Mullingar 2nds (7) vs Clondalkin 2nds (41)

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Clondalkin’s high flying second string were on the road for the second consecutive week, this time travelling to Mullingar. The midlander’s failed to field a team in the first meeting of the two in Gordan Park, and were removed from the league, so the match was deemed a ‘friendly’. But as the game unfolded it was clear to see it was in name only, as tempers rose on more than one occasion. The ref quiet rightly didn’t over react as so many others do, and continued to let the game flow whilst resisting the urge to go to his pocket.

Clondalkin started the better, and 4 successive forward phases allowed Clondalkin’s razor sharp backline take advantage of a massive overlap, with Ronan Murphy touching down, minutes into his debut in the gold and blue. Andy Tyndall was on target with the conversion leaving the score 7-0. The rest of the half was a stalemate, with Clondalkin not getting things all their own way as they had hoped. But, two knockout blows right before halftime removed any doubt about the result. Firstly Bren Ward turned over a Mullingar lineout on his own 5 meter line, allowing the forwards to maul it out of the danger zone, and outhalf Dave Gaule having noticed the opposition back 3 dropping deep for the expected clearance decided to run it instead. Good hands allowed Dave Behan race 50 meters only to be dragged down by cover tackles, but quick ball allowed Gaule and his centres release Carl Horan on the other wing to touchdown between the posts. Tyndall again converted, and was on target again minutes later. As the clock ticked over the 40 minute mark, he lined up what seemed to be a 100/1 drop goal attempt, only to prove doubters wrong by nailing the 50 meter drop with a bit to spare leaving the score at 17-0 at half time.

Soon after the turnaround Clondalkin continued to press for scores as firsly the ever impressive Ray Kelly touched down, and then more good work from debutant Murphy resulted in another soon after. The new signing barged a hole in the opposition midfield and fed Maurice Fetherson in support who’s all action performance the reward it deserved. At this stage, Mullingar’s defence was all at sea and Dave Gaule again made use of another overlap this time chipping cross field to Dave Behan to score wide in the corner.

Mullingar rallied one last time and eventually found a rare hole in the clondalkin defence to manage a consolation score. But Clondalkin did have the last word with Ronan Murphy capping a fine debut with a second touchdown, that left the final score at 41-7 and despite picking up no league points, the performance did a lot to boost confidence in the squad heading into the vital last few rounds. With a week off this week, their next game will see them entertain Portarlington at home on February 7th.

Added by Murts January 26, 2010 (12:27PM)

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