On a day that saw three of the Club’s senior men’s teams in action and recording victories, Clondalkin’s 3rd XV got their league campaign off the mark with a hard-fought win over Stillorgan’s 1st XV on Saturday 15th November in Kingswood.
After a slow start, Clon applied early pressure to the Stillorgan line but failed to get over the whitewash. However, 2 successful penalty kicks from Ray Connor saw the home team build a 6-0 advantage over the visitors. Having lost Captain Jason Radcliffe to an injury mid-way through the half, Stillorgan mounted a fightback with some excellent defense led by man of the match Will Eustace keeping the away team at bay. However, the penalty count against the home team was increasing and 2 successful kicks from Stillorgan pegged the scores back to 6 points each, heading into the break.
Clon’s PJ McCauley blotted his copybook with a yellow card on 40 minutes and the Kingswood men had to manage with just 14 men for the first 10 minutes of the second half. McCauley was to make amends soon after returning to the fray with a typically powerful run he forced his way over the line to record Clon’s first try of the game, converted by stand-in captain Colin Lyons to put a 7 point gap between the sides. Stillorgan’s third successful penalty brought the gap back to just 4 points before the move of the match saw some excellent hands leading to winger Jack Collins crossing the whitewash to record Clon’s second try. Resolute defending by Clondalkin denied Stillorgan any chance of a clawing back the lead with just a further 3 pointer their only score registered – the game closed out 18 points to 12.
Clondalkin 3rd XV: C McCauley, A Browne, D Moore, S Ryan, PJ McCauley, G Dunne, J Radcliffe, W Eustace, R Doyle, C Lyons, C Murphy, O Foster, J Edgeworston, J Collins, R Connor. Subs: S McKenna, H McKenna, D Daley, M Reynolds, P Mortimer.
Clondalkin’s 1st XV recorded their first ever away win in Leinster League Division 1A with a 32-25 victory in Cill Dara. The visitors scored 22 points without reply in the second half with Mikey Russell getting their third try and Chris Jebb ensuring they returned to Dublin with the maximum 5 points in the bag. This win sees them consolidate 3rd place in Division 1A on 15 points, with 2 home matches to look forward to in the run up to Christmas. Earlier on Saturday, Clon’s 2nd XV got an important 5-0 victory against Cill Dara to bag their first win of the League campaign, enabling them to move off the foot of the table above Cill Dara.
