Dave Clarke

Tallaght 1sts: 18

Try: Adam Nolan, Aaraon Shanahan 2
Pen: Rob Hudson

Dublin University R.F.C. 19

Metro League Division 6
Tymon Park
16/11/2019

The Tallaght men’s first team continued their Metro League Division 6 campaign against Trinity College at Tymon Park. Tallaght took the lead with a Rob Hudson penalty but then Trinity scored a converted try to make it 7-3. Tallaght hit back with tries from skipper Adam Nolan and winger Aaraon Shanahan to lead 13-7. But Trinity scored a unconverted try to make it 13-12 at half-time.

In the second half both teams kept attacking but it was Tallaght who made the breakthrough when Shanahan went over for his second try of the match. However Trinity took the lead again when they scored a converted try ten minutes from the end to make it 19-18. There was a melee after the try was scored and Tallaght’s Luke Maher and a Trinity player were both shown yellow cards for their parts in the incident. Tallaght fought hard for the winning score and looked set to get it from a rolling maul but the referee gave a penalty for obstruction and that was that.

Tallaght coach Tom Leigh was pleased with his side’s performance despite the result. “It’s our first defeat of the season but we’ll learn a lot from it. Trinity were very good particularly over the ball where they turned us over a lot. Our set-piece struggled at times too which didn’t help. We did play some very good rugby at certain points in the game and scored three good tries. But there was only a point in it in the end and it shows how competitive the league is when there are three teams at the top of the table with the same points total. We’ll be looking to bounce back strongly away to Barnhall next week and at home to Guinness the week after to put us in a great position before the Christmas break.”

Man of the match: David Clarke

Tallaght RFC

1. Tony McManus
2. Ken McGovern
3. Alan Sower
4. Alan Moore
5. Joe Ivers
6. Kevin Quinn
7. Jack Russell
8. Adam Nolan (Captain)
9. Andrew Rudd
10. David Clarke
11. Karl Segrave
12. Marc Keatinge
13. Padraig Jones
14. Rob Hudson
15. Ciaran Rudd
16. Andy Grace
17. Andy Caswell
18. Scott Hyland
19. Luke Maher
20. Simon Collie
21. Aaraon Shanahan

Report: Jim O’Connor
Photos: Paul Cronin