Clondalkin (19)vs Tullamore (66)

Towns Cup
27 Jan 07
Article by Jonny Stapleton
Pictures by Ludovic Daly

Tullamore ensured there were no FA Cup style romantics in the Towns Cup in Gordon Park last Sunday inflicting cup heartbreak on Clondalkin with a stylish nine try rout.
Division 3 stalwarts Clondalkin would have high hopes causing an upset in Irish Rugbys oldest cup competition after ending the infallible records both Arklow and Athy in recent weeks.
But their Division 1 counterparts and the cups third seeds ensured the competitions latest entrants failed in their bid to secure a first ever Towns Cup victory. The near half century points difference highlights the quality and potency of the Offally natives backline, but doesn’t do justice to the fight and effort of the combative hosts.

A visiting century, however, looked a likely outcome after just 15 minutes as Tullamore stormed into a 21-0 lead. The creative Ivan Dunne, aided by a host of missed tackles, opened the scoring after just 3 minutes before inspiring a score for out half Gearoid O’Grady moments later. A Barbarian’s style try worthy of a Stanely James advert from Ivor Scully eventually sparked Clondalkin into life and their pack got them back into the game. Two close range Maurice Featherstone tries either side of a O’Grady penalty brought the result back into question and made for a more entertaining tie.

A power versus panache battle ensued as the home pack went head to head with the visiting back line in a bid for a place in round two. The power of the Gordon Park natives front 8 inspired the hosts into the ascendancy, but they failed to register a single score during their temporary spell of dominance, wasting two close range line outs in a short space of time. Another glaring missed tackle saw Ivor Deveral take advantage of his brother Rory’s break to ghost under the posts.

But after the poor start they suffered a 12-31 half time score-line wouldn’t have seemed to bad for the hosts.
But Clondalkin failed to heed the half time advice still getting caught for numbers out wide and it didn’t take long for Tullamore to exploit the organisational weakness. This time Paul O’Grady broke the gain line and gratefully touched down under the cross bar. Clondalkin’s all time top scorer Paul Fitzgerald gave temporary hope for the hosts with a fine intercept try soon after, but as the game wore on the superior fitness and speed of thought of the Division 1 team proved to much for the Dublin side.

An exceptional defensive display from scrum half Brian Berry did limit the effectiveness of his opposite number, which in turn stifled Tullamore’s expansive game, but visitors still managed four late efforts to put an unfair gloss on the score board.





Clondalkin: K Kelly, B Doyle, C Maloney, S Brennan, F Butler, M Featherstone, K Hanlon, P Nolan, B Berry, P Sexton, P Fitzgerald, S Cunningham, P Fitzgerald, J Gallagher subs: O McGraw, B Ward, A Collier.

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Added by Murts January 29, 2008 (3:24PM)

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