Match Report: Clondalkin 63 vs 0 Midland Warriors, Leinster Provincial Towns Cup, Sunday 21st February 2016.
Clondalkin put their league struggles aside as they surged into the quarter finals of the Leinster Towns Cup with a 63-0 demolition of Midland Warriors on Sunday 21st February in Gordon Park.
The visitors from Westmeath ply their trade in Leinster League Division 2B and faced a significant step up to mount a challenge against Clondalkin from Division 1A. The weather conditions added another dimension to the match with a strong wind, driving rain and a wet pitch to contend with – however to their credit both sides did not resort to the boot but looked to keep ball in hand. Clondalkin had the edge in the scrum and it was from this platform that the first score arrived – a Warriors set piece was going backwards at speed and Clon spun the turnover ball wide to Barry Mulloy who touched down under the posts. Chris Jebb added the extras and Clon were ahead 7-0 after just 7 minutes. On 18 minutes, another turnover scrum in the Clondalkin half saw Simon King pick from the base and make 50 yards before the move broke down – the handling conditions meant that both sides struggled to maintain possession for any length of time.
Ben Foran was the second try scorer for Clon after 23 minutes after his jinking run evaded a number of attempted tackles. Jebb added the extras and was again involved just 3 minutes later when he broke out of defense on the right wing to put Ali Collier in the clear. While the years may have been kind to his good looks, the same cannot be said for his legs and Collier was hauled down just feet from the try line. Matt Stapleton was next to leave points behind when he dropped a pass with the line a begging just 2 yards out. The pressure was all Clondalkin’s though, with the team from Moate never seriously threatening the home line.
14-0 at half time was small reward for their dominance but Clon had the wind in their back for the second half and immediately after the break, Darren Madden went over to extend the lead to 21 points after the conversion. Faultless throughout with the boot, Chris Jebb played his own part in the try scoring after his brother Karl powered his way through the Warriors midfield only to stumble with the line at his mercy. Next on the score sheet was Captain Brian Doyle after 23 minutes of the second half, quickly followed by Colm Quinn and on 33 minutes Matt Stapleton dotting down. With the Warriors never giving up and continuing to run the ball, the number of dropped balls and passes presented further scoring opportunities to Clon and Colm Quinn completed a second half hat-trick with two tries on the 35th and 39th minutes to close out the scoring, 63 points to nil.
In the next round draw Lady Luck favoured Clondalkin with a home match in the quarter final – the date is Sunday 20th March and the opponents will be Roscrea when Clon will be looking to get into the semi-finals for the second year in a row.
