Clondalkin 2nds produced their finest 80 minutes of the season this weekend, dispatching of a very strong Naas side 45-13 to progress to the last 8 of the towns cup. The scoreline might suggest a mismatch, but the opening 20 minutes was anything but, as Naas’ huge pack dominated possession, but Clondalkin’s defence held firm conceding just 3 points in the opening quarter.
The game swung in the home sides favour, when quick thinking from the sharpest player on the park all day, Mikey Russell sent a quick throw in to put Steve Cunningham into space to strip clear of the Naas cover and put Dave Gaule over for the opening score. This was soon followed by more smart thinking from Russell, as a clever kick again found Cunningham on the same wave length, as he gathered superbly and sent John Murphy over in the corner. The giant Naas’ pack wouldn’t have looked out of place in a game of thrones, let alone a game of rugby, and didn’t let these scores distract them as they again set about bludgeoning their way into the Clon 22. Eventually their size told as they mauled over after 10 minutes of incessant pressure.
Rather than dishearten Clondalkin this clearly inspired them, as they opted to move their bigger opponents all over the park. A shorten lineout, sent quick ball to Russell, who was now pulling all the strings at 10, sharp interplay in the midfield eventually found Podge Murphy in space and the Kildare man was more than happy to dot down in the corner against his new found rivals. Not to miss out on the action the Clondalkin pack produced a maul of their own soon after, and marched Naas back deep into their 22, and the pressure eventually told when Steve Costello, crashed through 2 would be tacklers to round off the half 31-8.
An early Naas score meant game on, and coaches Dan Fitzpatrick, Ali Collier and Marty o’brien turned to replacements, Conor Mc Crea, Colum Tighe and Greg Dunne to liven things up. Clondalkin once again held out the Naas onslaught as they laid siege to the Clondalkin line, when they realised there was no way through the Clon defence, they attempt to go around it, but rushed handling was punished as John Murphy fly hacked a stray pass, for the impressive Russell to gather, race 70 meters and produce a fantastic offload to link up with the supporting Dave Gaule who found his scrum half Darragh Ward in space, to finish off a fantastic 100 metre score. The game was then rounded off with a solid Clon scrum and again clever hands from the midfield combo of Russell, Gaule and Cunningham found a smiling Podge Murphy to round of a double in the corner.
They are clearly men on a mission as their stubborn pack took on their enormous task with amazing heart and intensity, with a trio of underage graduates in recent years Tom Mc grath, Bobby Smith and Gar Black winning collision after collision, complimented well by the more experienced leaders of Cullen, Finley, O’Connor and Geoghegan, but there was little doubt the winning of the game was across their backline, as the half backs and Cunningham created chance after chance that their outside backs were more than happy to clinically put away.
The result sees Clondalkin move one step closer to correcting last year’s agonising final defeat. They are rewarded with a gap week to repair the wounds, as the firsts and 4ths take up their own chase for silverware this weekend, with tough home ties on Saturday and Sunday. Dan Fitzpatrick’s men will now face Carlow at home on 29th of March, with the former first team captain saying they’ve won nothing yet and that he won’t be getting the result stitched into his training gear just yet. All support needed for huge few weeks for the club across all sides.
