Ulster Bank League 2012-2013 talk/gossip/rumours

blackbelt

I went along to this.Clontarf did well to weather the Old Belvedere resistance and grind out the win.By all accounts Clontarf were going to win this comfortably but Belvedere really made life tough for them.

I can honestly say Friday night games in Castle Avenue are a winner.

durkadurka

Any other games tonight?

ormond lad

durkadurka wrote: »

Any other games tonight?

No. all other games sch for this weekend to be played tomorrow

omb0wyn5ehpij9

Was meant to be head out to it with my Dad but he was sick so didn't bother. Tried aertv but the stream didn't work at all. Very disappointed as it sounds like I missed a good match

bamboozle

blackbelt wrote: »

I went along to this.Clontarf did well to weather the Old Belvedere resistance and grind out the win.By all accounts Clontarf were going to win this comfortably but Belvedere really made life tough for them.

I can honestly say Friday night games in Castle Avenue are a winner.

good to hear you enjoyed it, that's 4 of Clontarf's 6 games this season that have been decided in injury time, last kick of the match by Lane last night, with 2 plays left we had a pen on our 22, mauled towards the halfway line, another pen to touch, another huge maul towards the Old B 22, another pen which Lane nailed from out on the left.

Tarf had quality in Furlong, Reid and Crawford off the bench, as not his biggest fan Reid had a huge impact when he came on at 15.

Great crowd, the friday night's rugby is really catching on, larger crowd and both bars in the clubhouse were packed until last orders. Hats off to the IRFU for bringing this is....top four play-offs for next season next...

JustinDee

bamboozle wrote: »

Hats off to the IRFU for bringing this is....top four play-offs for next season next...

The clubs elect the format and the current format working well as far as I'm concerned. Leagues are competitive at each end. Last year's 1A was as good as a playoff for top spot, for example. Bottom of 1B and all of 2B were exciting to follow too.

Shaping up nicely this year.

blackbelt

bamboozle wrote: »

good to hear you enjoyed it.

Great crowd, the friday night's rugby is really catching on, larger crowd and both bars in the clubhouse were packed until last orders. Hats off to the IRFU for bringing this is....top four play-offs for next season next...

Yes I really enjoyed it and glad I stuck it out. I am very much involved in the GAA but went to CUS, a rugby school and would only follow the 6 nations and RWC but I saw the fixture last week and being a local (living in Killester) I thought I would pop down and check it out.If there are more games on Friday nights I will certainly make it my business to be down because the atmosphere was great.

I will try and follow it regardless.Yeah I saw fans drinking pints on the banks of the pitch and enjoying themselves responsibly Great crowd at it.Looking forward to January already with the O Byrne Cup kicking off the GAA season again and the recommencement of the Ulster Bank League.

ormond lad

Some of the Munster clubs are playing in leagues over xmas for games to tide them over until the UBL is back. In north munster the Tony Hartery Cup starts tonight in UL when Nenagh play Thomond in a game that will be interesing ahead of the 2 sides clash in the UBL in a friday nights clash in Nenagh on january.
Bruff play Old Crescent in the other game in this comp tomorrow night in UL

The Munster Senior Plate final is on saturday week in Musgrave Park between Nenagh and Dolphin.

In Leinster the finals of the Leinster Senior League Cup and Shield are on in Donnybrook and Coolmine rfc friday night.
In the League Cup Final St Marys take on Lansdowne in Donnybrook in a game that kicks off at 7.30pm. These 2 sides have played each other twice this season sharing a win apiece but i feel Lansdowne, who are going much better in the UBL, will win this game
In the League Shield final Naas take on Skerries in Coolmine rfc at 7.30pm. Naas beat Skerries when they played in the AIL a few weeks back and i tip them to take the win again

good_afternoon

YM v Old Belvo??
Con v Garryowen?
Lansdowne v Dolphin?


Predictions?

No way Garryowen will get 4 from 4 in the next block. 2 against Con, 2 against Lansdowne.
YM need to win to be realistic. Dolpghin not an AIL winning team. Lansdowne still looking hot favourites.

ormond lad

good_afternoon wrote: »

YM v Old Belvo??
Con v Garryowen?
Lansdowne v Dolphin?

Predictions?

No way Garryowen will get 4 from 4 in the next block. 2 against Con, 2 against Lansdowne.
YM need to win to be realistic. Dolphin not an AIL winning team. Lansdowne still looking hot favourites.

Young Munster, Con and Lansdowne

IRFU preview is here

good_afternoon

Id say youre on the ball with those ones. How have garryowen done so well?? would YM have beaten Lansdowne without super try from Dom Lespierre?

bamboozle

good_afternoon wrote: »

YM v Old Belvo??
Con v Garryowen?
Lansdowne v Dolphin?


Predictions?

No way Garryowen will get 4 from 4 in the next block. 2 against Con, 2 against Lansdowne.
YM need to win to be realistic. Dolpghin not an AIL winning team. Lansdowne still looking hot favourites.

YM were poor when i saw them play tarf at home, they should have enough for old belvo..although if conan & a'uva are available Old B will be strong.
Con will beat garryowen at home, they're having a jammy season with a few wins late into injury time. Garryowen doing well but as you said games against Con and lansdowne will see them slip.
Lansdowne will have no problems putting dolphin away.

Marys home to Clontarf tomorrow - clontarf have Lett, Crawford, Flanagan back from injury and possibly noel reid plus we owe Mary's one after 2 tough defeats last season.

Shannon will probably pick up their first win against UL Bohs in Thomand.

good_afternoon

bamboozle wrote: »

YM were poor when i saw them play tarf at home, they should have enough for old belvo..although if conan & a'uva are available Old B will be strong.
Con will beat garryowen at home, they're having a jammy season with a few wins late into injury time. Garryowen doing well but as you said games against Con and lansdowne will see them slip.
Lansdowne will have no problems putting dolphin away.

Marys home to Clontarf tomorrow - clontarf have Lett, Crawford, Flanagan back from injury and possibly noel reid plus we owe Mary's one after 2 tough defeats last season.

Shannon will probably pick up their first win against UL Bohs in Thomand.

YM very poor against Tarf, very good against Con and unlucky to lose. Poor against Gowen, seem to be hitting every second week?

Whats the story with this Gavin for Garryowen, is he the real deal or??
Lansdowne will be hungry for a win after losing their last 2 outings.

Slightly off AIL but isnt the Irish clubs team being named soon? Any definites?? Can academy players play at all?

I think they will pick a ten from Ronaldson, Gavin or Holland.
Craig O' Hanlon has been safe at 15 for YM but Danny Riordan supposed to be very special. Dom Lespierre and Darragh O Neill wings for YM exciting.

On reading over this post, I am rather biased and do apologise but anyway would be nice to get an insight into some other players here too. Maybe look at selecting an Irish Club XV?

ormond lad

good_afternoon wrote: »

YM very poor against Tarf, very good against Con and unlucky to lose. Poor against Gowen, seem to be hitting every second week?

Whats the story with this Gavin for Garryowen, is he the real deal or??
Lansdowne will be hungry for a win after losing their last 2 outings.

Slightly off AIL but isnt the Irish clubs team being named soon? Any definites?? Can academy players play at all?

I think they will pick a ten from Ronaldson, Gavin or Holland.
Craig O' Hanlon has been safe at 15 for YM but Danny Riordan supposed to be very special. Dom Lespierre and Darragh O Neill wings for YM exciting.

On reading over this post, I am rather biased and do apologise but anyway would be nice to get an insight into some other players here too. Maybe look at selecting an Irish Club XV?

Club XV will not be announced for another few weeks i imagine. normally not announced until the end of january and wont be announced until around then considering 1st game Irish club side plays is the 8th of feb.
Doubt academy players can play. isnt the point behind the team so that players not in the pro set up in any way can get a shot at playing for ireland.
IMO Craig is better on the wing than FB. Riordan is good and was on a pro contract with connacht for a season or two iirc

CIARAN_BOYLE

ormond lad wrote: »

IMO Craig is better on the wing than FB. Riordan is good and was on a pro contract with connacht for a season or two iirc

Munster for a couple of seasons, Connacht for a couple of seasons, semi-pro (training contract) with Leinster for a couple of seasons.

ssaye

http://www.irishrugby.ie/news/28045.php

LANSDOWNE 37 DOLPHIN 7, Aviva Stadium back pitch
Scorers: Lansdowne: Tries: Mark Roche, John Cooney 2, Willie Earle, Jordi Murphy; Cons: Craig Ronaldson 3; Pens: Craig Ronaldson 2
Dolphin: Try: Rory Scannell; Con: Barry Keeshan
HT: Lansdowne 17 Dolphin 7

2 for Cooney 1 for Jordi

ormond lad

Some interesting results this weekend
http://www.irishrugby.ie/club/news/28045.php
Shannon's win against Bohs should really boost them ahead of their next few games. First win of the league and puts them within 4 points of Bohs

Good win for Clonakilty over Connemara in div 2B. Lifts them from 15th to 12th and puts a gap of 6 points between Connemara in 16th, and the bottom auto relegation place, and 15th and 14th placed Ards and Thomond

bamboozle

watched st mary's beat a rudderless clontarf in a decent enough game. The props on show were Furlong, McGrath, Des Merry, Royce Burke Flynn & Rob Sweeney, Furlong held his own against McGrath and made some great carries. Clontarf backs were directionless at halfback yet again this season, yet still select their best outhalf at fullback...

Clontarf had enough posession to win the game but Marys sat back soaked up the obvious clontarf tactics of picking and driving up front and kicked their points when they got their opportunities.

durkadurka

Was at Mary's clontarf too. I didn't think there was that much in it tbh.

Not Playing Tiddlywinks Vinny

Danny was pro with Munster as well, think played abroad.

What the hell happened to Tarf? Well fancied them to beat Mary's. Bohs being beaten by Shannon and Mary's winning really turns it into a scrap between those two i think

YM with a huge win over Belvo.......BP........didn't see that coming, and keeping belvo to only 3 points, Back-to-Back wins aginst 2 High-flying Dub clubs is huge for them! If they can continue to be consistent they'll be tough beaten!

G'owen winning in Cork is an exceptional result, Con sneaking games late but to not give them a sniff of it late on is impressive, still going strong.

Lansdowne did what was expected, are something those boys, JC, JM getting on the score sheet, if they keep them around the squad it'll be a big ask to beat them

Not Playing Tiddlywinks Vinny

ormond lad wrote: »

IMO Craig is better on the wing than FB.

Who else could slot into Fullback? been impressed when seen him, doesn't attack too often but solid boot and good hands.

Wingers are good enough too, both scored breakaway tries this yr with O Neill looking like a pure finisher

Volvic12

I would expect Lansdowne to have a few on the Irish club side considering how they are playing although a few are on provincial contracts - Jordi, Cooney etc. Ronaldson at out-half is a must. Both Lansdowne wingers have been in great form this year although Matt Healy is obviously tied up with Connacht but Cian Aherne has been scoring alot of tries also. As far as I know, he started on the wing for the Irish club side last year so I expect him to be in with a shout again.
It's a team that is never really given much exposure. Would be great if their game was live on RTE.

GavMan

Big result for Rock beating Bruff 6-3 in Limerick. Hell of a place to go when you've been as patchy as our lot have been. Hopefully we can build on that and consolidate in mid table for the rest of the year

good_afternoon

Hugh Mc Grath, Ger Sla, Neville Melbourne, Darragh O Neill. RUMOUR has it all have been offered clubs squad? Anyone else??

Not Playing Tiddlywinks Vinny

Would be expecting Ronaldson (Lansdowne), Keeshan(Dolphin)/Gavin (G'owen), Lukas Kunz (YM), Danny Riordan (Belvo) all to be in the squad with Keeshan/Gavin battling out for the reserve spot. Anyone be able to name their own possible club squad? I'd have a stab at:

1. Ben Barclay (Tarf)
2. Ger Sla (YM)
3. Hugh McGrath (YM)
4. Ed Kelly (UL Bohs)
5. Sean Duggan (YM)
6. Mark Rowley (YM)
7. Adrian D'Arcy (Tarf)
8. Sean Rennsion (UL Bohs)
9. Gerry Hurley (Con)
10. Craig Ronaldson (Lansdowne)
11. Dara O Neill (YM)
12. Lukas Kunz (YM)/Evan Ryan (Tarf)
13. Eric Moloney (Shannon)
14. Cian Aherne (Lansdowne)
15. Danny Riordan (Belvo)

From what i've seen in 1A this yr i'd be along the lines of something like this, didn't think be so hard but considering Academy and Dev contract and recent ex-pros in the league is tough

Stainalert

Charlie Butterworth Lansdowne 7 should be in the mix

Not Playing Tiddlywinks Vinny

Saw he was involved with Connacht A last weekend so presumed was academy or something like that? If not would definitely be there thereabouts

ormond lad

Nenagh beat Thomond under lights in Nenagh tonight 10-3. think this was the only game played tonight in division 2(and there is no division 1 games at all this weekend)

Not Playing Tiddlywinks Vinny

Club side held training/trials today in Portlaoise i believe. Anyone aware of any players that are involved. Heard a few lads turned down the opportunity to go for the Club XV again

CIARAN_BOYLE

With no Rabo matches for the next few weeks will the AIL clubs make an effort to lure some extra supporters in.