Match Report: Clondalkin 59 vs 8 Roscrea, Leinster Provincial Towns Cup Quarter Final.
Clondalkin firsts made up for the disappointment of losing their relegation playoff match to Wicklow last weekend with a convincing 59-8 victory over Roscrea in the Towns Cup quarter-final on Sunday. The result sets up an enticing repeat fixture against Wicklow in the semi in two weeks time.
The scoreline somewhat takes away from the effort put in by Roscrea who in fact were first to cross the try line after some nice interplay between their backs and forwards. This score shocked Brian Doyle’s men into action and a wonderful Chris Jebb touch finder was touched by the defending winger as it crossed the line 5 metres out. Quick thinking Thomas Ankers, retrieved the ball and threw a quick lineout to Paul Nolan who barged over for the first try of the game.
Clondalkin were starting to find their groove and the centre combination of Matt Stapleton and Barry Mulloy were getting beyond the first tackler every time they carried the ball. Stapleton took a huge rib crunching tackle early on which seen Peter the Physio grabbing his bag and making a dash for the field. However the son of the clubs legendary Eamonn is proving to be cut from the same cloth as he was up and running before Peter could get on to the field. A quick show and go from scrum-half Colm Quinn allowed the Munsterman power over and put Clondalkin into the lead.
Stapleton was involved in the next piece of action this time reacting to a knee to the top of his head from the Roscrea 8. This ended up in the two exchanging handbags and the irony of Shrek coming into calm the situation down was not lost on the onlooking crowd. Both players received yellow cards and Clon were awarded the penalty. Clon went to the corner where captain Brian Doyle demonstrated pin point accuracy with his lineout throw. Roscrea were able to repel the resulting maul but a fine step from Chris Jebb allowed him to power over for the third try of the game.
Clons fourth of the game came from another superb throw from Bruiser to 6 in the lineout. This allowed Colm Quinn make a half break and a fine offload to Jebb as he went to ground allowed the backline to move the ball wide to the opposite wing before Dave Gaule carried into the opponents 22. A quick clear out let Clondalkin spread the ball back to midfield with Shrek bursting through the defensive line carrying 4 defending players with him. The man who is not afraid to carry extra weight around was brought to ground just shy of the line but he somehow managed to offload to Quinn who went over for his second.
The fifth of the game came after a Conor Maloney powered scrum allowed Simon King to go over unchallenged from 5 metres out. Roscrea to their credit never gave up trying and put Clon under pressure close to their line until a James Kenny intercept two metres out ended their effort. The sixth try came via another Maloney powered scrum this time with man of the match Neil Finlay going over after Kingo was stopped just shy of the line.
Kingo was intent on getting over for his second and soon gave a demonstration of power and speed as he fended off 3 defenders on his way over the line.
It had been a bad weekend for Matt Stapleton first giving himself a dodgy looking haircut, then receiving a hospital pass from Chris Jebb early in the game before being targeted for some harsh treatment from the Roscrea pack so it would have given him great pleasure to chip over and then outpace their number 8 on his way to Clondalkin’s final try.
The game gave much needed confidence to the team ahead of their upcoming semi-final with special mentions for man of the match Niall Finlay all action style of play, Chris Jebbs faultless display with the boot from hand and the tee, Thomas Ankers ongoing development all season earning him the name T.Ankers and Gar Black’s softening of the Roscrea front row ahead of Maloney’s introduction.
Captain Brian Doyle had this to say after the game “Last week was a disappointing day for the club and I’m delighted with the way the boys responded. We have two weeks to prepare for Wicklow and will be intent on getting to the clubs first ever Towns Cup final”.
(with thanks to Murts)
