No joy but pride restored for Drumshanbo VS

The rise of Dublin schools continued last Thursday as 2 more qualified for the last 6 but, unlike the disappointing exit of Drumshanbo As, the Bs were involved in three thrillers before losing narrowly to all three Dublin schools.

Clonkeen College A beat Drumshanbo B 17-25 25-23 15-12

This match was very close with the lead changing hand on numerous occasions. Drumshanbo led 4-0 and 8-4 before Deansgrange levelled at 8. Drumshanbo led 14-11 and it was level again at 14. Then Keelan Gaffney served 6 to put Drumshanbo 20-16 ahead. Ronan Guckian, who played up to his standard right through, tipped a winner at 11-9 and crucially served out the set with 3 serves.

Drumshanbo led 5-3 early on in set 2, but it was very tight though, level 8 times from 7-7 to 17-17. Joshua Keville whose movement was restricted by an injury from 2 other sports tipped a great winner at 24- 23 but Clonkeen levelled the match. This seemed to shock Drumshanbo as they let Deansgrange build up an 8-2 lead in the decider. Drumshanbo fought back to 11-12 but the more aggressive Dublin school, which has more than 700 boys, just edged out.

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Castleknock CC B beat Drumshanbo B 25-9 17-25 15-10

This was a match of huge contrast. Shocked by their defeat to Clonkeen, Drumshanbo were overwhelmed by Castleknock in the opening set. Castleknock have over 1000 students with around 650 boys and, like their Junior As, their first 6 were tall. But having recovered in set 2 Drumshanbo fought very well in the deciding set.

In the first set Daniel McManus came on at 23 and played well and then Ryan Gilmartin almost got to the winning spike. But the main players, of whom much was expected, made many errors.

Castleknock weakened their side in the 2nd set but shell shocked Drumshanbo were still playing poorly at 10-10. Then Adam Winters took over and his serve opened up a lead of 17-10.

Back on came the strongest Castleknock six for the deciding set. They raced 5-2 ahead but Drumshanbo were now fighting fiercely and for that point it took a rally of 34 touches for Deansgrange to win. Daire McCabe was in his element, involved in every rally, and spiking winners. 

It was level at 7-7 but Castleknock found their spiking touch and opened up a lead that Drumshanbo could not close.

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Grange CS beat Drumshanbo B 25-23 25-17

The revived Drumshanbo fought gallantly in this match and came fighting back several times in the opening set to almost go a set up. In the end Grange had one superb club player that hit unreturnable spikes. Grange first played Drumshanbo in 1994 and this is the first ever victory for the Donaghmede School over Drumshanbo.

This was Luke Ruddy’s peak. He served five in a row to give Drumshanbo a 4-0 lead. Grange were level by 6-6 and eventually raced into an 18-11 lead. But it was Ruddy’s serve again and he served another 5 to level the set 18-18 and it was tied right at the end 23-23.

A disappointed Drumshanbo slipped 0-4 behind in set two but then rallied to 7-7 with great defending from Cody O’Brien.

In the end, though, Drumshanbo could break the serve right through the set but they did not have the power to score well on their own serve and they gradually drifted behind. Conor Deegan came on and fought hard. Adam Cull came on and served well. 

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CARRICK RFC 22-31 LOUGHREA RFC

This bodes well for the future as Adam became the first first-year to serve on a Junior team since the great class of Ronan Moran six years ago.

Team: (serves in brackets) Luke Ruddy (capt.) (36), Adam Winters (21), Keelan Gaffney (23), Daire McCabe (18), Ronan Guckian (15),Joshua Keville (2), Cody O’Brien (6), Ryan Gilmartin, Daniel McManus, Conor Deegan, Louis Glancy, Adam Cull (2)