Ellen Crotty

Tallaght R.F.C. 29

Tries: Ellen Crotty 3, Aisling Pyke, Megan Fogarty
Conversions: Caoimhe Hogan 2

Longford R.F.C. 5

Women’s League Division 4
Pitch 100, Firhouse
16/09/2018

The Tallaght women’s team got their league campaign off to a great start with a commanding win over Longford. Tallaght weren’t long getting in the groove and Marta Hoppe in the centre sent her fellow midfield partner Ellen Crotty away with a deft pass and Crotty showed her athleticism to sprint clear for a try. The Tallaght forwards were dominant with Lisa Kennedy and Lorraine McManus carrying strongly and this set up another chance for new fly-half Nadine Thompston to get the ball wide and Hoppe once again linked up with her outside centre and Crotty ran free for her second try of the match. Scrum-half Caoimhe Hogan converted the try to make it 12-0 to Tallaght.

The Longford pack were big and tough but the Tallaght pack weren’t shirking a physical contest and the likes of Martina Fitzpatrick, Vicky Coobe and Aileen McGovern were more than happy to go toe to toe with them. However number eight Aisling Pyke was leading the charge in terms of physicality in both defence and attack and she powered through for a try to make it 17-0 at half-time.

Tallaght kept the pressure on in the second half and after some smart passing from the forwards Megan Fogarty was put through a gap and she forced her way through for a try which Hogan converted to make it 24-0. To their credit Longford never gave up and they got over for a deserved try to make it 24-5. However Tallaght put the final icing on the cake with another excellent try. It started with a strong run from Audrey Fulham and then the ball was sent wide and Ciara McLoughlin exchanged passes with Ellen Crotty twice and eventually Crotty finished in the corner to complete her hat-trick to make the final score 29-5 to Tallaght.

Tallaght coach Adam Nolan was very happy with the start to the season. “Everyone was buzzing because we had so many new players coming in and every single one of them made a massive contribution. We played some great rugby in attack and defence but at the same time there are some areas we can improve on too. We are so happy to have all the new players coming in and in terms of woman of the match it would normally be a choice between the massively physical Aisling Pyke at number eight or the brilliantly creative Marta Hoppe at inside centre. But it’s not too often that someone plays their first competitive game of rugby and scores a hat-trick of tries, so we have to give it to Ellen Crotty this week as she was just awesome!”

Player of the match: Ellen Crotty

Tallaght

15. Megan Fogarty
14. Angelika Gertz
13. Ellen Crotty
12. Marta Hoppe
11. Eileen Shanahan
10. Nadine Thompston
9. Caoimhe Hogan 

1. Lorraine McManus
2. Lisa Kennedy
3. Aileen McGovern
4. Martina Fitzpatrick (Captain)
5. Karen Corrigan
6. Vicky Coobe
7. Roisin Doyle
8. Aisling Pyke

Replacements

16. Audrey Fulham
17. Cíara McLoughlin
18. Emma Doyle
19. Elaine Boyd

Report: Jim O’Connor
Photos: Paul Cronin and Anne Kavo! 

See all Paul’s photos here here: https://www.facebook.com/paulcroninphotography/

Aisling Pyke scores her try

Audrey Fulham makes a break

Marta Hoppe

Megan Fogarty

Vicky Cobbe