The afternoon of Saturday 15th November was crisp as the Claremorris U15 Girls welcomed Ballinasloe to their adopted home ground of Dunmore in round 2 of the Connacht Rugby U15 Girls league. Although Claremorris were missing a few of their regular starters this impediment did not affect the attitude throughout the game. The Ballinasloe girls started very strong and continued to impose themselves over the 60 minutes and ran out winners on a score line of 45-10 in the end.
Ballinasloe started the game with real intent; running some hard lines in the opening minutes but the home side led by their captain Nicole Mullee tackled and rucked to deal well with the early pressure. However the constant pressure from the visitors eventually told and they were off the mark with the first try of the game. Again the Claremorris girls had to defend but that they did, Leanne Kelly in her first ever game of rugby but in some big hits helped by Aisling Hahessy. The first half was starting to go with the visitors. Wave after wave of attack was met by brave and determined defence with Lara Quirke and Abbiegayle Ronayne holding the line. They turned their pressure and some excellent rugby into tries. Half time was needed to give the girls a chance to regroup.
There were some tough words at half time but they seemed to work. Claremorris now started running hard and forced the opposition to defend. The hard yards were won with determination Emma McGing, Molly Ager and Zoe Jennings making holes that allowed Kaitlyn Mullaney and Emma Corless to use their speed. Emma Corless’s quick thinking from a penalty caught the defence cold and Claremorris got the first try of the second half. This helped confidence and Aine Mangan stole some great ball. Tara Cooley forced a knock on that led to a scrum, scrum half Kaitlyn Mullaney spotted her chance and scored the second Colts try. But the girls from Ballinasloe had the last word with a final try of the game
So a tough day out for the Colts but spirits were high afterwards as the girls look forward to the rest of the league.