Tallaght R.F.C. 10

Tries: Megan Fogarty, Cíara McLoughlin

Tullamore R.F.C. 43

Women’s League Division 4A
Pitch 100, Firhouse
18/02/2018

It was second versus first as the Tallaght women’s team took on the unbeaten leaders Tullamore in Division 4A of the Women’s league. It was a wet and windy afternoon and Tallaght had the misfortune to lose the toss and have to play into the wind. They got trapped in their own half and Tullamore soon took advantage by scoring two tries, both conceded due to poor defence. Tullamore converted one of the tries to lead 12-0.

To their credit Tallaght settled after the bad start and started playing some good rugby. Lisa Kennedy and Martina Fitzpatrick were carrying well and Rachel Nolan went close to scoring after kicking a ball through only for the chance to go begging. But then Tullamore built pressure again and went through phase after phase. Some fantastic tackling from Megan Fogarty and Caroline Lamba delayed the inevitable but eventually Tullamore worked the space to put their speedy young right wing in the for the try. Unfortunately the same player scored a try a minute later by capitalising on a mistake when the ball was kicked through and when they converted that try Tullamore led 24-0 at half-time.

After having come off in the first half due to a head injury, Tallaght scrum-half Shauna Power took to the field again in the second half only to be picked up and driven head first into the ground in a particularly nasty tackle. The Tullamore player responsible was lucky to only be shown a yellow card and Tallaght tried to take advantage. But just as they got to the Tullamore line the ball was intercepted and the Tullamore centre ran the length of the pitch to score another try.

Tallaght did finally get on the scoresheet when Megan Fogarty broke through for an excellent score. Gemma Segrave came on for her Tallaght debut and carried the ball with great purpose but Tullamore hit back when they worked their lightning right winger in for her hat-trick try. Tallaght hit back again with another try from close range from Cíara McLoughlin. Tullamore had the last say in the game though with another converted try to make 43-10 at the end.

Tallaght coach Adam Nolan said his side endured a tough lesson but will be better for it. “We got a kick in the arse today! It’s no fun but the vital thing is that we learn from it. If we want to compete with this sort of team we need to get tougher and meaner at the rucks on our ball and especially on their ball. But I’m proud of how we kept fighting to the end and got a couple of good scores on the board. We now face a semi-final away to Portlaoise but we know if we can bring our top game, we can compete with them!”

 

Player of the match: Martina Fitzpatrick

 

Tallaght

15. Megan Fogarty
13. Cíara McLoughlin
12. Rachel Nolan
10. Caoimhe Hogan (Captain)
9. Shauna Power

1. Lorraine McManus
2. Aileen McGovern
3. Lisa Kennedy
4. Roisin Doyle
5. Audrey Fulham
6. Martina Fitzpatrick

16. Jacinta Purcell
17. Amyrs Foy
18. Caroline Lamba
19. Gemma Segrave