One eye on next week costs Clon victory

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Clondalkin 19 v Kilkenny 20

Clondalkin RFC players woke up this Monday morning asking where did it all go wrong. With 5 league games remaining clon needed to win just 3 to assure themselves of promotion and if they managed the unthinkable and win 5 out of 5 they would have put their name on the silverware. What transpired was even more unthinkable and that was Clondalkin loosing 4 out of 5 of these games including one to the now relegated Gorey. This loosing streak culminated in a 20-19 defeat to Kilkenny which now leaves Clon with a mouth watering promotion-relegation play off game with Portarlington, the team that progressed to Division 1B at Clons expense last season.

Clon fielded a team that was close to full strength and were always in with a chance of winning but unfortunalty played like a team who were resigned to having face Portarlington this Sunday coming. As it transpired the result was irrelevant as Ashbourne secured second place with a win over Clane. Clon opened the scoring with a Chris Jebb penalty but Kilkenny took the league after powering over for a deserved try. The moment of the first half came via a Sean Dunne dump tackle on one of the Kilkenny front row shortly after their try. Another Jebb penalty saw Clon go into half time at 6-5 up. It was from here that Clon were supposed to kick on and despite a fierce rallying call from captain Dan Fitzpatrick, that was so full of expletives that Emma McKeever was forced to cover her sons ears, Clon came out into the second half like a team that were more focussed on avoiding injury than putting Kilkenny to the sword.

Kilkenny got the first score of the second half before a Jebb drop goal took Clon back in front. The teams battled up front for large periods of the second half, a tactic that seemed rather strange given the enormous side of the Kilkenny pack and given the fact their backs were probably bigger than their forwards and did not seem to have anyone with the sort of pace exuded by Carl Horan, Gary Donnelly or Niall Nolan. Kilkenny got a penalty and two drop goals out of the forward exchanges while Clon came close via a Mark Molloy break but his lack of size that helped him break away proved his downfall when he came up just short when reaching out for the line. Clon were 17-9 down with 20 minutes to go and it was veteran full back Stevey Cunningham who took the bull by his horns and powered over to take the score to 17-14. In fact a special mention must go to the man they once called Superman for his determination and bravery throughout the game. If Clon play with his bravery next week there will only be one winner. Jebb converted to bring the game to a one point game. Another Clon penalty put them ahead for the first time since the first score of the game. Unfortunalty another drop goal from the precise boot of the Kilkenny outhalf at the death inflicted another defeat on the team.

Next up is Portarlington and Clon will be bolstered by the availability of dynamic back row Simon King. Clons past two seasons hinge on the next 80 minutes of rugby and all the players will be aware of this each and every time they carry a ball on Sunday and puts their body on the line going into contact. Every single collision will be vital to the clubs success and no single player will be willing to give an inch. This is their last contribution to this season of rugby and they know they have to do the talking on the pitch and not in the club, the pub or even on certain websites. The club is not short on form or ability despite what has been said about them and finally tagging the players with the underdog status will bring out the best in them. It is when we allowed ourselves to think of us as favourites that we did not bring the top two inches to the game and were not willing to sacrifice our bodies. This week is winner takes all and the magnitude of the game will not be lost on the players so we urge all our fans to make the trip to Athy next Sunday at 3pm. Its as simple as this Winner plays in Div 1B in 2011-12, loser in Div 2.

Added by admin April 5, 2011 (11:43AM)

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