Under-19s finish on high note

IRELAND Under-19s finished off their FIRA World Cup championship with a flourish when they defeated England at the weekend.

Ireland concluded with fifth position in the tournament behind winners South Africa, beaten finalists New Zealand, third-placed France and Argentina.

The Irish were pushed all the way by England in their last game to decide fifth and sixth positions and in the end it all came down to a penalty shoot-out after the sides finished 22-22 at the end of normal time.

Ireland kicked four of their five penalties in that shootout and England could only manage three to leave Ireland 34-31 winners.

The Irish, with Dungannon pair Oisin Hennessy and Gary Maxwell, UL Bohemian's Ronan Loughney, Mark Melbourne of Garryowen, Barry Keeshan (UCC), Breffni O'Donnell (UL Bohemians) and Greg Stafford (Lansdowne) all very much to the fore during the campaign, won three of their four matches.

They started off with a resounding victory over Italy, lost to New Zealand, beat Scotland and then England to push their claims for a higher position in next season’s tournament. Team manager Michael Cunningham said: “The team will travel to South Africa next year but, based on this year's seedings, have a realistic hope of making the top four.

“Because we finished fifth, Ireland will avoid teams like South Africa and New Zealand in the early stages and that is important. If the guys get a run at it they can do even better than this season. The team went from ninth last year to fifth this season and that has to be progress. Hopefully, it will be taken a stage further in South Africa.”