The 3
rd Round of the Irish Wheelchair Rugby League took place in Arklow on the 12
th of June. Again 4 teams representing there provinces took part. The 1
st game seen Leinster
vs Ulster
and with Ulster missing some key players Leinster
had a chance to steal some much needed points to get them off the bottom of the league table. But this was no easy task as Ulster
still fielded a strong team. The game was filled with plenty of action and both teams were ahead at various times of the game. But by the end of the game Leinster
had
a very narrow lead of just 2 goals, which left the final score at 34-32. The 2
nd game saw Connaught
and Munster both missing some key players but had to play the game for both points and pride. This game got off to a good start for Munster
as they pulled 2 goals ahead early in the game. Connaught
got it back to level by the end of the quarter with 2 good turnovers in a row. Connaught
started the 2
nd quarter with some nice play and a goal to go 1 ahead and for the next few minutes it was goal for goal and the match was tied. A dropped ball by Munster
saw Connaught go 1 goal up and then a good press and turn over made it 2 goals in a row for Connaught
. By half time Connaught had stretched the lead to 4 goals. Munster
had a great start to the 3
rd quarter and clawed back two goals. The 4
th quarter began and Connaught
got 3 ahead once again and kept the pressure on forcing some mistakes and winning some turnovers. The game finished out with a Connaught
victory 37-33 and again raised them from the foot of the league table.
The 3rd game started after a lovely lunch put on by Ron’s mother thank you Mrs O’ Keeffe. This game between Connaught and Leinster who were both tied on 4 points in the league table got off to a very good start for the Leinster team who kept a good press on and had built up a good lead by the end off the 1st quarter. Leinster kept the pressure on and by half time they were well ahead. The 3rd quarter saw Connaught pull back a few goals after some mistakes by Leinster. But the lead was big enough to see Leinster run out winners in the end 45-14 and pull 2 points away from Connaught again. The 4th and final game of the day was between Munster and Ulster and this game would decide who would be leading the league table. It was anybody’s game with both teams missing key players but Ulster got the better start and kept the pressure on to build up a good lead and the game finished out 47-25 in Ulster’s favour which seen them once again claim the top spot in the table with 8 points. The next fixture is on the 18th of July in Laois and should be a great day with all teams in touching distance of the top spot the pressure will be kept on Ulster.