Dundalk travelled to Newbridge, who were one spot ahead of them on the league table on Saturday. It was a dry day with a little breeze and the pitch was in great conditions after all the rain. The Dundalk players where looking forward to playing a fast, running game. There were the usual hard core of supporters who travelled down from Dundalk to cheer on the men from the town.
It didn’t take long for Dundalk to give the travelling support something to cheer about, as on 6 minutes a quick ball off a strong scrum was spread wide to winger Owen Mc Nally who was charged like a cannon ball as he powered his way pass three tacklers to cross the try line and touch down under the posts. This left full back Ultan Murphy with a very gettable conversion chance, and he duly converted leaving the score line7-0 after 7 minutes.
Both teams started well, but penalties were the order of the day as Dundalk where confused time and again with the referee’s decisions. It seemed to the away team that whenever Dundalk were attacking and trying to get some momentum going they where penalised at ruck time for decisions that didn’t seem correct.
A direct result of one such baffling penalty, on the 25th minute a long kick from the Newbridge full back saw the ball bounced just inside Dundalk’s 22 and inches from the touch line. To Dundalk’s dismay, it countued down the pitch and into the try area where it was touched down for a Dundalk 22. Inexplicably, the referee felt it had gone into touch even though the Newbridge touch judge didn’t put up his flag! This lead to a Newbridge scrum where the centre got past his would-be tackler to score under the posts, which was easily converted to leave the score at 7-7.
The team regrouped and decided to forget about what it felt were harsh referee decisions and play the game in the expansive way they came to play it. This paid dividends as on the 32nd minute a great catch by Ultan Murphy where he ran the ball back at the defence and passed to strong centre Afa Fa’atau, who off-loaded to speedy winger Rory O’Hagan who sprinted down the wing to score in the corner, 12-7.
Dundalk then improved their focus and reduced the penalty count. They applied pressure on their opponents and kept them pinned in their own half, which really started to pay dividends.
By now the lineout started to work perfectly, with great throwing by hooker Jonathan Grey and catching from Chris O Hanlon and Paul Meegan resulting in the back line getting a great platform to attack from, and that they did with Owen Mc Nally powering pass 5 would-be tacklers on 36 minutes for try number 3. It was déjà vu a few minutes later as Number 8 Ene Fa’atau replicated the feat in the 40thminute to get the 4th try bonus point score just on half time and leave the score at 26-7.
Shortly after the second half kick-off Dundalk went on the charge again, as they knew that Newbridge were going to try and get back their best into the match. But there was no stopping centre MJ Mc Kevitt, who side stepped his tackler and off loaded to Afa Fa’atau who handed off two tacklers to sprint away and cross the try line with ease, 33-7 on 45th minute.
Dundalk then took their foot off the gas and Newbridge came back attacking, with a well worked move in the back line which caught the away defence napping, with the winger breaking free, flying down the wing and scoring in the corner to close the gap to 33-12.
Scrumhalf Thomas Campbell then slotted over a long range penalty to keep the score board ticking over and keep the pressure on Newbridge. From the resulting restart, a great catch set Ene Fa’atau on the charge and he off-loaded in the tackle to his support runner Robert Farrell, who side stepped his tackler and gained another few vital yards, then finding Lawrence Steen who was tackled just outside the 22. The ball was recycled quickly and passed out the back line to the flying winger, who crossed the line on the 66 minute. Three minutes later it was almost a carbon copy, with almost exactly the same move on the 69th minute, the score now 50-12.
Dundalk didn’t help themselves as they felt Newbridge weren’t going to fight anymore and eased off on the pressure and with a yellow card being issued to Dundalk prop John Smith, this allowed Newbridge get two tries on the 72rd minute and the 76th minute to get a 4th try bonus point, which was not what Dundalk needed for the race to finish in the top four in the league, 50-24.
Dundalk weren’t going to finish the game on this note and player coach Ene Fa’atau lead the way with another powerful charge after a strong carry from second row Michael Bentley. The ball waS worked through 6 phases before a strong carry from Ene where he twisted himself away from the tackler and crossed the line again on 78th minute, 57-24.
With the last play of the game it was full back Ultan Murphy, who had been solid at the back all day, who got his reward, crossing the line to put the gloss on a great day for the Dundalk squad, with the finishing score line at 64-24 to the away side.
Next we are home to Wanderers on Saturday, with a 3 o’clock kick off being our final Leinster League Match.
Dundalk1st XV:
U.Murphy,R.O’Hagan,A.Fa’atau,M.J.McKevitt,O.McNally,J.Williams,T.Campbell, C.Brannigan,J.Grey,J.Smyth,C.O’Hanlon,M.Bentley,P.Meegan,S.Martin,E.Fa‘atau,R.Farrell,C.Williams,L.Steen,R.Sheilds,C.Scully
