Clondalkin’s 3rd XV saw off Cill Dara to raise the Leinster North Midlands Speirs Cup in Naas on Saturday 3rd May. Slightly overcast with little wind, in perfect conditions for rugby, two evenly matched sides took to the pitch to contest this Speirs final, a contest last won by Clondalkin in 2012. The opening exchanges were mostly tit for tat with both sides looking for weaknesses to exploit. Clondalkin were the first to demonstrate a frailty when a lack of concentration from a quick Cill Dara 22, saw the Kildare men make 80 metres to score a try in the corner, which went unconverted. Galvanized into action, Clondalkin’s Ciaran Heaney made a fine individual break from inside his own half to score close to the posts after avoiding at least four attempts to tackle him.
Colin Lyons conspired to miss the relatively easy conversion but made amends soon after by landing a penalty kick to take Clondalkin into an 8-5 lead. Making full use of the rolling substitutions rule, Conor McCrea and Padraig Long were sprung from the bench before half time to give fresh legs and impetus to the Dublin side.
Clondalkin maintained their slender advantage early into the 2nd half with tactics dictating that the ball remain in possession of the increasingly dominant forward pack. Training ground pick and drive exercises paid off in spades when an uninterrupted sequence of these moves brought a 60 metre gain for Clondalkin, superbly finished off by Conor McCrea over the whitewash. Ray Conor did not miss this conversion and Clondalkin held a more comfortable 15-5 lead. Cill Dara made life even more difficult for themselves when they were reduced to 14 men with a straight red card for commends directed at the referee.
With the numerical advantage Clondalkin dictated both territory and possession and despite a Cill Dara penalty kick to reduce the deficit to 15-8, they never looked under serious pressure of conceding a try. Greg Dunne took a yellow card for a maul infringement to even up the numerical equation but Clondalkin finished the stronger side and a Ray Conor penalty kick sealed the result and the trophy. As the newly awarded Leinster Junior Club of the Year, Clondalkin can reflect upon a satisfying end to the rugby season with this trophy and it will sit in the cabinet alongside the other hard won sliverware from 2014 of the Paul Flood, Lalor and Hosie Cups.
Clondalkin J3 XV: C McCauley (Capt), A Brown, D Moore, S Dunne, H Curran, P Hickey, M O’Rourke, R Dunne, D O’Finnegan, C Lyons, C Murphy, R Cooper, R Doyle, J Edgeworth, R Connor. Subs: O McGraw, J Radcliffe, G McCarthy, C McCrea, C Heaney, P Long, S Young.
