Best of luck to the U13 squad this Sunday who will make a long trip to Ballina too take on Ballina in the Connacht Cup, the side have been playing well under the excellent guidance of Conor Galvin and have preformed well in their recent outings against Buccaneer's and Ballinasloe, lets hope this good run of form carries through to Sundays game and their run in the Connacht cup is extended.

Seniors

The seniors took on a strong Connemara side last Sunday and the lads from the west showed no signs of fatigue as they tore into the Lions from the off, it was a tit for tat affair in the first half with West Offaly forcing the game and making a lot of errors and mistakes which lead to a very stop start first period, Tom Gilligan did cross the line in the first half and what seemed to everyone else a perfect try the referee deemed it had been held up and the score was not allowed but the Lions did start to play and begin to put in the phases and it was shaping up to be an interesting second half. The lions hit the ground running in the second half and start to build on the last few minutes effort in the first half but the strong Connemara defence didn't relent posing a strong wall to break down but as the half wore on it looked only a matter of time before the deadlock was going to be broken and it eventually was some strong work by the forwards got the lions inside the Connemara 22 and with some neat hands released Ronnie Guinan through for the games first try, a few minutes later Gramps put a nice chip through for Jeff Cuskley to touch down in the corner and in the dying minutes of the match Jason Clancy went through as well to finish the day off on a high, the Lions finished up the day 20 - 0 but were made work for every point, it will have to be a much better performance against UCG who proved to be the Lions stumbling block last season especially with the promotion battle heating up as the season draws to an end, the top 4 teams are all still in contention for promotion with Creggs top on 39 West Offaly on 38 and Loughrea snapping on West Offaly's heals in third its all a little to close for comfort and looks as though it will go right down to the final game. The Lions so far have the strongest defence this season in the league with the least amount points against and this is testament to the huge effort been put in by coaches and players and it would be a shame to see all that effort go to waste so starting this Sunday with the students West Offaly will be doing everything in their power to ensure a strong performance and a mouth watering finale Sunday 3 weeks in Creggs.

Development team

The development team travelled to Monivea last Sunday to take on the team top of the table and the home side showed exactly why they are top with a clinical performance beating the Lions 43 - 7 in a tough hard battle as these games always prove to be, the Lions never gave up and with some players missing due to injury and been called up to the first team to fill the voids the Lads acquitted them selves well and it was good to see some old faces back in the side and hopefully we will see them for the remainder of the season.

With the season of 09 ending, times were hard for the west offaly lions and indeed the majority of clubs with matches few and far between due to the rain at first making pitches to wet to play on, to a total change when due to frost they were to hard to play on, hopefully the new year will bring better conditions and see some match fixtures played off.

 The U13's had there first outing under the excellent guidance of Conor Galvin and had a good win against local rivals Buccaneers it was played under lights at the wonderfull facilities of dubarry park athlone and was a great experience for these young players thanks to everyone involved

 The West Offaly Lions lotto is now in full swing with the draws taking place at different locations throughout the area, we greatly appreciate your support in making the lotto and the club a sucess thank you

Everyone at West Offaly Lions wishes everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

The season so far has got of to a good start for the West Offaly Lions picking up where we left off last yerar with some impressive rugby and with 4 wins out of 4. On october 24th the lions travelled to Ballinasloe and in what was a hard night and the rugby was just as tough as well with the lions under pressure from the off but to there credit the composed themselves well and began to break down the stronge Ballinasloe defence and began to find the space which eventually lead to the first try of the night which was scored by Ritchie Clancy. The lions crossed over for another try in the first half and two more in the second in what was their best display of rugby this season with the players running good lines and off loading well and working the phases. Although it was a good win for the lions they will be disappointed that they took so long to really close the game off going most of the second half without scoring and defending the gain line but this was credit to the never say die attitude of a Ballinasloe team who were looking to score the first try this year against the lions but it wasn't to be and the lions held out for a 30- 0 win.

Westport   V   W.O.L.

The Lions made the long trip west last sunday to Westport to play a much fancied Westport Bulls side and the Lions weren't disappointed. The lions have never beaten the Bulls at home and we knew going there it was going to be a huge task but one which they would not shy away from.  The game started at a very fast pace with both sides not willing to give an inch in the rucks and mauls and this proved to be the story for the day, but when the lions did get it to the backs thats when they started to carve the holes and the off loading game started to take shape with Donal Corbett making a great break and going over for the first try af the game, Tomas Bennett then crossed over soon enough for the second try when given a great off load by Ciaran Coughlan and a miss match with scrum half and prop to touch down under the posts, the lions got flowing and looked very fluent when moving and should have had more points to the score board but it wasnt until the second half until the lions crossed again with a brilliant try, under serious pressure in there own 22 Ciaran Coughlan robbed the ball poped to Rory Walshe who sped away he then off loaded to Niall Flaherty just inside his own half way line who in turn used his pace to out run 3 Westport players only to be caught by the full back under the posts but he had the awareness to pop the ball to the ever supporting Tom Gilligan who touched down under the post and scored the follow up conversion. This did not how ever stop Westport and they went looking for blood and were with 13 men camped inside the West Offaly 22 for the remainder of the half but the stronge Lions defence proved why they haven't conceeded a try this season by meeting every attack head on and holding onto their nil scoreline which is a huge achievment especially to a stronge Westport team. The game ended 24 - 0 to a tough day on the field and to a welcome break.