Claremorris Colts ride to Curley Plate victory

RUGBY CURLEY PLATE FINAL

Claremorris Colts 29

Carrick on Shannon 26

WHEN the final seconds were ticking down, Claremorris knew they had it.

The Colts were up by ten points and their defensive line was throwing everything they had left in the tank against waves of Carrick on Shannon attacks. Eventually, the Mayo men conceded a converted try but time had run out and they were ready to celebrate.

Scenes of pure joy followed on the pitch. A special moment for the club, as captain Oisín O'Connor explained, to The Mayo News: “It was a great game of rugby. The boys did their job and they did the club proud.”

O'Connor himself was sidelined due to injury but he cheered his teammates on from the bench. He was able to see head coach Doron McHugh in action from close range.

McHugh took over the Claremorris senior team only this season and they have already added a prestigious trophy to their cabinet: “Doron has brought a calmness. He's a very assured man,” O'Connor explained: “When he speaks, we listen. He has Brian Murphy also with him in the coaching panel. He's been putting in the hard yards training us, as well as being our attacking coach. Between the two of them they're really a different class. No disrespect to anyone we've had before, but these lads came with a bit of pedigree behind them.”

McHugh and Murphy have won cups and titles with Castlebar and Galwegians before, worked successfully at All-Ireland League level and that is really shown in the quality of the training sessions.

“It has really helped the lads. There's hunger there. Everyone wants to play and no one wants to sit out. It's good that we're making the job difficult for Doron to have to try and put 15 on the pitch because there's so many that deserve that shot and I have to commend all the boys for really getting in behind him,” stated captain O'Connor. 

From the off, the final was a fast-paced game. On astroturf, you're always going to get that There were two very evenly-matched sides with a lot of attacking rugby on display. Claremorris matched the Carrick on Shannon forwards very well up front.

The tries for The Colts were scored by Cathal McHugh, Shane Meehan, Mathew Macken and John Costello, with conversions and one penalty contributed by Shane Meehan.

Player-of-the-match was number eight Luke Colleran: “He had an all-round performance, very good in defence and brilliant in attack. One particular moment really stood out: There was a brilliant break right at the end, at 76 minutes on the clock, Colleran got the ball inside our 22 and he got past his man and he must have brought 25 yards out of a carry on his own. Things like that make the difference.”

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