John Burke

 

Tallaght R.F.C. 2nds 14

Tries: John Burke
Pen: Rob Hudson 3

Dublin Dogos 13

Metro League Division 11
Tymon Park
04/11/2017

The Tallaght men’s second team earned their first league win of the season over the Dublin Dogos in Tymon Park in Division 11 of the Metro League. The Dogos were keen to use their pacy backs and were spinning the ball wide at every opportunity but the defensive efforts of Jonny Molloy, Daniel Pomares, Dave Molloy and Tony O’loughlin kept the Dogos out. The pace of the game was starting to take its toll on Tallaght’s defensive efforts though and eventually the Dogos went over for an unconverted try.

From the following kick off Tallaght’s defensive pressure forced a knock on and Tallaght finally managed to get some attacking ball. With strong carries from Jonny Allison, Nigel Foster and John Burke setting the tone, Tallaght’s forwards began to dominate, and a string of infringements at the breakdown gave them a penalty which was kicked by Rob Hudson to get Tallaght on the board.

Tallaght came straight back at the Dogos and further strong carriers from Mitchel McGrath and Emil Wyrebiak got Tallaght within range but they couldn’t convert the possession into points and were held up over the line several times. Eventually the pressure told and the Dogos gave away another penalty just on half time, converted by Hudson to take the score to 6-5 at the break.

The 2nd half started the same as the first with the Dogos forcing Tallaght to defend for long periods. The Dogos eventually scored another unconverted try to take a 10-6 lead. Again Tallaght worked their way back down the pitch, and with the return of Mitchel McGrath from the sin bin and with the Dogos down a man to a yellow card of their own, Tallaght’s forwards handed the backs plenty of fast attacking ball to try and make the most of the available space. Unfortunately again the possession wasn’t turned into points for Tallaght.

Another period of Dogos attack saw Tallaght give away another penalty which was kicked by the Dogos to take a 7 point lead with 10 minutes to go. Tallaght were determined to come away with a win though and forced a penalty in front of posts. Opting for the scrum rather than taking 3 points, Tallaght were looking for a try and number eight John Burke forced his way over for an un-coverted try which reduced the gap to the gap to 2 points.

Knowing they still had work to do Tallaght’s forwards dominated the remaining minutes working their way down the pitch before a high tackle gave Rob Hudson a difficult penalty kick into the wind which he converted superbly, despite the the histrionic faux protests of the Dogos players. The kick off was the last play and Tallaght just had to win the ball and the immense Derek Burke took it and ball was kicked into touch giving Tallaght thier first win in Div 11.

Captain Simon Gaskell looked suitably windswept but handsome as he commented on his sides performance: “We’ve come close a few times this season but credit to the lads today.  We kept fighting all the way to end and came away with the points in what was a tough but very enjoyable game. Credit to the Dogos though, they made us work really hard in attack and defence and never gave up.  Man of the match was a really tough one with everyone putting their hands up. I’ve had to go for a joint award with Nigel Foster & Jonny Molloy, who were both immense in attack and defence today for us.”

 

Joint man of the match: Nigel Foster & Jonny Molloy

 

Tallaght 2nd

15. Emil Wyrebiak
14. Tony O’Loughlin
13. Stephen Heaney
12. Daryl Keogh
11. Dave Molloy
10. Jonathan Molloy
9. Rob Hudson

1. Nigel Foster
2. Simon Gaskell
3. Derek Burke
4. Jonathan Allison
5. Ed O’Brien
6. Mitchel McGrath
7. Daniel Pomares
8. John Burke

Replacements:

16. Denis Buckley
17. Owen Tyrrell
18. Willie Lamb
19. Vilius Kuklis
20. Mark Conway
21. Ken McGovern

 

Report: Simon Gaskell