Weekend Report for St.Patrick’s Weekend.

The weekend was mostly around Friday night at the Club. We had American visitors from Molloy College from Long Island, New York. The College were here to visit DKIT and following a successful outing against the local college midweek they took the opportunity to have training run outs against our Dundalk 3rdXV in the case of the men’s team and against our near neighbours from Newry RFC in the case of their ladies team.

The club was bedecked with flags and bunting as we tried our best to add to the “Gathering” effort for this year. Tommy and Benny had traditional music going in the lounge to welcome our visitors. The pitches were in excellent condition and all were looking forward to the sessions. Boyne were due later for the Provincial Town’s Plate fixture against our 1st XV so it was going to be a busy night.

Close to six o’ clock the car park filled up as the younger players arrived to practice their HAKA for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. The evening practice was held outside so Ene could gauge the sound in the open air. The visitors were very impressed and took many photos of the rehearsals. The HAKA was exceptionally well received by the crowds at the Parade and congratulations are due to all the players, their parents, their coaches and most of all to the teacher Ene. Well done all.

Molloy College was founded in 1955 and went co-ed in1980 and operates under a Dominican ethos. They had made a connection with DKIT, initially through the Nursing School. Drew Bogner, President Molloy College visited Denis Cummins, President DKIT and they discovered that they had multiple overlapping academic areas and there were possibilities for both colleges to work together for the benefit of their students. They used the “Gathering” initiative to bring about the visit by the Molloy College rugby teams to Dundalk. Dundalk RFC were delighted to be able to make a positive contribution to the visit by facilitating the sessions in the club on Friday last.

Rugby was introduced to Molloy by Thomas Gaynor, who introduced the game after he joined the Molloy College staff. The men’s team commenced in 2005 and the ladies followed in 2008. The college takes part in the Met Union Conference, covering New York, Connecticut and New Jersey. The men’s team play in Division 2 and the Ladies also in Division 2 and are ranked 8th in the U.S. Div 3. The visiting party were led by Catherine TullyMuscente, Daniel Mc Gann, and Meritta Cullinan and were coached by Thomas Patrick Gaynor and Kevin John Sweikata.

The Ladies session was an enthralling encounter with neither side prepared to be outdone by the other. The pace was electric, the handling excellent and the tackling ferocious and a large crowd were treated to an excellent game which will only encourage the re-formation of a ladies team in the club. The younger members of the club, who play on our girls tag teams were delighted with the game and we can only benefit from Molloy’s visit.

Molloy’s mens panel took to the pitches very early to run their drills and warm ups. They were very impressive and showed great application to their planning and were very attentive to the coaching provided.
The game was played at a hectic pace and there was good rugby on view from both teams. Molloy defended well and didn’t give Dundalk much room to develop their attack. Laurence Steen scored our first try which Chopper converted. This encouraged the home team and they attacked with great enthusiasm but a wonderful saving tackle by Molloy prevented Will Matthews from scoring. Robin Mc Gee covered a huge distance to prevent a Molloy score from a kick ahead. Dundalk pressed forward and Both Chopper and J.K. made good breaks encouraging an attacking mentality in their team. Rory Mc Ardle scored a second try for Dundalk after some very good hands by Chris Mc Gee.
Molloy struck back with Nick Berardi touching down and Kevin Adair converting. Molloy struck again within a few minutes with Tom Malinowski crossing the whitewash and Kevin Adair doing the necessary again. The teams were level at half time.
Dundalk scored ten minutes into the second half and further tries from Conor Kane, James Shields, who had a good game at full back, and Thomas Thornton. Both panels were very pleased with the run out and as a Molloy player put it – “in Ireland playing the game that we love, what could be better? “ On a very pleasant evening in the club one could only agree with his sentiments.

Dundalk J.Shields, R.Williams, W.Matthews, R.Shields, R.McArdle, S.Murphy, A.Reilly, C.Myles, S.Byrne, S. Smyth, B. Igoe, J.Kerr, C.Kane, T.Thornton, C.Mc Gee, N.Kerley, A.Byrne, L.Steen, R.McGee.

Molloy Touring Party:
K.Abberton, A.Abberton, K. Adair, A. Amodeo, J. Arnone, A. Augugliaro, S. Bardenhagen, S. Barzyz, K.Bazerewski, N. Berardi, C. Byrne, M.Caldarera, R. Catalano, M.Cooley, M. Defranco, J.Desepoli, C.Diblasi, C.Drum, L.Errante, T. Errante, A.Factor, S. Folmer, E. Forthman, C.Iannota, S.Jones, S.Kaminski, J.Kearney, W.Liphete, P.Lisante, T.Malinowski, S.Malinowski, H.Marmol, K.Marrero, A.Moloney, J.Monsen, G.Moore, D.Obidienzo, M.Olman, S.Raimondi, J.Rivera, I.Rodriguez Collado, S.Rupes, J Schuler, C.Walters, N. Wood, D. Schreiner

Dundalk progress on Plate journey.

The most important fixture on Friday night last was the Provincial Town’s Plate encounter with near neighbours Boyne RFC. As Boyne are playing in the A.I.L. the fixture was with their second fifteen but this made it no less a fixture as the rivalry between the teams is of long standing and each and every match is exceptionally well contested.
There was a great atmosphere around the club as the place was full of visitors anxious to see the game and a Friday night game, under lights seemed to be just what everyone present wanted.
Dundalk took to the field, with strong team, intent on making it through to the next round. Dundalk took the game to Boyne with some great carrying by Mike Bentley, Paul Meegan and Ene Fa’atau. Mike’s just reward for his efforts was try after ten minutes for the opening score. Ultan Murphy scored the second try on twenty minutes and also converted a penalty on twenty six minutes. Dundalk continued to press only to see a wonderful break from Rory O’ Hagan come to an abrupt halt as Rory pulled his hamstring and had to leave the field. The team continued to attack the Boyne team with strong running from Afa Fa’atau stretching the visitors defence. Ene and Johnny Williams scored a try each to leave Dundalk with a comfortable lead at the half time mark.
The second half saw Boyne regroup and they held Dundalk out for the first ten minutes. However the Dundalk pressure began to take its toll on the Boyne defenders and Owen Mc Nally, a first half substitute for Rory, scored two tries on the 51st and 57th minutes. Boyne again raised their game and held Dundalk out until the last ten minutes of the game when Dundalk’s power running and good handling gave us tries by Afa, Gerard Scully and M. J. Mc Kevitt. The strength of Afa’s running was a times awesome and nobody envied the job of the brave Boyne tacklers. Robbie Farrell and Chris O’Hanlon gave great displays and handled and carried well creating opportunities for team mates with Johnny Williams giving his usual gritty display. Dundalk will have to improve their discipline for the next fixture particularly our inclination to question referees as it cost us some ground on Friday but luckily Boyne couldn’t capitalise.
Dundalk now progress to the next round and a meeting with Skerries RFC.

Dundalk:
U.Murphy, R.O’Hagan, A.Fa’atau, M.J.Mc Kevitt, G.Scully, J.Williams, T.Campbell, C.Brannigan, R.Farrell, J.Smyth, C.O’Hanlon, M.Bentley,P.Meegan, S.Martin, E.Fa’atau, J.Grey, L.Steen, R.Shields, C.Scully, O. Mc Nally,.

Cup Trail once again.

The 3rd’s and the 2nd’s are involved in their respective Cup Competitions next weekend. The 3rd’s are first to feature with a game against our neighbours,Ardee RFC. This game will take place on Friday Night in Ardee, at Townspark, with an 8 o’clock kick off.. All support is welcome.

The 2nd’s are out against Clondalkin in Gordon Park Kingswood on Sunday with a 3 o’clock kick off and again all support is welcome.

Training for both squads Tues and Thurs this week and a full attendance is expected. We wish both squads well in their efforts to progress in their respective competitions,

Excellence.

Looking at the Leinster website it is good to note that Dundalk RFC are one of six clubs contributing to the upcoming “best practice” workshops due to take place in UCD. Dundalk will explain how volunteers refurbished their clubhouse and how they consequently went on to develop income streams in the refurbished clubhouse. The efforts of these volunteers was previously recognised by the Branch and a note on their efforts appeared in a match programme. The club was most appreciative of their efforts and their work has greatly improved the clubhouse facilities. Thanks all.j