U14 Youths: Season Summary
- admin7020074
- 6 days ago
- 4 min read
“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened”
Having made the transition from minis to youths last year at U13 and suffered disappointment when losing the Premier League final and going out of the Leinster Cup in the Semis, there were still so many positives as the lads made their way back to Stradbrook after the summer break in August.
Andrew Kelly handed over the Head Coach reigns to Brian Cox after leading the group since they started in minis. The core squad which has been together since 2017 was bolstered by some new arrivals, all of whom would come to play an instrumental part in the campaigns that followed. Nick Potter Cogan (NPC) once again captained the team.
Back Row: Andrew Dredge, Harry Atkinson, John Paul o’Grady, Jamie Cox, Calum Duffy, Josh O’Rourke, Seb Kelly, Max Maguire , Mark Kelly, Richard Gough, Charlie Pattison, Ted Scally, Matthew McCann, Sam Collins, Toby Hegarty, Matthew Rourke , Jake Johnson
Front Row: Shane Ferguson, Ethan Farrell, AJ Williams, Ruairi O’Donoghue, Nick Potter Cogan, Jake Sharpe, Josh Murphy, Ryan Barrett, Hugo Burns, Jack O’Halloran, Alex Bourke, Conall O’Suilleabhain
Following Six grading games at the seasons inception, we were seeded in the Premier division along with Ashbourne, Birr and merged clubs BLR (Bective Lansdowne) and Donnybrook Babas (Old Belvedere, Wanderers and Old Wesley). A highly competitive league campaign followed (credit to Leinster U14 Youth Coordinator David Crimmins) with no team going unbeaten, the Squad finished 2nd in the league behind BLR. The League final took place on March 23rd in Greystones. BLR came out of the blocks and with their powerful runners making a huge impact off set pieces, and amassed a 26-5 lead by half time.
Some stirring half time talks from Coxy, Steve Pattinson and Trevor o’Rourke, allied with some tactical tweaks to kick more and play with more width meant a different Blackrock side emerged after the break. BLR had no answer to this reinvigorated Rock side and the lads fought their way back to a 27-26 victory which had the stands in Dr Hickey park rocking. To a man, their belief grew with each score that closed the gap, and Jamie Cox put through a sublime Crossfield kick which was finished off with great finesse by Conall O’Suillebhain to secure the win and break BLR hearts.
With one cup in the bag, focus firmly shifted to knockout rugby and the Leinster Cup and Metro Cup campaigns. In the Leinster cup, a nervy hard fought 31-26 away win in Newbridge was followed by a 43-19 statement win against a highly regarded Coolmine side, which set up a semi-final against BLR. Meanwhile, in the Metro Cup, the lads needed no extra motivation against Seapoint, to whom they had lost in the Cup semis the previous year, and following tight exchanges in the first half, eventually pulled away to a 38-18 victory. Next up came Westmanstown away and a 59-12 win secured a place in the semi finals.
At the beginning of the Easter break the U14s travelled to Lisbon to compete in an international rugby tournament, playing a year up in the U15 section. Playing in 6 matches across two days, the lads gave a tremendous account of themselves on and off the pitch, winning 2 out of 6 matches against teams that were significantly bigger physically. This experience would stand to them when they faced off against the physically bigger BLR and Babas teams later in the month, as would the Winter defence sessions generously conducted by Shane Murray during the season.
There are no easy matches at the business end of a cup competition and knockout rugby can be cruel. Our Leinster Cup and Metro Cup matches took place just 4 days apart. On March 23rd we faced off with Donnybrook Babas in the Metro Semis. Losing 28-26 with just minutes to go, we won a penalty in their 22, and Jamie Cox stepped up with ice in his veins to kick the penalty and secure a 29-28 win and a place in the final. No such luck on the Sunday, when we ended up on the wrong side of the result as BLR scored a try in the dying minutes to secure a 14-10 win.
With the Metro Cup final following just 3 days later against BLR, the lads had to pick themselves back up quickly. An early Ruairi o’Donoghue try under the posts settled the nerves, but BLR came back hard and heading into half time the scores were level at 7-7. In the second half our scrum began to dominate with Andy Dredge repeatedly getting the shove on BLR, which laid the ground for Harry Atkinson to sweep around the blind side showcasing his pace. With BLR’s scramble defence closing in as he passed half way, Harry kicked through, for Ruairi to show his soccer skills , eventually grounding the ball under the posts.
With Rock having scored first, a draw would be enough for us to win the cup and BLR knew this. In the dying minutes they took 3 points from a close range penalty in the hope that they could come back down and score. Having secured the restart, BLR made a valiant effort to transition back up the pitch but the brave Rock defence held firm and secured their 2nd cup of the season.
What now for the U14s? We will lose many to JCT squads next year, as they look to add School silverware to their club collection. So while we do not expect to be able to field an U15 team next year, there are tentative plans to tour again post the school season, so we hope that for this very special group of young men, their Stradbrook journey is not over, but just on pause. We wish them well, we thank them for their pride in the jersey and we look forward to seeing them back as players or coaches in the future !
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