Seapoint R.F.C. 34
Tallaght R.F.C. 28
Tries: Ciaran Rudd, Adam Nolan, Emil Wyrebiak
Con: Adam Nolan 2
Pen: Adam Nolan 3
Metro League Division 7
Kilbogget Park
27/02/16
Tallaght travelled to Killiney to take on Seapoint with a severely depleted team. Several players were missing for various reasons so scrum-half Aodhan Tinney was named as hooker and winger Karl “Moonbeam” Seagrave started in the back row. Despite this, Tallaght actually started the better and earned three kicks at goal in the first twenty minutes. Stand-in kicker Adam Nolan converted one of the three for Tallaght to lead 3-0. However Seapoint got their big pack more involved in the game and went over for the game’s first try after 25 minutes. They were dominant now and they added on another penalty. Tallaght weren’t helped when Frank Doyle was given a yellow card and in his absence Seapoint scored a converted try to lead 17-3.
Tallaght responded through Kevin Quinn who made a superb run up the middle and was hauled down close to the line. The ball was moved wide though and Ciaran Rudd scored a try in the corner to make it 17-8. However Seapoint hit back straight from the kick-off when their winger wriggled free from a tackle to score. Tallaght nearly scored again after an excellent run from Mark Conway was only stopped by the high tackle but the chance went begging and the half-time score was 22-8 to Seapoint.
Things didn’t get much better for Tallaght at the start of the second half. First Emil Wyrebiak was sin-binned and then Seapoint scored a fourth try to extend their lead to 27-8. Things looked grim for Tallaght but then they rallied. First Adam Nolan kicked a penalty to make it 27-11. Then Seapoint had their fly-half sent to the sin-bin after the referee lost patience with their constant high tackles. Adam Nolan barged over for a try and kicked a superb conversion to make it 27-18. Tallaght kept the pressure on and after good running from Dave Clarke, Emil Wyrebiak forced his way over the line for another try, which Nolan converted to make the score 27-25.
Seapoint hit back with a converted try to make the scored 34-25 but Tallaght still weren’t done. They kept the pressure on Seapoint who responded with more high tackles which saw two more of their players yellow carded. Nolan kicked another penalty to make it 34-28 but Tallaght couldn’t get the final score to win the game and had to settle for a losing bonus point in what was a hugely entertaining game.
Coach Tom Leigh was disappointed with the result but proud of his players efforts. “Our discipline was poor today and that ultimately let them in for too many scores. However I can’t fault the lads’ effort, they were up against it as we were without several key players but the lads who came in fronted up. We’ll take the positives from the performance but we know we have it in us to improve.”
Man of the match: Joe Ivers
Tallaght RFC
15. Simon Collie
14. Gavin McKeon
13. Ciaran Rudd
12. Dave Clarke
11. Mark Conway
10. Stephen Heaney
9. Niall Casey
8. Adam Nolan
7. Karl Seagrave
6. Frank Doyle
5. Kevin Quinn
4. Joe Ivers
3. Stephen Kelly
2. Aodhan Tinney
1. Sean Judd
Replacements
16. Emil Wyrebiak
17. Colm O’Reilly
18. Brian Tyrrell
19. Luke Tyrrell
20. Matt Knight
Report by Jim O’Connor