Tallaght R.F.C. 45

Tries: Eileen Shanahan 2, Megan Fogarty 3, Louise Lombard, Aisling Pyke
Con: Louise Lombard 4, Caoimhe Hogan

North Meath/Swords 5

Women’s League Division 4
Tymon Park
17/11/2019

The Tallaght women’s team took on North Meath/Swords in Tymon Park looking for their first win of the season in Division 4. Tallaght started strongly and scrum-half Eileen Shanahan broke away from a ruck to score a smart try to give Tallaght a 5-0 lead. It wasn’t long before Tallaght were on the score-sheet again as good handling from the backline put full back Megan Fogarty away for a fine try which Louise Lombard converted to make it 12-0.

Lombard was next to score a try herself when she chased up on a kick ahead from Graine Flood and touched down. Lombard converted her own try to make it 19-0. Shanahan and Fogarty then both scored their second tries of the match to make the half-time score 31-0. Tallaght made a number of substitutions to give players gametime and North Meath/Swords came into the game more and scored an unconverted try to make it 31-5. But Tallaght finished strongly with number eight Aisling Pyke barging over from close range and Louise Lombard converting. Megan Fogarty then got the final try of the match after exchanging passes with Ellen Crotty. With Lombard having left the field with an ankle injury, Caoimhe Hogan took over the kicking and nailed it to make the final score 45-5 to Tallaght.

Tallaght’s coach Colin Keogh was delighted to get the first win of the season. “We played really well today and deservedly won. We had a good week of training and it showed in the performance. There is still some stuff we can improve on. Our linespeed can be better and at times we got a little narrow in our attack and probably left a few tries behind us. But overall we were very good and it was a tough choice to pick a woman of the match. Megan Fogarty got a hat-trick and Eileen Shanahan got a brace and Vicky Cobbe had a great all round game, carrying strongly as ever and also winning several turnovers. But the woman of the match was Dara Silva Oliveira. Dara is from Brazil and she only took the game up a few months ago. But she’s been getting better and better and today she really put herself about making several good carries, worked well at the rucks and put in some massive tackles. I want all the girls to remember this winning feeling and hopefully we can use this win as a springboard for the season.”

Woman of the match: Dara Silva Oliveira

Tallaght

  1. Dara Silva Oliveira
  2. Karen Corrigan
  3. Martina Fitzpatrick (Captain)
  4. Seana Greenhalgh
  5. Aimee Travers
  6. Vicky Cobbe
  7. Caoimhe Hogan
  8. Aisling Pyke
  9. Eileen Shanahan
  10. Graine Flood
  11. Lisa O’Connell
  12. Louise Lombard
  13. Ciara McLaughlin
  14. Angelika Gertz
  15. Megan Fogarty
  16. Ellen Crotty
  17. Shauna Power
  18. Chloe Conroy

Report: Jim O’Connor
Photos: Anne Kavanagh