On Saturday the Tallaght men’s first team are back in league action after a four week break. They are away to U.C.D. in the Metro League Division 7. Tallaght are looking to bounce back from two defeats on the bounce to make a push for the final and kick-off is at the slightly earlier time of 2.30PM in Belfield.
After winning in the cup last week, the Tallaght/DLSP combined team ‘Tallasalle’ are back in Division 11 league action this Saturday. They are away to Stillorgan-Rathfarnham looking to extend their winning run to four games ahead of next week’s meeting with Clontarf, who Tallasalle will also meet in the league final. Kick off in Rockfield Park is at 3pm.
In the youths there is training as normal for Bisto’s ladies Friday at 6.45 at St Marys. On Sunday the under 11’s have a blitz in Westmanstown meeting at 9.15. The minis are going to DLSP for the Kieran Burke blitz, meeting at De la Salle at 9.30. The under 9’s and older youths are training in Firhouse as normal.
Please make your best effort to get out and support all our teams.
Women’s League Division 4 Pitch 100, Firhouse 17/02/2019
Tallaght took on the bottom placed CYM needing to avoid defeat in order to avoid finishing bottom of Division 4 themselves. They had a bad start though when CYM took advantage of some poor tackling to score the first two tries of the game, converting one to take a 12-0 lead. However Tallaght got back into the game off the back of a great run from a scrum from Roisin Doyle who beat several tacklers in a run that took her deep in the CYM twenty two. Tallaght kept the pressure on and eventually Ellen Crotty forced her way over in the corner for a try to make it 12-5.
Tallaght were cooking now and almost straight from the kick-off full back Megan Fogarty broke out of her own twenty two and went the length of the pitch to score an outstanding individual try. Aisling Pyke made the conversion and now the game was tied at 12 all. CYM hit back with another try another some basic pick and drives but Tallaght countered again when a great run by Pyke put Fogarty away for her second try of match to make it 17-all at half-time.
In the second half Tallaght had a strong wind at their backs and they made smart use of it with Pyke pinning CYM back in their own half with several excellent tactical kicks. CYM tried to play their way out of the their twenty two but Tallaght’s defence led by Lisa Kennedy, Karen Corrigan, Angelika Gertz and Anne Kavanagh held firm. Eventually the pressure told and after strong runs by Vikcy Cobbe and Martina Fitzpatrick, Shauna Power popped the ball to Seana Greenhalgh who forced her way over for her first try for the club to give Tallaght the lead for the first time in the game at 22-17.
The game was still in the balance and CYM came hard at Tallaght again and looked like scoring but the awesome Ellen Crotty made a tackle to force the CYM winger into touch to save the day. Another dangerous threat from CYM was resolved by Lisa O’Connell making a smart interception and then carrying the ball to safety. Then Ellen Crotty was set free down the wing after some smart passing by Pyke, Kavanagh and Jacinta Purcell. Crotty showed her power to brush off a couple of tackles and then sprint clear to score under the posts.
The conversion was missed but Tallaght now had a commanding lead at 27-17 lead. CYM kept coming at them but Tallaght defended confidently and the game ended with Ash “The Smash” Pyke forcing a CYM player into touch with a typically emphatic tackle.
Tallaght coach Adam Nolan was proud of his teams recovery after a bad start. “Our defence wasn’t good enough at the start with too many people not committing to the tackle. But we bounced back and scored some great tries to be level at half-time. We used the wind really smartly in the second half and Aisling Pyke’s brilliant kicking put us in the right areas of the pitch.”
“I want to thank the whole squad who left everything out on the pitch today. It was incredibly tough to pick a player of the match as so many players put their hands up. Vicky Cobbe was relentless in her carrying and Roisin Doyle was immense in carrying, tackling and winning a couple of crucial turnovers on the ground.”
“In the backs Ash Pyke ran the show with aplomb and Ellen Crotty and Megan Fogarty both showed their quality with a brace of fine tries each. But our player of the match is Seana Greenhalgh who scored her first try for the club today. Seana only took up the sport this season and she’s worked incredibly hard on her game and this was definitely her best game for the club so far.”
“The league has been tough this year but it was great to finish on a positive note and now we’re looking forward to the cup which starts in a few weeks.”
Woman of the match: Seana Greenhalgh
Tallaght
15. Megan Fogarty
14. Angelika Gertz
13. Ellen Crotty
12. Anne Kavanagh
11. Lisa O’Connell
10. Aisling Pyke
9. Shauna Power
1. Martina Fitzpatrick (Captain)
2. Lisa Kennedy
3. Karen Corrigan
4. Seana Greenhalgh
5. Vicky Cobbe
6. Roisin Doyle
Replacements:
16. Jacinta Purcell
Report: Jim O’Connor
Photos: Cathy Ready/Anne Kavanagh
With no game again this week for the men’s first team, the Tallaght/DLSP combined team ‘Tallasalle’ are the star turn on Saturday. They’re in cup action as they travel to over to the east coast to take on Suttonians in the Guilfoyle-James Cup (Metro J6). Kick off in Station Road is at 3pm.
Then on Sunday the women’s team play their final league game of the season when they take on bottom of the league CYM. Tallaght lost away to CYM earlier in the season and they will be anxious to sign off a tough league campaign on a positive note with a win which will make sure they don’t finish bottom themselves. Kick-off on pitch 100 in Firhouse is at 1PM.
In the youths there is training as normal for Bisto’s ladies on Friday at 6.45 at St Mary’s. On Sunday the under 9’s have a blitz in Stillorgan at 10AM, meeting in Stillorgan at 9.30. Everyone else is training as normal in Firhouse, 10am for minis, under 8’s and under 10’s and all older youths training at 10.30am.
Please make your best effort to get out and support all our teams.
Teresa from the Old Mill presents the cheque to Luke Tyrrell Chairman of Tallaght RFC
The Old Mill in Firhouse continued it’s long-standing support for Tallaght RFC over the Christmas just gone. They decided to donate the proceeds of their hugely popular Christmas Draw to the club and yesterday they had the cheque ready.
Teresa from the Old Mill presented the cheque for an outstanding total of €1,800 to Tallaght RFC chairman Luke Tyrrell and members of the club’s men’s and women’s teams were there for the presentation.
Tyrrell was hugely appreciative of the donation. “On behalf of the club, I want to thanks Brian, Teresa and all the staff and customers of the Old Mill who bought tickets. I particularly want to thank all the lounge staff who sold the raffle tickets so enthusiastically in the run-up to Christmas. This donation will be an important boost to our funding for the remainder of the season.”
With the start of the Six Nations on Saturday there are no games this weekend for either of the two men’s or the women’s senior teams.
In the youths there is no training for Bisto’s ladies on Friday as many are attending the women’s international in Donnybrook at 5PM. On Sunday the under 9’s have a blitz in Westmanstown at 11am, meeting in Westmanstown for 10.30. On Sunday youths training is dependent on the weather as the hall is unavailable due to a volleyball competition. Gerry and Audrey will update parents via whatsapp and Facebook if there are any changes or cancellations due to weather.
The Bisto’s are the under-16s and 18’s girls team made up of St. Marys, Old Belvedere and Tallaght players and named after their late great coach Phil “Bisto” Preston. They took on Wexford RFC on a wet and windy Saturday morning.
Despite the conditions the Bistos played some excellent rugby and scored four first half tries, two of which were converted by Abbie Keely to take a 24-5 half-time lead. To their credit Wexford fought back in the second half and scored two tries to make the score 24-15.
The match finished prematurely as Bistos player Susie Burzawa suffered a neck injury and was taken to hospital as a precaution. Thankfully it was just bruising and she was allowed to return home with her parents. Bistos coach Aileen McGovern was proud of her team’s performance and she also thanked all the parents and supporters who stayed out in the terrible conditions to support the girls.
The Tallaght/DLSP combined team or “Tallasalle” as they’re better known took on the Emerald Warriors on Saturday in Kirwan Park and recorded an impressive win hot on the heals of their away win against CYM the previous weekend. The win also guaranteed them a place in the Metro League Division 11 final against Clontarf with two regular league games still left to play.
The pack set the tone from start with impressive carries and line breaks from Sean Judd and accurate darts at the lineout from Simon Gaskell and some outstanding aerial steals by Peter Kinnevey and Paul Cunningham.
A fine performance from scrumhalf Paul O’Hara exploited the excellent work of the pack and got the backline moving, in particular Tony O’Loughlin and Michael LeBere whose tries either side of the break gave TallaSalle a solid lead. Before the game coach Will Sharkey emphasised the need for improved discipline and accuracy and he was not left wanting and post game noted the continuity delivered by the bench when introduced.
Captain on the day Phily Keane was hugely effective at the breakdown and was man of the match. Keane was measured in his assessment of the performance and stated that more improvements are needed for the first round of the Cup against Suttonians and for the remaining league fixtures, including the much anticipated top of the table clash with Clontarf.
Everyone at Tallaght Rugby Club was greatly saddened to learn of the passing of Anne “Peg” Rudd last week. Peg was the mother of our former committee member Brendan and the grandmother to our former player Ciarán and current men’s first team scrum-half Andrew.
Peg was buried yesterday in St Maelruain’s Cemetery, Tallaght and it is a mark of the Rudd family’s commitment to the club that Andrew played for the first team yesterday against Seapoint after the funeral. A minute’s silence was held before the game as a mark of respect.
Late in life, Peg became something of a celebrity when she was prosecuted for having a satellite dish on her house by Dublin City Council. After a public outcry following an appearance by Peg and her daughter Ann on Joe Duffy’s “Liveline” show, the case was dismissed and the judge ruled that the then 90 year old pensioner would not have to pay costs. In the meantime, money had been sent to Peg by well-wishers to help pay for the costs but in a typical show of class, Peg insisted it be donated to charity.
Peg is survived by her children Ann, Peadar, Brendan, Terry and Denis and she will be also be sadly missed by her daughters-in-law Liz and Christine, son-in-law Thomas, grandchildren, great grandchildren, nieces, nephews, relatives and friends.
Tallaght RFC wishes to express their deepest sympathy with the Rudd family at this difficult time.
Leaders Tallaght took on fourth placed Seapoint knowing a win would put them in a great position for a home final. However on a wet and windy afternoon Seapoint dominated possession from the start as their big experienced pack ran straight and hard at Tallaght. Tallaght were containing them well though but were finding themselves increasingly trapped in their own half despite some fine tactical kicking from out-half David Clarke. Tallaght were getting tired with all the tackling they were doing and they made life hard for themselves by constantly losing the ball by knocking it on or getting turned over at the breakdown.
Seapoint’s dominance earned them a kick at goal but it went wide and the game remained scoreless for the first half hour. But five minutes from half-time Seapoint’s pressure finally told when they broke through out wide for a try which they converted for a 7-0 half-time lead. Tallaght fancied their chances of turning things around in the second half but things started badly when more poor tackling left Seapoint in for another soft try to make it 14-0. Tallaght finally got on the scoreboard when skipper Adam Nolan kicked a penalty to make it 14-3 but then flanker Jack Russell was shown a yellow card after an off the ball incident.
Seapoint’s impressive backline was now finding gaps at will and they took advantage of the extra man to score two fine tries, one of which they converted to take a 26-3 lead and settle the game as a contest. Tallaght briefly rallied and Nolan got over for a try from close range but Seapoint hit back with two more tries and converted the last one to make the final score 38-10. The win puts Seapoint level on 26 points with Tallaght but ahead in the table on points difference.
Tallaght coach Tom Leigh was disappointed in the Tallaght performance. “First off, congrats to Seapoint who were excellent today. They hammered AIB last week and now we can see why. But we as a team are hugely disappointed in our performance today. We simply never got anywhere close to the level we know we can get to, the level we needed to reach to be competitive against a very good Seapoint team. There were some positives in how we defended in the first half and how our scrum and lineout went throughout.”
“But in the second half we fell off too many tackles and throughout the match we knocked on too much ball to be effective in attack. It’s the heaviest defeat we’ve suffered in a long while and this needs to be a wake-up call for the rest of the season. We’re still is a great position to make the final, ahead of Clontarf, level on points with Seapoint and we have a game in hand on AIB. If we win our last three games we’ll be in the final regardless of what anyone else does.”
“But to do that we need to find our best form again. We have a four week break now before our next league match and we all need to spend that time thinking of how we can get back to the level of performance we know we’re capable of. The most important thing is that we stick together and use this a watershed moment to turn things around.”
Man of the match: Adam Nolan
Tallaght RFC
15. Aaron Shanahan
14. Ciaran Keane
13. Simon Collie
12. Daryl Keogh
11. Karl Segrave
10. David Clarke
9. Andrew Rudd
1. Tony McManus
2. Ken McGovern
3. Andy Grace
4. Alan Moore
5. Joe Ivers
6. Jack Russell
7. Daniel Pomares
8. Adam Nolan (Captain)
16. Andy Caswell
17. Kevin Quinn
18. Colin Morrison
19. Alan Sower
20. Mark Keogh
21. Sean Hanlon
Tallaght RFC are back in action these weekend. Both the men’s teams have their last league games before a four week break mainly due to the Six Nations Championship.
Despite losing to Clontarf last week the men’s first team are still on top in the Metro League Division 7 with a game in hand on both AIB and Clontarf. They face Seapoint this weekend who destroyed third placed AIB last weekend to put themselves back into contention for the league. Kick-off is 2.30PM in Tymon Park.
The Tallaght/DLSP combined team ‘Tallasalle’ returned to winning ways away to CYM in Division 11 last Saturday. Tallasalle now just need one more win to be guaranteed a spot in the final and they take on the struggling Emerald Warriors. Kick off is at 2.30pm in Kirwan Park.
In the youths there is training for Bisto’s ladies Friday at 6.45 at St Marys. On Saturday the Under 18’s take on Wexford RFC in St Marys with kick off at 11AM. On Sunday the Under 11’s travel to St Brigids for a blitz meeting at 9.45AM. The Under 8’s travel to St Marys meeting at 10AM. The Under 9’s have training at Firhouse for 10AM with the Older Youths training at 10.30AM
Please make your best effort to get out and support all our teams.
