Balbriggan Rugby Football Club Dublin Ireland.

7/03/07 Balbriggan Battle Terenure In Cup Match
Balbriggan’s Under 12s hosted Terenure battling for first round honours in the Dublin Metro Under 12s Rugby Cup. Slow to start, Balbriggan found themselves down two tries to nil within minutes of the start of the match following two run away scores to Terenure. Awoken from their slumber, Balbriggan were next to score to find themselves well in the match against their Dublin rivals. Trading tries close to halftime Balbriggan went into the break trailing 3 – 2. Playing with more conviction in attack and defence, Balbriggan after their slow start had played themselves into the game with a real chance of winning their first cup match. With the contest hotting up running rugby was the order of the day with three tries scored by both sides during the second half. Terenure had somehow hang on for a 6 – 5 victory with Balbriggan ruing their slow start. Try scorers for Balbriggan were Darragh O’Cuinneagain with two, whilst Aaron Bruton, Ruari O’Byrne and Glenn foley scoring one each. Adam Newe and Conor MacEntee also played well for Balbriggan.
Balbriggan’s Under 16s find themselves in a first round Plate match against Swords after going down 28 – 7 in the first round of the Leinster Under 16s Rugby Cup away to Ashbourne. Playing against an Ashbourne side that has performed well in Leinster this season, Balbriggan gave the match the due credit it deserved only to find victory a step to far despite their efforts. Ashbourne in scoring four tries to one showed their class in progressing to the second round. Best for Balbriggan were Dave Sheridan who scored Balbriggan’s try following a kick that was charged down, Eamonn Harford, Damian Mooney and Sean Malone who all played admirably in the forwards. Man of the match for Balbriggan was Ciaran Verdon who played outstanding throughout.

28/02/07 Balbriggan Youth Rugby Results
Balbriggan’s Under 18s began their cup campaign with a narrow 8 – 3 loss at home to a strong Tullamore outfit. In a titanic battle Balbriggan took what they learnt in a previous
encounter against Tullamore onto the pitch knowing if they executed well they had a realistic chance of winning. The game plan was simple in it’s inception and executed to a T. The goal for the forwards on the day was to remain disciplined throughout in the task at hand and for the team as a whole to cut out silly penalties and to shut Tullamore’s out-half down effectively shutting their side down. By games end Balbriggan had played eighty minutes of rugby as they had wanted only to be pipped at the post by Tullamore’s more varied game. Balbriggan opened the scoring with a well taken penalty from forty metres out by Daniel McGrogan who had a superb game at out-half. Tullamore then scored the only try of the match following a lineout ball that was slapped back by Balbriggan only to be scooped up by Tullamore and flashed out through their backs to score in the corner. The final score of the game came via a second half penalty to Tullamore leaving the match at 8 – 3. Although disappointed with the loss Balbriggan could not of given anymore on the day being camped on Tullamore’s line five or six times only to be denied on each occasion. The Fingal men tackled throughout and were lead from the front by tom Hagan who put in a man of the match performance. Brian Russell, Ian Murphy and Mark Brown also played well for Balbriggan. Balbriggan’s Under 18s now go into the Plate competition, a title which they won last season where they face an away trip to Longford. Following such a great performance against Tullamore, Balbriggan are hopeful for a chance at a repeat of Plate success.
Malahide played host to Balbriggan at Under 7s, 8s, 10s and 12s with Balbriggan performing well in all four ages. Balbriggan drew 2 all in Under 7s, won the Under 8s 5 – 2, won the Under 10s 8 – 6 and lost two encounters in the 12s 6 – 0 and 4 – 3.
For Balbriggan’s Under 12s it was a real learning curve as they came up against not only one of the stronger sides in Leinster but all of Ireland in Malahides Under 12s A team. Giving it their all Balbriggan tackled manfully only to be out done by Malahide in the end who played well throughout scoring enough tries to win comfortably. Having taken a few knocks Balbriggan regrouped coming out strongly opposing Malahides B team. In losing 4 – 3 with Daragh O’Cuinneagain scoring all three tries Balbriggan accounted for themselves well, in fact looking like the match could have been theirs at one stage. Ruari O’Byrne was once again a stand out for Balbriggan who was assisted well by John O’Connor who played well and Stephen O’Byrne who tackled ferociously throughout during both matches.
Balbriggan’s Under 10 s played a round robin with a number of Malahide sides and overall won 8-6. The tries came from Robert O’Byrne, David Goodman, Brian Smyth, Liam Thornton and the in form Jordan Collins who scored two .
The Under 8s continued with their winning sequence and won 5 – 2. Scorers for the 8s were the ever reliable Cormac O’Byrne, Dylan Collins, Ross Cahill, Peter Lawless and Jake Vickers, whilst in defense Gavin Mullen, Jonathon O’Carroll and Oisin Benton made excellent tackles when needed.
The under sevens continue to improve under the guidance of Darren Nulty and Nigel Casey and came away with a 2 – 2 draw. The players who all gave a great effort on the day included Sean Hussey, Ciarain Murphy, Ben Casey, Daire Carr, Daniel O’Byrne, Ruaidhri Kennedy and the two girls on the side Sarah O’Connor and Niamh Rowe.

1/11/06 Balbriggan Youth Rugby
Balbriggan Under 10s played their first metro league game at home against Blackrock which they won by a 10 – 3 scoreline against the top Dublin team. The scores on the day came from Liam Thornton who scored three excellent tries after jinking runs, David Goodman, Stephen Sharpe, the ever reliable Robert O’Byrne and the in form Brian Smyth. In defense Adam McCaffrey tackled with great determination.
The Under 8 s also played Blackrock and at the end of the game the scores were level at 4 all after a excellent tussle. Cormac O’Byrne scored two excellent tries with the others coming from Dylan Collins and Peter Lawless. Others who played well included Gavin Mullen, Stephen Munson, Jack Perdue, Jack Geraghty, Jon O’Carroll and Eadoin Cannon making her seasonal debut.
Balbriggan’s Under 12s lost 4 – 2 in a close match at home to Athboy. After dominating the first half Balbriggan were unlucky to go into the break trailing 2 – 1 following two opportunists tries to Athboy. Balbriggan’s first half try was scored by Captain on the day Adam Newe who lead from the front the whole match. Another brilliant individual try was scored in the second half for Balbriggan by Ryan McGrogan. Athboy lifted them-elves for the match scoring to more tries of their own to take the honours. Special mention would be needed for Balbriggan’s Garry Hynes whose commitment and tackling on the day was first class.
The Under 14s of Balbriggan won their first match of the season defeating Ratoath 41 – 19 in an entertaining game. The highlight for the day was the three tries Niall Duffy scored from Fullback for Balbriggan. Duffy was ably assisted on the day by Simon Russell on the wing, Shane Rooney at Prop, Robert McNally at centre, Mark Spellman at centre and new comer Adam Bennett who had a great first game for his new club.
Balbriggan faced Boyne at both Under 16s and Under 18s level with Boyne taking the spoils in both age groups winning 32 – 5 and 16 – 9 respectively. The Under 18s was a close encounter with Balbriggan leading 6 – 5 at halftime. With an all round good team effort on the day Balbriggan were just pipped at the post by Boyne’s slightly better second half display. Best for Balbriggan on the day were Brian Russell at second row, Daniel McGrogan at out-half and Ian Murphy at fullback.

18/10/06 Balbriggan Youth Rugby
Balbriggan’s Under 14s rugby team kicked off their season participating in the North East 10 a side blitz in Ashbourne. Playing two matches against the hosts and Ratoath, Balbriggan came away without any spoils losing narrowly three tries to one and three tries to two respectively. Try-scorers for Balbriggan were Andrew McCaffrey, Niall Duffy and Shane Rooney. The most pleasing aspect of the days rugby for Balbriggan was the performance of three new comers Walter Bouder, Joe Lawrence and Seamus Maughan who after getting a taste of rugby during a 7 a side blitz at Balbriggan Community college thought they would give club rugby a go. All three boys played exceptionally well injecting themselves into the game to create numerous chances to score. Rooney also played well as Captain for the day and was ably assisted by Sean O’Byrne at scrum-half who never stopped trying all day.
Balbriggan Under 16s were in action against Dundalk losing narrowly 28 – 22 scoring three tries to Dundalk’s four. After being down 18 – 0 at half time Balbriggan were amazingly a chance of winning after playing much better in the second half. Dundalk had other ideas however and snuck the match. Try scorers for Balbriggan were Graham O’Reilly and Dave Sheridan who scored two. Stephen Whealan and Sean Malone shared the kicking duties with Whealan slotting a penalty and Malone two conversions. Best for Balbriggan were Sheridan, O’Reilly and Shane Egan and Rua O’Cuinnegain who both played well at centre.
Balbriggan’s Under 18s played host to Navan losing to a much classier outfit 20 – 0. After a very successful 10 a side tournament earlier in the season it was back to the drawing board for Balbriggan’s 18s as they embark on the Leinster League. Not to be disheartened by the loss the lads of Balbriggan have now committed to training two nights a week with last Mondays sessions having twenty players attend. If anyone is going to bounce straight back it would be this bunch of lads.