A brave performance by a depleted Clondalkin 4ths side was not enough against RCSI’s first team on Saturday 11th October in this Leinster Metro Division 11 game, held in Santry.
Kicking off with just 12 men due to injures and late arrivals, Clondalkin started the brighter side and a inch-perfect cross kick by Alan Hickey fell into the welcoming arms of Eoin Bracken who dotted down in the corner after just 5 minutes. This early lead was to last just 3 minutes however as RCSI ran a backline move which penetrated the away team defense and scored a converted try under the posts to lead 7 – 5. Good Clondalkin pressure followed with both Paul Gifford and Stephen Tyndall prominent but a loose ball at a lineout was pounced upon by the medical students and they got their second try of the game to lead 12 – 5. On the half hour mark, RCSI scored their third try after a further backline move. After the restart, Clondalkin Captain Brendan Ward was taken out off the ball and his understandable reaction to this was picked up by the referee who gave him his marching orders. Down a man, the away team rallied with Andy Tyndall on his first start of the season making light of some RCSI tackles to score Clondalkin’s second try, converted by Hickey. A successful penalty kick shortly afterwards by Hickey, brought the RCSI lead back to just 2 points as the half time whistle blew, the score 17-15 for the home side.
Despite an upbeat Clondalkin team-talk at the break, the relatively younger and fresher legs of the student team began the second half in more energetic fashion and scored two tries within the first 13 minutes to stretch their lead to 29 points to 15. Clondalkin’s tactics were to keep the ball tight and having forced a lineout just 5 metres out, Paul Gifford showed determination to reach a loose slap down from RCSI and score in the corner. Hickey landed the difficult conversion to bring the game back to just a 7 points deficit. Unfortunately for Clondalkin, this was to be as close as it got as RCSI scored two tries in quick succession, making the away team pay for some poor defence. Nevertheless, heads did not drop and once again Clondalkin grinded out hard yards after an excellent lineout catch by Stephen Kenny before Andy Tyndall went over for his second try of the game. There was still time for RCSI to mount one further attack against the tired legs of the Clondalkin men and their final score left the result at 48 points to 27. This scoreline flattered RCSI but Clondalkin can take significant pride from having crossed the line on 4 occasions by dint of sheer hard work while the majority of the tries conceded can be put down as relatively soft scores. A further plus point was the sight of Derek Murtagh putting in (almost) 80 minutes after knee reconstruction and a number of years out of the game.
Clondalkin 4ths XV: A Tyndall, D Kavanagh, J Foley, E Bracken, A Hickey, R Skelton, P Gifford, D Noonan, C Steed, S Tyndall, B Ward, D Murtagh, S Kenny, C Murray.
