IN ROUND two of the Under-14 tag rugby, Clonroche-Poulpeasty took on Taghmon. ClonrochePoulpeasty were physically a much smaller group of children and thus were well able to weave in and out past their opponents.

In the first-half, Billy Wickham (Clonroche-Poulpeasty) scored the first try, with Eoin Banville replying quickly afterwards. Conal Flood (CP) then added two tries in quick succession and Zak White replied.

Minutes later Conal added two more tries and just on half-time his team-mate, Billy Wickham, scored another to leave Clonroche-Poulpeasty 6-4 up at the break. Annie Stafford scored the last two tries for Taghmon in this half.

In the second-half it was nip and tuck all the way, with the tries coming fast and furious. The game was there for the taking, but it was Clonroche-Poulpeasty with the two points advantage from the first-half who clinched the match on a 10-8 scoreline.

Tries were scored by Billy Wickham, Conal Flood and Gearóid Blackburn (CP), and by Barry Óg McGrath and Eoin Banville for Taghmon.

This put Clonroche-Poulpeasty into the semi-final against GlynnBarntown who received a walkover from CastlebridgeCrossabeg. Taghmon had Clodagh Dempsey, Jessie Doyle, Annie Stafford, Emma Shannon, Conor Hogan, Daniel Furlong, Eoin Banville, Zak Clancy and Barry Óg McGrath on their panel, and Clonroche-Poulpeasty were represented by Billy Wickham, Seán Connor, Conal Flood, Ruth Flynn, Stephanie Kinsella, Katelin Kehoe, Eoin Byrne and Gearóid Blackburn.

The next game up was a semifinal between Kilmore and Piercestown-Murrintown, with the latter proving far superior. At the break they were 3-1 up thanks to tries from Peter Barry (two) and Jack Stafford, with Chloe Troy scoring Kilmore's only try.

Piercestown-Murrintown took control in the second-half and ran out easy winners on a 7-1 scoreline with tries by Conor Coleman (two) and John Hamilton (two) and with no reply from Kilmore.

Kilmore had Hayley Miller, Aoife Davy, Chloe Troy, Liam Shannon, Kevin Shannon, Colin Reid, Seán Berigan, Thomas Sheridan and Shane Boxwell on their panel, and Piercestown-Murrintown had Lucy McGuinness, Brídín Culleton, Kate Culleton, Aoife O'Keeffe, Jack Stafford, Peter Barry, Tony Boggan, Martin Whelan, Conor Coleman, John Hamilton and Dylan Byrne on their panel.

The second semi-final featured Glynn-Barntown and ClonrochePoulpeasty. Glynn-Barntown were first to get their names on the scoreboard and quickly notched up four tries from Kevin Mahoney (two), Brionn Coffey and Matthew Joyce before Clonroche-Poulpeasty replied with a fine try from Conal Flood who weaved his way through the opposition to score.

Just on half-time, Conal scored yet again but at this stage GlynnBarntown were in control and had also added three more tries from Róisín Hayden, Conor Fenlon and Matt Doyle to leave them 7-2 up at the break.

Glynn-Barntown continued in this vein in the second-half while Clonroche-Poulpeasty struggled to keep up with them.

Glynn-Barntown won out in the end on a 13-4 scoreline with tries here from Daire McCormack, Matthew Joyce, Brionn Coffey (two), Neil Beaver, Róisín Kavanagh and Matt Doyle, while Conal Flood (two) scored for Clonroche-Poulpeasty.

The final featured Glynn-Barntown and Piercestown-Murrintown.

The sides were level 4-4 at the end of the first-half, with Piercestown-Murrintown's scores coming from Kate Culleton, Peter Barry (two) and Jack Stafford, while Matthew Joyce (two), Connor Fenlon and Brionn Coffey replied for Glynn-Barntown.

This was a very tight and close match right up to the last few minutes of the second-half with the sides scoring 5-4; 6-5; 7-6; 8-6 etc., and Glynn-Barntown just proving to be that bit sharper in the dying few minutes and adding a few tries to see them take the county title on an 11-8 scoreline.

Tries in the second-half were scored by Brionn Coffey, Neil Beaver, Kevin Mahoney, Daire McCormack (Glynn-Barntown) and by Brídín Culleton, Lucy McGuinness, Jack Stafford and Connor Fenlon for Pierces-townMurrin-town.

The gold medal winners had Brionn Coffey, Matthew Joyce, Connor Fenlon, Daire McCormack, Kevin Mahoney, Róisín Hayden, Aisling Fagan, Róisín Kavanagh, Kim Brazil, Stephen Lyne, Neil Beaver and Matt Doyle on their panel.