CLONAKILTY Rugby Club had a busy weekend last time out, starting when the J2s took on UCC on Friday night in The Vale, reports Loose Head.

Given the conditions were atrocious, great credit was due to the brave attendance and the standard of rugby played by both sides.  

UCC took an early lead with a converted try, but gradually the hosts took control and played confidently to run out winners, in spite of a late rally from the students. Tries from Finnian Neville, Victor Lovell, Jonas Van Der Velde and Sean Madden plus three Corrado Berti conversions gave a 26-21 scoreboard on the whistle. 

The squad was William Tyner, Jonas van der Velde, Dave Jennings, Eoin Murphy, Eoghan Donnegan, Chris Walton (captain), Stephen O’Hea, Josh Eke, Finnian Neville, Niall Barrett, Derry O’Donovan, Victor Lovell, Sean Madden, Vince Barry, Corrado Berti, Lorcan McCarthy, Tomas O’Donovan, Josh Wilcox, Caelum Van Dam, Paudie Hickey, Craig Bateman, Kelan Casey and Sean Flood.

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The J1s shot themselves in the foot in their Munster Junior League Division 1 game against Kinsale on Sunday. 

Crosshaven and Kinsale are the rising stars of Munster junior rugby having both been promoted last season. Both sides have now beaten Clon and in The Vale to add insult to injury. Clon will have to battle for the season to retain their top-four ranking. Currently lying sixth Clon had the opportunity to go second had they managed the game better. 

The West Cork club were without influential forwards Olan Deane and Jack Ryan and perhaps the loss of Deane’s experience was a factor in the latter stages. The game started badly for Clon with Kinsale waltzing through the defence for a 0-7 scoreline early on. Clon responded immediately with Dane Mathew going in from the restart following a knock-on and quick reactions. 

There were some very impressive performances from many players. The robust carries of James Deegan, Donnacha Walsh, and Abraham Tamargo Vinces were featured throughout. Luke McCarthy and Mathew were constant threats in midfield, always breaking the gain-line. Dara Walsh and Ben Ridgeway may have been playing together for the first time but seemed to have struck an understanding as they took the ball the length of the field between them, each sensing where the other would be during that break. 

A series of pick and go ensued before Eoin Downey sent an outrageous 30-metre pass to Jim Twomey, who finished that possession sequence on the far side of the field with a try to give Clon a 12-7 lead.

Clon lost Mathew, yellow-carded in a defensive effort that saw Kinsale emulate the long pass to the winger to take the scores to level pegging at 12-12. 

Kinsale went ahead in controversial circumstances. A knock-on by Kinsale was missed by the referee. He was unsighted, but in the absence of assistant referees, it was play-on and Kinsale scored a converted try to make the score 12-19 at the break. 

There was confidence that Clon would kick on with the benefit of the wind in the second half. They started well, gaining a penalty by Ridgeway to narrow the gap to 15-19. 

However, Kinsale were allowed a little too easily to score a try and take the 15-24. Despite that setback, Clon were believing and a superb try from Ridgeway, converted by himself, gave Clon hope at 22-24. 

This belief was played out in great work from Lovell and Mathew finding the unstoppable Matt Foster on the angle who scored. The conversion was missed but Clon had a slender lead and it would need strong game management from here. 

Clon were pinned in their 22 for the final minutes and tried to run out of defence. There was an absolute air of inevitability once the home side failed to exit efficiently that the Kinsale would punish them and so it came to pass with the winger going in unopposed with Clon defence too narrow from multi-phases.

A bitter pill to swallow, but absolute credit to Kinsale's character for making it happen their way and always keeping sight of the end goal. 

For Clon they can bring that hurt to Bandon this week to get their ambitions back on track. The positives displayed by the new and returning players were obvious in both games and the selectors will have their work cut out. 

The squad was Matthew McCarthy, Tom Doyle, Gearoid O’Donovan, James Deegan, Donnacha Walsh, Luke McCarthy, Ciaran McCarthy, Abraham Tamargo Vinces, Patrick McCarthy, Eoin Downey, Jim Twomey, Ben Lovell, Dane Mathew, Dara Walsh, Ben Ridgeway, Jonas Van Der Velde, Dave Jennings, William Tyner, Chris Walton, Matt Foster, Corrado Berti and Finnian Neville.