Following an excellent win away to Cill Dara in their opening Leinster League Division 1A, all connected with the Dundalk RFC first team were confident of building on that positive start in the first home match of the league season in Mill Road last weekend. Dundalk played host to Tullamore RFC in what was expected to be a tough encounter and so it proved.
The matched kicked off later than usual at 5:30pm and both teams enjoyed a strong start to the game; however it was Tullamore who scored first. With 10 minutes on the clock, Dundalk conceded a penalty just outside their 22, having been judged offside at a ruck. Tullamore duly converted to make the score 3-0. Dundalk attempted to answer back in definitive style with player coach Ene Fa’atau breaking through the defensive line, passing to his cousin and recently signed overseas player for 2012/13, Afa Fa’atau. Afa bounced off a would-be tackler, passing on to winger Rory O’Hagan who was tackled just short of the line. This allowed Tullamore got their hands on the ball and they duly cleared their line to the disappointment of the majority in attendance.
The next significant moment of the match came after 20 minutes. The referee had been left with no choice but to penalise Tullamore for off the ball play, with Tullamore No 7 Rob Connors getting sin binned for stamping. Many in attendance felt that the referee may have acted sooner, but nonetheless this meant that Tullamore was down to 14 men for the next 10 minutes of play and the Dundalk faithful in attendance sensed an opportunity for the home side to wrestle control of the match.
Alas, on 27 minutes this proved to be a false dawn as from a line out within Dundalk’s 22, Tullamore won good possession and mauled from 10 meters out to cross the line for the opening try. This brought the score to 10-0 in favour of the away side, inflicting a psychological blow on the home side having gone further in front while down to 14 men.
On 35 minutes, with Tullamore back to full strength, Dundalk kicked to clear their line. This resulted in the Tullamore fullback gaining easy possession and counter attacking, breaking through 3 soft tackles and offloading to the wing for an easy score in the corner. Frustration ran around the mill road faithful, as the general feeling was the try was too soft and better was expected from the home side. Tullamore missed a difficult conversion and the score remained at 15-0.
It was proving to be an extremely difficult afternoon for Dundalk, who at this stage of the game were defending wave after wave of attack. Dundalk’s younger team where finding things hard going and in some areas lack of experience was showing through. However, few can deny the raw talent which exists in this group and Dundalk showed admirable tenacity in getting back into Tullamore’s half and their persistence was rewarded with a penalty after the referee adjudged Tullamore off side. This set the stage for the previous week’s man of the match, Ultan Murphy, to carry on his run of successful spot kicks for the 2012/2013 season, converting to make it 15-3.
Unfortunately Dundalk could not build on this momentum and normal service was resumed just before the half time whistle. Yet another attack by Tullamore exploited wide gaps in the Dundalk defensive line and a slide pass found Brian Geraghty out wide who duly scored Tullamore’s third try of the half. Tullamore failed to inflict further pain right on half time, missing their second conversion of the game to leave the score at 20-3 going into half time.
Dundalk’s undoubted talent started to shine through in the second half with great attacking runs from the Williams brothers, John and Robert, making life difficult for the opposition. Indeed on 65 minutes Dundalk looked a different side and were now starting to click. They were now a cohesive unit and with great work in the forward line producing quick ball and after 6 phases of hard gained yards the home faithful got cause for celebration with a great try from Robert Shields, cutting a super line to score near the posts. Man of the moment Ultan Murphy kept his incredible run going, converting the try and leaving the score at 20-10 with 17 minutes remaining. Suddenly the game was on and the home support had legitimate hope that the match could be turned around. However, hearts sank on 72 minutes, when once again soft missed tackles out wide cost Dundalk dearly, with Tullamore’s fullback crossing for his 3rd try. Missing the conversion mattered little as the match was now out of Dundalk’s reach at 25-10.
It was a case of what might have been as Dundalk finished the game much stronger, only a knock on when across the line from Afa Fa’atau failing to put much deserved respectability onto the score line. The full time score 25-10 with much cause for hope, but also plenty to work on for Ene Fa’atau on the training ground on Tuesday evening.
Dundalk next match is against Garda away with kick off at 3pm, Saturday 29th September at Westmanstown in West Dublin. A strong away support is needed and we call on all members to make the effort and turn up to cheer on the lads, in what we hope will be a match to put the league campaign back on track for Dundalk RFC.
Team: U Murphy; G lynch; R O’Hagan; R Williams; A Fa’atau; J Williams; T Campbell; R Farrell; J Gray; J Smyth; D Sloan; C Sloan; E Fa’atau; S Martin; G Whately
Subs: D O’Connell; R Shields; K Dorian
