Jump to main content

Menu

Valiant Effort from Youths in Final Game

Valiant Effort from Youths in Final Game

Although the Irish Youths wound up their Four Nations campaign with a 36-11 defeat by Scotland in Headingley yesterday, the final scoreline hardly reflected the closeness of the tie.

And while there was no doubting the merit of the Scots victory, the Irish can take credit for their part in what was a highly entertaining and closely contested match.Team spokesman John Delaney expressed his delight at the way the squad conducted themselves.” They did everything we asked of them as a group. They were desperately unlucky not to get at least one win but that’s the nature of this competition. You get one stab at it and the experience can only do them good. But it’s important now that we keep track of them and not let them slip away.”

Delaney also paid tribute to the organisation of the tournament. “It was really first class,” he said.” nothing left to chance and I congratulate the Four Nations Youth Committee for the way they handled the whole programme.”

Google Ad Manager – 300×250 – In Article

In the final game, up against a particularly strong Scottish outfit, Ireland showed plenty of courage and no small amount of skill and things might have been different if they had enjoyed perhaps a little more luck.

Donal Nee – back after a serious injury – orchestrated their best chance of the opening half when his searing mid field break took him the length of the field, a last gasp tackle denying the Irish the opening try. At that stage it was 3 points apiece after Andrew Skeen and Paddy O’Toole had exchanged penalties and then the Scots took the lead when Stuart Taylor scored in the 28th minute, Skeen adding the points for a 10-3 lead.

However, the turning point came just before the interval when Benjamin Dunnett scored the Scots’ second try to take a 17-6 lead into the half time break. Full back David Bryan was injured defending that particular move and Stephen Carey moved from the wing to full-back. The injury to Bryan forced a total reshuffle of the backline and while the Irish were adjusting, the Scots sealed the outcome. Just after O’Toole had narrowed the gap with his second penalty, they had a try from Adrian Nash converted by Skeen which left the Irish with a mountain to climb.

To their great credit, they never shirked that task and were rewarded with a try from substitute Tim Ryan.

However, Scotland were in control and two converted tries in the closing minutes gave the final scoreline a flattering hue.

Ireland. D Bryan (C Crawford); S Carey, B O’Donnell, D Nee (D O’Reilly), J Harney; P O’Toole, R Pollock (P Gill); M Black (A Friel), J Musgrave, R Loughney, S Hennessy, M O’Hea (L Sullivan), F Leonard capt, O Hennessy (P Currie), T Doran (T Ryan).