Dundalks slim chances of winning the 2nds league were extinguished in Tullow last Saturday as they staged a remarkable recovery to come from 27-10 down with 10 minutes to go to earn a draw. Dundalk started the game off really strongly and good carrying by the forwards and the returning Jonny Williams at 10 getting his backline moving Dundalk went ahead when a kick downfield by Williams bounced back and was gathered by Darren McGuinness who eventually made it to the tryline after a 40 metre sprint. Tullow began to see more of the ball and Dundalk initially struggled to contain their direct approach and their approach yielded an unconverted try to level it at 5-5. Dundalk were dangerous when they moved the ball out wide and made good yards with this approach and they retook the lead by stretching the Tullow defence and fullback Robert Shields got in in the corner to make the score 10-5. Dundalk were quite comfortable at this stage but they handed the intitative back to Tullow when a wild pass by Robert Williams was picked off by the Tullow centre and he raced away for a converted try to make the score 12-10. Tullow dominated the rest of the half but some outstanding defence by the whole team in their own 22 left the score 12-10 at halftime. Tullow continued to dominate the opening exchanges of the second half and some poor tackling let them in for a converted try to extend the scroe to 19-10. Dundalk were dealt a blow when Jonny Williams was harshly sinbinned for what seemd like a legitimate turnover but the referee didn’t see it that way and the yellow card and resultant kick made the score 22-10. Dundalk managed to hold out while Williams was in the in but upon his return Tullow extended their lead when after a crossfiled kick Dundalk replacement Gerard Lawless was taken out in attempting to gather the ball but again the referee didn’t deem it to be foul play and the Tullow winger touched to make the score 27-10 with 15 minutes to go and seemingly put the game to bed. Dundalk literally threw caution to the wind and played some outstanding rugby after this and Tullow began to tire. Some excellent offloading got Dundalk down to the Tullow 22 and outhalf Williams picked a gap and dived over to make it 27-15. Dundalk once again were making good yards in the wide channels and once again they made it down to tullows 22 and Williams picked yet another gap in the tiring defence to score under the posts and converted to make it 27-22 with 2 minutes left. From the kick off number 8 broke through three tackles and offloaded to Will Lauaki and from the resultant ruck the ball was spread wide to Gerard Lawless who broke through a gap and raced away to touch down and level the game. Lawless took the conversion but unfortunately it stayed wide and the game ended in a draw. An outstanding comeback by the seconds at the end made even more remarkable by the fact this was their first game in nearly two months. Dundalk picked two points for the draw and one bonus points for the 5 tries but unfortunalty the best they can do is finish level with Wanderers at the top but as Wanderers have a better head to head from the two games this season they would finish above Dundalk. There is still, however, second place to play for when Dundalk host Coolmine (who can still win the league) on Sunday next and if Dundalk win this game they will at least finish in second position which would cap off an excellent league campaign after finishing bottom last season. Kick off at Mill Road on Sunday is 1.30pm.