By Coner Kelly, Date: 28/3/14
Rugby League Ireland held their first ever secondary schools blitz on March 25th when three schools from Drogheda, County Louth took part in a one day 9-aside blitz in St. Josephs CBS.
The host schools St Josephs competed with local rivals St Mary’s College and Gormanstown College in the shortened form of the game.
In total just fewer than 60 students took part in the event which saw the schools face each other once.
For all of the students this was their first taste of rugby league and after a quick run through of the rules they took to the field and immediately began playing some high quality rugby.
The first game saw St Joseph’s take on St Mary’s in a hard fought battle. St Mary’s edged the victory over their neighbours and appeared to be the team to beat after the first viewing.
In the second game St Joseph’s would have to back up and face Gormanstown who had the advantage of watching the first game.
Despite a superb start from Gormanstown who grabbed two early unanswered tries it was the home side that snatched their first victory of the day.
Gormanstown would then have to face a strong St Mary’s outfit in game three. St Mary’s started brightly in their second outing but Gormanstown rallied in the second half. Despite a strong comeback it was St Mary’s who grabbed their second win of the day.
In Game four St Mary’s and St Josephs would face off for the second time. This time the game would be an extremely tight affair. At the end of a physical game there was nothing between the sides with the score line 16-16.
The Fifth game of the day saw Gormanstown face St Joseph’s once more. This was another tense affair with St Joseph’s just scraping past a valiant Gormanstown effort.
Gormanstown would go into the final fixture against St Mary’s full of confidence after some very strong performances. The day ended with Gormanstown grabbing a well-earned win over St Mary’s
All enjoyed a day where the weather was as good as the rugby on show.
Rugby League Ireland would like to extend their thanks to teachers from the three schools particularly to St Joseph’s CBS Teacher Anthony McCreery who was a key part of getting the event off the ground.
