Clondalkin traveled south to take on Kilkenny in their home patch for the second time this season, as first place played second for the inaugural Leinster Metro League Division 11 title. In the end the home team saw off a spirited Clondalkin side by 22 points to 13.
Coming in to the game, Clondalkin did not lack in motivation – on offer to the winners was the newly-commissioned Stapleton Cup, named after Clondalkin founder member, the late Chris Stapleton and whose sons Eamon and John remain stalwarts of the Dublin Club. Indeed, one of the main reason reasons why Clondalkin’s 4th XV had advanced to the final was Eamon Stapleton who continues to defy father time with consistently excellent performance on the pitch. Unfortunately a knee injury ended his chances of playing in this match but nevertheless, Clondalkin had a good mixture of experience and youth to take on a grizzled Kilkenny side. A driving wind was to dictate the progress of each half and having won the toss, Clondalkin began the first with this wind directly behind them. Kilkenny set their stall out early – gain field position and use a powerful driving maul from their lineout which the relatively lighter away team had difficulty containing throughout. However, it was Clondalkin who were first off the mark with a successful Alan Hickey penalty kick from the right hand side. Kilkenny responded with a kick of their own which drifted wide before a consistent bout of pressure saw the referee award the home team a try, despite Clondalkin protests that the ball did not cross the line. Gary McTiernan put Clondalkin back ahead with a 2nd successful penalty before Philly Byrne chased up his own grubber kick from scrum half and after the Kilkenny winger overshot the bouncing ball, Byrne was hand to apply downward pressure and score the try, which was successfully converted by Alan Hickey. Kilkenny had to the chance claw back points with the final play of the half, but in ignoring a 3 man overlap, the home team flanker butchered the opportunity and some hard tackling ensured he was held up over the line.
A half time lead of 13 points to 5 for Clondalkin was going to be tough to maintain given the fact that Kilkenny would play the 2nd half with the wind at their backs. Despite this Clondalkin put up an admirable fight with the forward pack working hard with some excellent picking and driving. A turnover from a Clondalkin ruck gave Kilkenny an opportunity to counter attack and their strong-running centre evaded a number of tackles to score under the posts which they converted to leave the gap at just a point. Kilkenny began to apply increased pressure through their lineout maul, using their heavy forwards to drive deep into the Clondalkin half. The only relief for Clondalkin came in the form of strong ball carrying cameos from Cian Murphy and John Mooney but on their own they were not enough to break down the Kilkenny defense. A penalty kick and a converted final minute try from the home team left Clondalkin with a mountain too high to climb and the final whistle saw Kilkenny win out a deserved 22 – 13.
Despite the final result, Clondalkin can be very proud of their league campaign. For a junior Leinster club to field 4 full senior mens teams on any given Saturday is no small achievement and the 4ths have played a significant role in introducing new club members to rugby while at the same time providing a vehicle for some of the wise old heads to extend their playing careers.
