Local water polo players scooped the top prize at the Irish u-14 Water-Polo Championship held in the Salthill Hotel’s Ocean Fitness pool.
Corrib Water Polo Club overcame arch-rivals at junior level, St Vincents from Dublin, by 5 - 4 when local hero and the player of the tournament Aonghus Naughton scored the winning goal just seconds before full time.
The local club had to overcome a slow start after conceding two goals early in the first quarter. A fine goal set up between captain Keelan Ward and top-scorer Naughton, and a penalty from Naughton after forcing the St Vincent’s goalie to put the ball under the water, levelled the scores 2-2 at half-time.
St Vincents bounced back with a goal and looked certain to pull away again after earning a penalty, but goalie Joseph McNamara made a spectacular save. Corrib introduced Tobi Ritter as full forward who quickly brought the score level again, but despite sterling work by full-back Rory Knight, St Vincents pulled ahead again to lead 4-3 going into the final quarter. Corrib’s superior fitness began to show with excellent work from Conor Smyth, Daragh Keady and Marc Mulligan, and continued top-class defending from Rory Knight.
Corrib equalised with less than two minutes when Naughton again hammered home a penalty, and he became the hero when scoring a stunning individual goal, after dispossessing and turning the St Vincent’s team captain with 48 seconds to give Corrib the lead and the victory.
En route to the final Corrib enjoyed comprehensive wins over Clontarf (12-1 ) and Guinness (13-1 ), Clonard from Belfast (12- 3 ) and semi-finalists Sandycove (9-4 ).
