Nolan tops portlaoise

Clondalkin 36 Portlaoise 8 Article by Jonny Stapleton A ruthless and cut throat Clondalkin first team put Portlaoise to the sword in Gordon Park last Sunday morning to move within a game of their first ever Hoise Cup final.

A clinical Clondalkin registered points every time the visited the opposition 22 knocking up an impressive win over divisionally superior opposition and setting up a mouth watering group decider with Division 1 outfit Cill Dara in the process.

So impressive was the performance captain Dan Fitzpatrick was forced to play down talk the Dublin side could possible installed as Leinster League Division 2 promotion favourites after the game.

In keeping with the Hoise cup pre season theme the Gordon Park side gave an number of fringe players a chance to impress and they all impressed on the big stage.

The changed but yet un-weakened side made a positive start and stole ahead via the reliable boot of Chris Jebb. The visitors hit back almost instantly with a penalty of their own but it wasn’t long before Clondalkin registered the first try of the game in their first significant venture into opposition territory.

Magnetic battering ram Brian ‘Bruiser’ Doyle charged down the Portlaois middle sucking in what ever cover he didn’t send tumbling before Alan Hickey, who officially became a veteran when turning 31 over the weekend, complimented Doyle’s power with panache by floating an pass of King Carlos Spencer quality into the path of Jebb. The bandaged up full back then sent John Nolan, who was in the team as a replacement for his younger brother Niall, scampering home before adding the extra’s to make it 10-3.

The referee then began to rightfully reprimand the home side for their rugby sins and a high penalty count gave ‘Laois the chance to get back into the game, but fortunately for Clon, unlike the adjudicator the visitors were not in a punishing mood.

The Laois outfit wasted a number of kicking opportunities to reduce the deficit. However it wasn’t just visiting mistakes that enabled Clon to maintain their lead. The home side’s defence was proving effective and stingy. In possibly his last game for the side Derek Glennon was a menace in the back row. Sean Dunne was second to only our lord in the amount of places he could be at once and the prop registered some big and essential hits. Paul McDermott was also defensively effective as was the returning Seanie Brennan, Fitzpatrick and Andy Dixon.

After weathering the storm Clon registered a second try in what was just their second visit to the opposition 22. Doyle was once again paramount. The hooker made a trade mark break from 22 to 22 and Gavin Greene made irrelevant his inability to finish by eventually diving over after good work from Gary Donnelly and Mark Dugan.

The visitors did show some quality and hit back before the turn. A mammoth on the line effort from Conor Maloney and Dunne only served to stave off the inevitable and the firsts eventually became the only side in the club to concede all weekend leaving it 17-8 at the break.

A Glennon yellow card minutes after the restart threatened to hand the initiative to Portlaois but Clon were not in the mood to loose and ensured victory with 25 minutes still to play.

Brennan stole an opposition line out and the quick thinking Duggan scampered down the unprotected five meter channel before setting Doyle loose once more. The serial man of the match winner then found Brennan who in turn feed Conor’ the penguin’ Cashlin with a reverse pass and the substitute scored the most celebrated and beautiful try of the day.

The scoring didn’t there however and two more fringe players staked their place for a start when the league comes around. First Kevin Cullen powered over from close range after intricate work from centres Dixon and Greene to allow Jebb to make it 29-8.

Then John Nolan, who was a man of the match contender for the seconds the week previous, eclipsed his brothers 2009-2010 season tally in one first team game when he finished brilliantly after Greene and the Mark Molly combined well down the blind to leave it 36-8 at full time.

Added by admin September 6, 2010 (11:47PM)

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