For the first time this season a cold breeze cut through the fans and players alike as Dundalk took

to the field against Clondalkin a side currently sitting third behind Dundalk in the league table.

Expectations heading into this game were that this would be a challenging match plus the fact that

Clondalkin arrived following a narrow loss to Enniscorthy. This game really was a tale of two halves.

The first half was a rather disappointing start for Dundalk, with Clondalkin camping out in their half.

Clondalkin kept intense pressure on Dundalk with some excellent breaks by the opposition which

were shut down by some solid tackling from Isaia Petelo who showed shear class in defence. As

a result of repeat pressure in their own half Dundalk conceded several penalties early on, however

Clondalkin’s Chris Jebb failed to capitalise missing a total of nine points within the first thirty

minutes such an error would cost the side dearly later on. Dundalk turned over possession on several

occasions and following a winning line out won a penalty from an unthinkable angle which Ultan

Murphy neatly sliced over the bar. Clondalkin again managed to maintain possession by creating line

breaks yet failed to capitalise even after Paul Megan was sent to the bin. Dundalk managed to turn the

game in the later moments of the first half by turning over possession again thanks to Petelo and Mike

Bentley.

In the second half, Dundalk’s bench was rotated adding power and pace which lifted the tempo of

the game. Following impressive turn over ball and general dominant play by both flankers James Mc

Conon and Brendan Hadden the first try of the game came. From a back of a ruck Jonathan Williams

picked and found a gap before powerfully smashing through the full back to score the opening try

setting. Murphy slotted over the conversion to leave it 10-3. From there Dundalk opened up the game

with a second try coming off the back of a clean break from the line out by Paul Meegan which was

finished by Brendan Hadden the try was again converted by Murphy.

Following a nasty incident in mid-field Clondalkin lost a player to an immediate red card. For the

rest of the second half Dundalk faced a 14 man Clondalkin. Dundalk capitalised on their numerical

advantage with a nifty try from Petelo in the far right corner which was once again skilfully converted

by Ultan Murphy. This last try encouraged the Mill Road men to push for their fourth try and the

valuable bonus point. The team went through about ten phases and stretched the Clondalkin defence

from side to side. This lead to a huge overlap out wide and simple hands put Paul Meegan over in the

corner. Murphy added the conversion to wrap up the match. Once again the squad will take immense

confidence from their strong defence in particular when under pressure. Despite a slow start Dundalk

will be satisfied with this win and player/coach Ene Faatau will be delighted with some excellent

performances from Isaia Petelo, Brendan Hadden, James McConnon and Mike Bentley.

Team:Ciaran Brannigan,Darren Mc Guinness,John Smith, Paul Meegan, Mike Bentley,James

McConon,Brendan Hadden,Ene Faatau,Thomas Campbell,Ultan Murphy, Rory O’Hagan, MJ

McKevitt, Isaia Petelo, Robert Shields,Owen Mc Nulty.

Subs: Conor Williams, Johnny Grey, Robert Farrell, Jonathan Williams, Stephen Murphy.