Longord 2nds (0) vs Clondalkin 2nds (36)

Click on continue for full article

It was a case of demons and dragons in Longford at the weekend with the demons of last years trip to Longford coming back to haunt the firsts while Paul ‘Dragon’ Fitzgerald returned from a long injury lay off to show why he is still the best centre in Clondalkin with a display that had people of the sideline whispering that he may not be far from his vintage best.

The seconds got off to a good start with Maurice Featherstone causing havoc to the Longford defense with his powerful running which forced Longford to give away two kickable penalties which were converted by former Leinster youth player Andy Tyndall. Clon then coughed up some straight forward scoring opportunities before a well worked backs move was finished by the Paul ‘Dragon’ Fitzgerald. Andy Tyndall added to his penalties with another well worked try just before the break.

Clon entered half time upbeat and were expecting the management to ask for more of the same with maybe one or two changes to the gameplan. They did not expect to receive the ear bashing they received from inspirational manager Conor Steed who made it clear that he was not happy with a number of decisions made by the team in the first half. Clon paid heed to Steeds words of warning and were intent on making sure that they performed even better come the second half.

They got the perfect start to the second half when Paddy Curran was set into space following a nice bit of interplay between the backs and forwards to register his first try of the season. Paddy has a long way to go if he wants to rekindle the kind of form from the 2006/2007 season where he scored 42 tries in that season for the first team but judging by this try he is definitely on track for another fine season. Moments later Curran turned provider when he set Derek Murtagh into space who then rounded the winger to register the bonus point winning try. With the bonus point secured it was time for Clondalkin to rest their backrow as Maurice Featherstone suffered a nasty eye injury and had been made to bleed his own blood earlier in the game while Derek Murtagh was playing the game with a chest infection. Ronal Cooper and David Jebb were brought on to replace these two.

The U19 star Jebb, who had been impressive for the thirds last week, continued with his excellent form and got straight into the action with a 40 metre break up the middle of the pitch. This break put Clon into a position from which returning outhalf Dave Shirley was able to release Chris Kelly to register Clons fifth and final try. Longford began applying pressure in the last ten minutes but Clons defense were intent on not giving away a single score. However, a number of Longford players seemed more interested in landing a few sly punches on the Clondalkin players than scoring a point which meant Clon were able to easily defend their line. Final score was 36-0.

This bonus point win sees Clon sit at the top of the table following round 1 of the league. Next up is Mullingar. Clon will need to build on this performance and launch a challenge for the league. One disappointment feature of the weekend was the no show of Paul Hickey who came down with a stomach bug after eating something funny on Saturday. Clondalkinrugby.com would like to wish Paul a speedy recovery as we all know what its like to eat something funny when you’ve had a load of pints at a Christening and then head out celebrating your birthday the day before a game.

2nd team captain Kev Cullen had this to say “I’m glad that we took the win here today. The lads have been working hard in training and it showed true with a defensive effort that kept Longford to nil. Our scrum had a lot to prove after last week and Sean Dunne and Owly really stepped up the plate. I was also impressed with our backs in particular John Nolan and Dave Shirley who were instrumental in all our tries. Although it is nice to register a first league game win we cannot get carried away with ourselves as we have Mullingar next week so we need to start focusing on that encounter”.

Added by Murts September 21, 2009 (3:57PM)

Have a comment? Please register