West Offaly Lions News

Lotto results 14th july 2010: Winning numbers bonus: 37  bonus +1: 20 No winner
Lucky dip winner Fionn campbell next weeks jackpot 625 euro. Please support

West Offaly Lions Golf Classic, Birr Golf Course Friday 20th August. Contact: Brian, Jude, Anthony, Padraig or any members for more information your support is greatly appreciated.

Ireland and Munster player Denis Leamy made the trip to Ferbane last friday to present the U13 squad with their Connacht Cup medals, Denis is a cousin of Marion Gilligan our club secretary and he made the trip from Cashel Co. Tipp where he had just finished training to present the medals to the lads, it was a very enjoyable evening. A very big thank you has to be said to Gallen Community School for allowing the hosting of the event to Mr John Irwin and Mr Bernard Quigley, and also to every one else involved who helped organise the ocasion and made food and refreshments on the night it was greatly appreciated.

 

 

Denis then made his way to Gleeson's where he also presented the Junior squad with their J1B league medals, the haggard was full to the rafters and a great night was had by everyone involved, and another big thank you to everyone involved in the organising of the event and to Danny Gleeson for hosting the event.

Pictured here is captain Colin Kenny with his parents after recieving the Cup.

The West Offaly Lions U13's created more history as the overcame a strong Sligo side to win there first and probably only Connacht Cup

Sunday the 11th of April saw West Offaly Lions Under 13s travel to a sun drenched Ballyhaunis RFC for the final of the Connacht Cup. Beautifully prepared surroundings and arguably the best weather of the year was the perfect backdrop for what proved to be an incredible game of rugby.
 
West Offaly had beaten Ballina, Castlebar and Ballinasloe on their way to the final and awaiting them was a much fancied Sligo team who had been very impressive on their march to the final. As the game kicked off Sligo established early dominance and set up camp in the young Lions 22. The first few minutes saw the Ferbane based outfit struggling for a foothold in the game but Sligo at this stage were into their stride with many of the West Offaly team coming up short in the early exchanges. West Offaly were relying on some last ditch tackles to keep the scores level and did so in the early minutes thanks to Ronan Butler and Tom Corcoran in particular who tackled with great bravery, however an early Sligo score looked inevitable and minutes later the pressure told forcing a mistake from West Offaly who were now 5-0 down after five minutes. Worse was to follow however as almost straight from the kick off Sligo again attacked and after some more mistakes by the Lions and some incisive attacking play Sligo had made it 10-0. The only positives for the Lions being that both conversions had been narrowly missed. The alarm bells were ringing loudly in the ears of the players now.
 
West Offaly at this stage were down but definitely not out and the belief that had grown in earlier rounds now started to shine through. Led by inspirational captain Colin Kenny the Lions started to carry ball back at Sligo and a mixture of great off loading and passing led to numerous line breaks. The incredible work of Dean Guinan, William Phair and Conor Kelly in the front row meant that West Offaly started to edge the physical battle and provide good ball for the accurate passing of the ever dangerous Joseph Daly Lowry. Midway through the second half a flowing move involving forward and backs saw Colin Kenny slice through the Sligo defence for a great try which he converted himself. 10-7 Game on.
 

Pictured here is Ronan Butler holding the cup with his parents and younger brother Conor

West Offaly now began to move through the gears and the remainder of the first half saw the game flow from end to end, Jack Clancy who had switched to full back was a calming influence and dealt confidently with the probing kicks of the Sligo half backs as well as attacking with great flair and imagination himself. With half time moments away West offaly mustered another attack, this time the ball fell to Ryan Heavin from a Colin Kenny offload. Moving with great speed Heavin sprinted toward the corner evading tackle after tackle before scoring in the corner. 12-10 to West Offaly. Half time brought a welcome break from the increasing heat but also a warning that a Sligo backlash was on its way.
 
Sligo started the second half like men possessed and this well drilled and talented outfit led by their number 8, out half and right wing  started to dominate possession. Their tactic was clearly to move the ball wide and attack!! Enter Oisin Kelly and Anthony Seery  who provided a display of aggressive tackling and control in midfield that symbolised the teams work rate never letting the Sligo attack through. In fact both players looked sure to be out of the game through injury but battled on bravely and led by example to those around them.
 
Sligo were eventually rewarded for their efforts and a penalty saw them retake the lead 13-12. The Lions refused to give up and marched down the field once more, accurate throwing in the lineout from the impressive Kevin Kelly gave a great platform to attack and a combination of pace in attack and great defence from wings Brian McEvoy and Diarmuid Guinan meant that West Offaly slowly started to pin Sligo back. Darren "The Bull" Buckley replaced the hardworking Jack Quinn  added dome freshness to a now jaded pack. West Offaly badly needed a score and their prayers were answered with 12 mins to go with an almost identical try to their second. Kenny sidestepped through the Sligo defence before being tackled, quick ball was supplied to Heavin who set off on an arcing run towards the corner in a foot race with the sligo defence, Heavin had to deal with an approaching side line and multiple tacklers but pushed on by great cheers from the West Offaly supporters and at full stretch managed to grab a vital score in the corner. Even though the conversion was missed The Lions still led 17-13. For the last ten minutes West Offaly attacked with great purpose this was highlighted by the runs of Tom Corcoran who was not only  playing for himself but also his injured brother John who had delivered man of the match displays in earlier rounds. West Offaly narrowly missed two kickable penalties to widen the gap and were almost made to pay for it when Sligo made a last brave charge for victory but tackles from Seery, Clancy, Kenny and most noticeably continuous tackles from flankers Butler and Corcoran ( both of whom had tackled hard from the first minute)  kept the attacks at bay. With the young Lions almost out on their feet they were greeted with the sweet sound of the final whistle. Cue great celebrations and joy as fans mentors and parents celebrated with the players on what was great achievement for all involved. Captain Kenny thanked Sligo for a great game as well as thanking all the members of the panel who had worked so hard to get the team to the final as well as all the support from parents and sponsors Sean Corcoran and a special thanks to Gallen CS for the use of their grounds throughout the year and all their support. The last job was to lift the cup for the large crowd which was greeted with the loudest cheer of the day and return to Ferbane as Champions.

Below we have the team after their hard earned victory.
 
Panel W Phair C Kelly K Kelly J Quinn R Butler T Corcoran Dean Guinan R Heavin J DalyLowry C Kenny A Seery O Kelly Diarmuid Guinan B McEvoy J Clancy M O'Shea D Buckley J Corcoran J Gannon D Ryan R Davis S Fleming

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

  West Offaly Lions News

West Offaly Lions R.F.C had a fantastic win over Gort in the Connaught J1B League in Ferbane on Sunday 18^th October 2009.

From the kick off, West Offaly Lions had Gort under pressure with a huge charge forward by team captain Ronan Guinan who led from the front throughout the entire game.

West Offaly Lions first score came from a great pass from Jason Clancy who put Tom Gilligan through for the home teams' first try, which unfortunately was not converted. After 30 minutes of play Gort had 2 missed penalty kicks. West Offaly Lions place kicker Donal Corbett found his kicking boots with two successful penalty kicks. Gorts' only score of the day was a penalty kick leaving the score line 11-3 at half time in favour of West Offaly Lions.

While not playing well in the first half West Offaly Lions found their rhythm in the second half and began to take control of the game. Scores came from a try by Thomas Bennett and converted by Donal Corbett. Soon after, Tom Gilligan stormed over the line for his second try again converted by Donal Corbett to put the game out of Gorts reach. In the last few minutes after the best move of the day by Richie Clancy and Ciaran Coughlan, Rory Walsh crossed the line for West Offaly Lions fourth try converted by Donal Corbett to leave a finishing score line of West Offaly Lions 32, Gort 3.

Development Team

West Offaly Lions Development team played the Galwegians in the Connaught J2 South League also in Ferbane with an early kick off at 1pm, it was a very evenly fought contest with both sets of forwards unwilling to give an inch and it proved to be this way for much of the day, the lions how ever with a smaller pack got wore down from added pressure and got sucked into the rucks this gave the Galwegians side the opportunity they needed and they crossed the line. The lions did fight back and were very unlucky not to have gone into the second half in front when they were stopped short of the Wegians line on two occasions late in the first half. The second half proved to be much like the first a battle of the forwards The Galwegians forwards were that bit stronger on the day and wore the pack down again and were clinical in there finishing converting the only two chances they got which proved the turning point on the day. The lions can take a lot from this game they battled hard and with just a little more composure in front of the line the team will turn these results around. The final score of the day was 18-5.

Thanks to our food sponsors Supermacs' Ferbane, and also to Danny Gleeson (Gleeson's Bar & Lounge)

  WEST OFFALY LIONS R.F.C

 

 

West Offaly Lions Development Team had a superb win over the Buccaneers Thirds Team at Dubarry Park Athlone last Sunday 11^th October 2009, in the Connaught J2 league.

The first half saw a lot of hard hits and tackles from both sides but it was West Offaly Lions who scored first with a penalty kick by Donal Corbett. During the game there was three fantastic try's from Padge Malone, Stephen Cornally and Adrian Coughlan; one conversion and a drop goal from Donal Corbett brought West Offaly Lions tally to 23 points. The Buccaneers only score of the game came from a try by Niger So, who also converted the try to leave the Buccaneers at 7 points for the day.

West Offaly Lions wish a speedy recovery to two of the Buccaneers players, Gerry Glynn and Dave Shaughnessy after injuries early in the second half.

The final score of the match was West Offaly Lions 23, Buccaneers 7.

Connacht Junior Cup 
GALWEGIANS 24 WEST OFFALY LIONS 27!!

This was the result on mondays Irish Times . Unfortunately West Offaly Lions scored only 7 points which was the result of a Connor Galvin blockdown added to by Donal Corbett but West Offaly Lions were careless in allowing wegians a soft try before half time and another one at the start of the second period even though they were down to 14 players with the sin binning of Tomas Bennett. 7 to 5 was not enough with the strong wind and wol were given a lesson in forward play with the wegians back five on top throughout the tie and although they battled bravely the forwards were unable to supply a dangerous looking backline with enough ball.Beaten in the scrums and line outs wol will need to up the ante for their local derby against Ballinasloe next sunday.

UNDER 14S beat the elements on saturday and play Tullamore this week in a friendly.

MINIS DUE TO THE HORRENDOUS conditions training was cancelled on sunday but continues this week at 11.30
in the school field on Sunday

Adult training continues at 9.30 on Tuesday on Gallen astro and on Saturday at 7.00pm in Guinans field WITH A HOME game against OLBC for the development team and Ballinasloe away for the first team.

WOL RELINQUISH TOP SPOT
Due to the unavailability of NUIG wol were without a game this weekend and both Connemara and Ballinrobe had wins to take them ahead of wol in the league table. Next week west Offaly Lions play their first ever match in the Connaught Junior Cup when they make the trip to Glenina to play the Connaught Junior cup holders Galwegians. This is a huge opportunity for this young side and they will need to be at their very best to compete with this talented wegian team.

CONGRATULATIONS To club secretary Marion Gilligan on receiving the Connaught Volunteer award at a dinner before the Connaught v Scarkets Magners League match last friday at the Sportsground.
We all know this was a well deserved award for Marion for all the hard work she has done for the club since its formation. Club Chairman Bernard Quigly spoke on the clubs behalf and presented a wol tie to the Connaught Branch
President Michael Grealish at this enjoyable function.

Well done too to David Kelly son of Hon Treasurer Martin on adding a Munster Senior Cup medal to his list of achievments, all thats missing now is an appearance in a West Offaly Lions jersey.

We wish CONOR HIGGINS Irish u20s and CALLUM Boland irish u18s the best  in their campaigns.

MINIS
ALL Roads lead to the school field next Sunday when after a long lay off Training resumes at 11.30.
All boys and girls are welcome as we approach the business end of the season and Fixtures Secretary
Ray Walshe and Roy Fletcher have a number of exciting fixtures lined up for the coming weeks.
Meanwhile the u14s have already started back in Preparation for  their cup campaign which starys at home
against Westport.
Having recovered from their first xmas party(wiith thanks to Damien Spollen) both adult teams are back training hard
under the watchful eyes of their mentors and its really good to see some new faces around so well done ankeep it going lads.

Adults
The adult section visited Miltownpass where they thoroughly enjoyed  the paintballing
if not the after effects but everyone came out virtually unscathed  and a great day was had by all.

West Offaly Lions Minis had their last training session of the year on the excellent Gallen Utd astro pitch and a great session was finished off by the xmas party by kind permission of Gallen C.S, where the committee under the watchful eyes of Marion Gilligan prepared refreshments for the children, parents and all involved in west offaly lions rugby club. Club President Peter Moony thanked all involved and Conor Kenny presented Marion with a bunch of flowers.

Conor Galvin ran a free national schools raffle for West Offaly Lions.
1st prize of two tickets to Ireland v England at Croke Park was won by Dylan O Duffy of Clonmacnoise N.S.
2nd prize of a signed Connacht Rugby jersey was won by Sinead Harrington of High St N.S.
3rd prize of an Elverys voucher was won by Oisin Daly of Clonmacnoise N.S.

The adult xmas party takes place in Hineys on tues 23rd  at 7.30 and a large turnout is expected.

West Offaly Lions would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy and healthy Christmas!

Seniors - Fine home win for the Lions.
West Offaly Lions maintained their form with a home victory against a very talented Portumna side and it wasnt until deep into the second half that an Anthony Quinn try under the posts made  a win likely and this was followed by a Jason Kelly special. Donal Corbett continued his rich vein of kicking form but it was the West Offaly Lions pack that provided a continuous stream of ball for this talented backline. Line outs showed a huge improvment on the previous week but a lot of work still needs to be done if the Lions are to maintain their position in the harder post- xmas fixtures. Credit as well to everyone in the background who have helped the squad.

Under-14's
The u-14's had a big win against a younger Buccaneers squad in Athlone on saturday. Michael Butler, Gerry Lyons and John Mannion
had fine games in what was a good team effort.

Minis
Mini blitz against our near neighbours Midland Warriors was good fun for all on a hash sunday morning, it was just a pity Nenagh missed out on a great day. Well done to all the coaches and helpers , the results of their endeavours were there for everyone to see.

Mini training on Gallen Utd astro by kind permission of our friends in the club, on sunday at 11.30am followed by the xmas party in Gallen C.S.
ALL players from every level are very welcome as well as parents and helpers.

SENIORS President Peter Moony and CLUB registrar Jane Moony attended the clubs first junior cup draw in Ballyhaunis on wednesday night. Galwegians in Glenina will hold good memories for West Offaly Lions, for it was there that we played and won our first cup game in a mudbath last year.
A step up this year to meet the holders should be interesting!

West Offaly Lions 1st team were fortunate to leave Ballyhaunis with a win and this was largly due to missed kicks by the home kicker while the lions had Donal Corbett to slot their kicks. Once again west offaly lions fell foul of the referee with indiscipline and immaturity shown  by a number of players but on the plus side it was great to welcome back Colin Malone and Paul Heavin who both played fine games.

If the lions are to overcome Portumna on sunday at 2.30 in the school field they will need to raise their game right from the start. Captain Ronan Guinans team will need to follow him in the battle for points.

The Development Team, the most important team in the club,were unlucky not to beat Galwegians away in a well contested encounter. Although missing a few regulars who were otherwise engaged, West Offaly Lions competed bravely and scored a try and conversion through out half Ronan Daly. The Lions had a few debutants in their ranks and this augurs well for the return games after christmas.

Training has been excellent recently and continues for all in Guinans field on fridays at 7.30pm

West Offaly Lions Minis blitz was called off at the last minute due to frozen pitches but this week we have a blitz with Nenagh and midland Warriors at the school field at 11.15 on sunday.

u.14's hope to have a game against Tullamore on saturday

West Offaly Lions Minis had an excellent training session at Gallen Utd astro turf pitch on sunday as the school field was frozen over.
Over 60 boys and girls enjoyed their sessions at u-12 u-11 u-10 u-9 and u-8 level plus the newly formed u-7 section under the watchful eye of Cheryl Auret.

Many thanks to all the coaches and managers and in PARTICULAR Connacht Y.D.O. Connor Galvin

Next week Ballinasloe visit the green fields of Ferbane on Sunday and all should be at the school field ready for action at 11.15

The U-14s continue their year with a game against Tullamore details to be confirmed.

West Offaly Lions Development team lost to a strong Buccs team on sunday the match being transfered to Athlone due to a frozen pitch in Ferbane. The Lions were slow to start and conceded a soft score to the Buccs backs which was followed by another after several missed tackles and though they pressed hard in the second half West Offaly Lions just couldn't get the score they deserved.

Cathal Scott and paul heavin were always to the fore
and special mention must be made of debutants Stephen Keena and Allan Clancy who performed admirably.

Next week the firsts are away to High flying Ballyhaunis and the development team are away to Galwegians.