Moran makes big splash as Corrib boys are class apart

THE Corrib Waterpolo boys U16 squad emerged convincing winners of the Irish Cup held in Lisburn last weekend in achieving a record six-in-a-row at this level.

Corrib opened the tournament with a meeting against Sandycove, Dublin. Corrib immediately put down a marker in the competition by beating their fancied rivals 15-6 in convincing style.

Their second game in the group stage was against Drogheda who had earlier beaten Sandycove 9-7. Once again Corrib played with strength and depth and ran out 11-4 winners.

Corrib captain Mark Moran was playing outstanding waterpolo with some phenomenal goals from both the hole-forward position and longer range shots. David O’Connor was also showing his flair up the right wing with some deft shots with his left-hand.

The Galway boys advanced as top of the group into a quarter-final against a hapless Clontarf who were despatched by 19-1 in an extremely one-sided game. This set up Corrib for a Sunday morning semi-final clash against St Vincent’s, Dublin.

St Vincent’s opened well and Corrib had to deal with the threat of their ace hole-forward Matthew Hynes. Corrib adopted a zone defence to deal with him, proving very effective.

Hole-back, Cillian Blacoe, had an excellent game and scored a great counter-attack goal after swimming the length of the pool to blast a bounce shot past St Vincent’s goalie Shane O’Brien, who is also the Irish Junior team custodian. By the end of the first quarter Corrib had a strong 4-1 lead.

The second quarter was a tense affair with Corrib only adding one goal to make it 5-1 at half-time but in the third quarter they blew through the St Vincent’s defence with five more goals from David O’Connor (2), Mark Moran, Michael Murphy and Ronan Gill. The game closed out 13-4 with Cronan Ward getting his name on the score sheet in the final quarter and David O’Connor adding two more.

Corrib were through to the final against group opponents Drogheda who had shocked Clonard in the quarter-final by beating them 6-3 and then beating Grads in the semi-final.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.