes, Tom Hanley, Tom Og Reddington, Ryan Halligan, Mark Naughton, Dan Monaghan, Senan Shaughnessy, Coman Campbell, Jack Lally, Aaron Leonard, John Kenny, Sean Richardson, Eoin Kelly, Mark Farrell, Jonah Finneran, Dylan Hoban, Jason Daly, Aidan Carley, Aidan Harington, Evan Featherston
