Dave Clarke

Tallaght 1sts 10

Try: Adam Nolan
Con: Adam Nolan
Pen: Adam Nolan

Seapoint 38

Metro League Division 7
Tymon Park
26/01/2019

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

Report: Jim O’Connor
Photos: Anne Kavanagh