Navan edged out in Anderson Cup local derby in hectic week of action

Navan13

North Meath37

Craig Williamson

Navan welcomed North Meath to Balreask Old on Friday evening for this all-Meth Leinster Anderson Cup (Provincial J3) round three/quarter-final.

The first couple of minutes were played at a high pace in midfield, Navan got a break and had a first foray into the North Meath 22metre line however they lost possession when penalized at the breakdown.

That turnover was costly as North Meath used the resulting lineout on halfway to get inside Navan's 22 metre line with pressure on the Navan defense forcing a North Meath scrum and from resulting play North Meath found a gap to get in for a converted try in the seventh minute.

From the restart Navan got into opposition 22m and forced a penalty derived lineout on the North Meath 5m line but an infringement and turnover gave North Meath a chance to clear their lines

A knock on from North Meath after 11 minutes led to a Navan scrum just inside the visitors half, an infringement by North Meath led to a free kick for Navan and the home side ran forward into North Meath's half, a chip kick ahead forced pressure on the North Meath back three and the attempted catch was knocked-on.

Playing the knock-on advantage, Navan winger Simon Hogan kicked ahead and was able to re-gather to get in for an unconverted try on 15 mins.

Navan looked to add to their tally seven minutes later after putting a number of phase play getting up the field applying defensive pressure to North Meath forcing the visitors to give away penalties and actually getting over the goal line only for it to be adjusted to be held up and giving North Meath a goal-line dropout.

North Meath did get penalised again and Navan outhalf Jack Dixon kicked the ball between the posts to give Navan the lead on 24 minutes

The lead switched back three minutes later with Navan giving away a penalty just outside their ten meter line in the middle of the field and from that straight angle the ball was kicked for the posts for North Meath to retake the lead.

Just on the stroke of halftime, North Meath ran the ball from midfield and kicked ahead, in the resulting kerfuffle North Meath gathered the ball and got in for a converted try to extend the lead at half-time.

In the first ten minutes of the second half neither side imposed themselves on the game with mistakes being made by both sides. On 53 minutes after Navan conceded two penalties and getting pushed into their half, North Meath made the most of the advantage and got in for a third converted try.

This was soon followed up four minutes later by North Meath getting up the field again to run in for a fourth converted try on the right hand side of the field.

The following ten minutes North Meath added another two penalties to stretch their lead even further..

Eight minutes from time Navan did add a second unconverted try but at that point it was just consolation.

Navan RFC 3rd XV squad

1) Craig Byrne

2) Paul Caffrey

3) David McAteer

4) Liam McAree

5) Kallum Boles

6) Colm Wall

7) Stuart Byrne

8) Anton Hoey

9) Ronan Walsh

10) Jack Dixon

11) Simon Hogan

12) Thomas Geraghty

13) Harry Devlin

14) Brian Cooney

15) James Macken

Replacements:

16) Damien Dixon

17) Ciarmhac O'Fionnagain

18) Eoghan Curtis

19) Patrick Finegan

20) Simon Kelly

Leinster Michael Dunne Cup (Provincial J4) Semi-Final: (Sunday 23rd April)

Portarlington 29 Navan Men's 4th XV 27

Lea Road, Portarlington

Navan RFC Men's 4th XV Squad

1) Eoghan Curtis

2) Ciarmhac O'Fionnagain

3) Martin Kearns

4) Christopher Dunphy

5) Paul Maginn

6) Brian Connolly

7) Seamus McAteer

8) Shane O'Connor

9) Donal Moriarty

10) Mark Russell

11) Odhran Begley

12) Matthew Conlon

13) Eoin Ryan

14) Jack Owens

15) Simon Kelly

Replacements:

16) Dominic Muldoon

17) Ronan Giles

18) Martin Giles

19) Darragh Creamer

20) Alex O'Hare

Leinster Boys Youth u-16 Plate Semi-Final: (Saturday 22nd April)

Navan 20 Boyne 19

The Grange, Kells

Navan RFC Boys u-16 Squad

1) Conor Boles

2) Liam Kerrigan

3) Luke Traynor

4) Patrick Yourell

5) Alex Carter

6) Jason Callaghan

7) Daniel Egan

8) Thomas Kearns

9) Rhys Dixon

10) Eoin Burke

11) Sean Morris

12) Ciall Flynn

13) Noah Murray

14) Luke Kennedy

15) Jamie Keane

Replacements:

16) Cian McMahon

17) Aaron Quinn

18) Joshua De Goes Corcoran

19) Dean Reynolds

Leinster Boys Youth u-15 Cup Semi-Final: (Saturday 22nd April)

Navan 17 Mullingar 7

Balreask Old, Navan

Navan RFC Boys u-15 squad

1) Matthew Kieran

2) Daniel Robinson

3) Oshan Varney

4) Jack McGettigan

5) Myles Doyle

6) Rhian Faherty

7) Conor Goodwin

8) Jack Giles

9) Jack Clarke

10) Lorcan Craik

11) Aidan Lynch

12) Cormac Fagan

13) Daniel Heverin

14) Joe O'Neill

15) Luke Brady

Replacements:

16) Anthony Horan

17) Antonio Rattigan

18) Frederick James Woods

19) Josh Collins

20) Sean Curtis

21) Eamon Berwick

22) Jay Gavigan

23) Jamie Dee

Other News:

A huge congratulations to five players from the Navan Under 17 Boys team that have been selected for the Leinster Under 18 Boys squad.

They are:

Chucks Ohagwa

Shaun O’Reilly

Declan O’Connor

Aidan Rennie

Ciaran Scott

Congratulations to the boys, their families, coaches & team manager. The club and their teammates are so proud & delighted for them all