Corrib boys rally to take glory in Irish U-14 Cup
CORRIB Waterpolo club added the boys Irish U-14 Cup to their trophy collection last weekend. The finals tournament was held in Kingfisher, NUI Galway over Saturday and Sunday with nine teams competing.
Corrib played Bangor in their opening game on Saturday and easily dispatched them with a 19-4 win. Next up was North Dublin, who had some very good swimmers from the Aer Lingus Swim Club, but they were not a match for the strength of the Corrib team who beat them 18-7.
This put Corrib through to the semi-final on Sunday morning against St Vincents/Drogheda. After a close start, Corrib again pulled away with great scoring from Cronan Ward, Zak Rather, Adam Murphy and Liam Smyth.
Ward ended up top goal-scorer in the tournament with 35 goals across the four games. This se tup a final against a hugely fancied Clonard (Belfast) team who included star player Fionn McConvey who has made the U17 national team as an U14 and who had been free-scoring in their games.
The final right from the start was a war of attrition with the teams alternating goals throughout the first half with Corrib leading by a single goal at half-time. Corrib was playing a zone defence but while making space up front, this was allowing Clonard too many outside shots which they were putting away even though McConvey was held to two goals by great defending from Corrib captain Liam Smyth.
However missed chances by Corrib in the third quarter meant that Clonard moved into a 12-9 lead going into the final quarter. Coach Joe Smyth called a full press to cut out supply of the ball and close down the outside shooters leaving Liam Smyth to hold McConvey.
Cronan Ward, Adam Murphy and Alex Naughton worked brilliantly on the press and the speed of Zak Rather allowed him to assist in defence and still counter attack at critical points. This strategy worked and Corrib scored four unanswered goals with the last one coming with just under a minute to go.
After a few scares and a fantastic save by goalie MacDara O Griofa with 30 seconds to go, Corrib closed out the game to claim their fifth U-14 title in a row.