ST JOSEPH’S Sharks went down fighting in the Under 17 Yorkshire Youth League play-off final, eventually being beaten 46-40 by Leeds outfit Harehills Pigeons.

Harehills had gone through their league campaign undefeated.

The game was held at Sharlston Rovers’ Weeland Road ground and the game got off to a terrible start for the Sharks as they allowed the Leeds District champions to run riot and take a 16-point lead in the first 10 minutes.

That prompted the introduction of Tom Beaumont and his first drive resulted in a try that seemed to wake the rest of his teammates.

Before long, Sharks were back in the game, and what a contest it became!

Hard yards were made by Frazer Morris and Sam Whitworth, which gave a platform for Tom Swift, Parmvir Singh and Liam Doughty to put on some great attacking plays.

Neither side were at the top of their game defensively, but that led to an enthralling encounter.

There were some stunning breaks by the Harehills’ full-back, who has been signed by Warrington, but these were more than matched by Joes’ No1 Jakob Garside.

Garside showed great vision in one break down the right wing as he ran 40 yards and put a deft chip kick through for the supporting Beaumont to gather and ground the ball under the sticks.

Centre Liam Slater wasn’t to be outdone and a fantastic break down the same wing saw him show a clean pair of heels to Harehill’s defence to plant the ball down in the corner.

The scores continued to see-saw and Danny McPherson scored another Sharks try in the corner, but every time the Joes got their noses in front, Harehills would again take the lead.

Joes had to shuffle their players towards the end of the first half as hooker Ryan Swift suffered a rib injury, but Liahm Thurtle slotted in neatly to keep the game flowing.

Morris was unlucky not to add to the scoreline when, after a typical rampaging run, he barged his way through the full-back and winger to score what seemed to be a perfectly good try, only to have it chalked off as ‘held up’.

The Pigeons instantly responded to score at the opposite end of the field and another try soon after opened up a two-score lead for the Leeds outfit.

The Sharks battled to the finish and Jordan Cogan managed to power his way across for a try late on, but it was Harehills who were celebrating at the final whistle.

Coaches Craig Lee and Andy Thurtle were disappointed at the defeat, but were immensely proud of the way the team had fought back from 16 points down to push Harehills all the way.

The Sharks were 28-10 winners against Sherburn Bears in Group Two of the Yorkshire Junior League’s Under 11 section.

Joes were quickly out of the blocks and Fred Woodhouse, making his first start of the season, scored in the first minute.

With Joes dominating the game, Woodhouse ran in another two tries, both converted by Ethan Myers.

Just before half-time Sherburn capitalised on some sloppy Joes defending to make the half-time score 16-4.

St Joseph’s started the second half the way they finished the first and unforced errors and poor defending let Sherburn in again. They also added the conversion to narrow Joes advantage to just six points.

This seemed to have a negative effect on the Sharks, and their disjointed team performance looked as though it was going to cost them the win.

Fortunately, an individual moment of skill from Woodhouse saw him break from deep inside his own half and he set off on a 70-metre run to the try line and, within touching distance of the line, he produced a generous off-load which allowed Will Greenan to score.

Woodhouse then scored his fourth try to ensure victory and earn him the opposition’s and the Shark’s man of the match awards, while the Grafter award went to Danny Fisher.