CLONAKILTY 7

BANDON 19

GER McCARTHY REPORTS

BANDON continued their climb up the Munster Junior League Division 1 standings at the expense of West Cork rivals Clonakilty.

Having put Thurles to the sword in their first game back after the winter break, Bandon made it two consecutive Division 1 wins by outscoring Clonakilty three tries to one in Shannonvale last Sunday.

Winning a West Cork derby is always sweet but even more so away to a high-flying Clonakilty side that had lost only once in the league prior to last Sunday’s clash.

Bandon’s disciplined defensive effort and ability to keep the penalty count low proved crucial.

Having been under intense pressure, the eventual winners rebounded to build a 14-0 interval lead. A third Bandon try gave their opponents too big a mountain to climb.

Bandon's Kain Donnellan gets to grips with Clonakilty's Dara Walsh. (Photo: Paddy Feen)

Matthew Crowley, Ralph O’Mahony and Daniel Lane touched down for the visitors with fly-half Daniel Coughlan landing two conversions. Ben Lovell’s try and Eoin Downey’s conversion proved too little, too late for Clonakilty.

‘This was an important result from our point of view,’ Bandon Manager Dan Murphy told The Southern Star.

‘That’s because, throughout the season, we have been losing games, only by a point or two, that we felt we deserved to win. Now we have had a very good start to 2026. We had a good win at home to Thurles (48-7) before fronting up to a Clonakilty team that was second in the table going into today.

‘We had been struggling, so to come away with four points from here is fabulous.’

As for Clonakilty, apart from twice being held up over Bandon’s try-line, the hosts could have little argument with the outcome.

Clonakilty's Agustin Aversa is tackled by Bandon's Joshua Brady. (Photo: Paddy Feen)

‘This is a tough league and we knew it was going to be very tough today,’ Clonakilty head coach Maurice Downey stated.

‘You have to give huge credit to Bandon and their defence. We dominated the game for about half an hour and were twice held up over their line. You have to take your chances against a team like Bandon. A team of that quality, you have to take your chances when they present themselves. They had three entries into our 22 in the first half and scored twice. Their defence was superb too so, look, we are not complaining at all.

‘We are just back from a six-week break and that (rustiness) probably hurt us. That’s not an excuse either as we thought we would be sharper coming out of that.’

Looking ahead, Bandon travel to another club on the rise in the division, Clanwilliam, this weekend. The latter put up 59 points in seeing off Muskerry last weekend and only lost by a point away to Clonakilty. But Dan Murphy believes his squad will benefit from their win over Clon, are gaining momentum and will relish Clanwilliam’s challenge.

Clonakilty RFC's Olan Deane wins this lineout against Bandon RFC. (Photo: Paddy Feen)

‘It was a whole 23-man effort today,’ Murphy said.

‘We spent the first 20, 30 minutes defending. Our defence was awesome. To defend (for that long) without giving away a penalty was huge. It took a lot of discipline.

‘We are a really, really, young team. We had two guys aged 31 and then the rest of the team is 25. Daniel (Coughlan) is only 19 years of age. He was superb for us.’

‘Hopefully, we can build on this momentum and, maybe, bring a bit more consistency too. Maybe, now, we can build towards the second half of the season and towards next year as well.’

Scorers

Clonakilty: Ben Lovell (1 try); Eoin Downey (1 con).

Bandon: Matthew Crowley, Ralph O’Mahony, Daniel Lane (1 try each); Daniel Coughlan (2 cons).

Clonakilty: Tobias Oliver; Conor Hayes, Gerard Ryan, Matt Foster, Kieran Howlin; Patrick McCarthy, Niall Barrett; Matthew McCarthy, Jack Ryan, David Jennings; Michael Deegan, Olan Deane; Rory White, Ciaran McCarthy, Agustin Aversa.

Replacements: Gearoid O’Donovan, Peter Deane, Tom Doyle, James Mulcahy, Ben Lovell, Eoin Downey, Dara Walsh.

Bandon: Zack Canniffe; Matthew Crowley, Gearoid O’Leary, Ben Donegan, Harry Hall; Mark Bateman, Daniel Coughlan; Padraig Galvin, James Collins O’Brien, Rhys Hughes; Tadhg Galvin, Daniel Lane; Joshua Brady, Ralph O’Mahony, Kain Donnellan.

Replacements: Jyles Brennan, Conor Egan, Jacob Brennan, Jack McNamara, Mark Slattery, Darragh O’Brien, Olan Crowley.

***

On the road, Skibbereen lost against Newcastle West, 31-26, in a Division 1 thriller. Tom Beare scored two tries for Skibbereen while Chris Benn and Rawiri Wereta got one each, with David Shannon kicking three conversions.