Clondalkin seconds suffered from the hangover of their Lalor Cup hatrick with a disappointing defeat away to Ashbourne last Saturday. Playing against the form seconds team in Leinster rugby, Clondalkin needed to be on their game but allowed themselves to be beaten up by a dominant forward unit.
Clons efforts were not helped by the late arrival of key players and the somewhat fractured warm up was evident in the first ten minutes with Clon getting off to a pedestrian start and coming off second best in the early collisions.
Ashbournes game plan was based around their big 12 carrying ball up off set pieces and the presence of Mark Molloy and Stevey Cunningham, at 10 and 12 respectively, ensured the big ball carrier was stopped on or before the gain line each time. However, their busier pack were on hand to recycle quickly which allowed them to make yards off subsequent plays each time.
Clon were trailing 13-0 after 20 minutes and it took a massive hit from Ciaran O Connor to finally wake up the visiting team. The devastating tackle left O’Connors #1 fan, Una Maguire, delighted and she welcomed her Cork boyfriends rib tickler by promising him that he’d be allowed out to Coppers one of the nights this week.
Clon entered the break 16-0 down at half time and it appeared as though it was game set and match when Ashbourne breached the whitewash early in the second half. However the team are known for their never say die attitude and the introduction of former Leinster Youth star Andy Tyndall seemed to lift the team somewhat. However it was the sin binning of captain Brian Berry that finally raised the Clon spirits. Berry was binned for clearing out the opposition hooker with his studs after the number 2 brought down a rampaging maul before deliberately killing the ball. What added the most annoyance to the team was that the hooker then strook Berry on the chin without any punishment.
With Mark Molloy now in at 9 the seconds back line finally sprung to life with John Nolan and Andy Tyndall contributing in the run up to Stevey Cunninghams try. With the scores now at 24-7 Clon went in the search of a losing bonus point but a hopeful offload was intercepted by the Ashbourne winger who went from their 5m line to score the final try of the game which ended 31-7.
Clon will definitely take a lot from this game and now know that not only will they have to replicate the form of last weeks Athy game but far exceed it if they are to push for Towns Cup glory. Ashbourne were on form today and each of the Clondalkin players were well below last weeks performance with the exception of flanker Neil Finlay who was kept on his toes at the sight of Derek Murtagh making a return to the seconds bench after over 5 years out with knee problems. Another returning player who showed signs of form was Luke Sweetman making a comeback after a short layoff.
Coach Dan Fitzpatrick had this to say after the game “We now know the level we need to be at and we were far from it today. I’m glad we learned this lesson because we will sort these issues out in training for future games but we need full attendance from all the players”.
(Thanks to Derek Murtagh for report)
