DLSP 05
Tallaght R.F.C 26
Try: Louise Leonard, Martina Fitzpatrick, Eileen Shanahan, Ellen Crotty
Conversion: Grainne Flood 3
Women’s Leinster Division 5
Kirwan Park
04/12/2022
The Tallaght women’s team took on DLSP away in Division 5 of the Metro League in the last game before the Chrismas break. It was a cold and wet day and both teams took a while to adapt to the conditions. Tallaght were guilty of playing too much rugby in their own half in the first quarter of the match. But after 25 minutes they broke the stalemate when strong carries from Orlaith Plunkett and Emma Irvin got Tallaght in a good position and Louise Leonard finished from close range. Grainne Flood kicked an excellent conversion to give Tallaght a 7-0 lead.
That score seemed to settle Tallaght down and it wasn’t long before they were on the scoresheet again. Kim Littlefield was taking nice angles on her lines of running which helped break the DLSP line. In a succession of pick and drives, Orlaith Plunkett, Lisa O’Connell and Samantha Ledden were heavily involved but it was Martina Fitzpatrick who finished off the try and Flood converted again to make it 14-0.
DLSP did their best to hit back but the Tallaght defence led by the tireless Nicole Fanning kept pushing them back. DSLP tried kicking the ball too but full back Doireann O’Byrne was rock solid under the high ball and kept running it back with interest. DLSP moved the ball out wide but Nikita Murray got back to make an excellent tackle and the ball was dislodged. From the turnover Aisling Pyke saw the space and put Doireann O’Byrne away down the line. O’Byrne offloaded to skipper Eileen Shanahan who showed her pace to sprint way for an excellent try. Flood converted to give Tallaght a 21-0 half-time lead.
In the second half, Tallaght maintained their focus and their indomitable hooker Orlaith Plunkett kept making big carries. Second row Aimee Travers made a big carry too and when the ball went wide Aisling Pyke made a break from inside her own half and streaked away. The DLSP defenders did well to drag Pyke down in their twenty two but Eileen Shanahan were there to move the ball out wide for winger Ellen Crotty to score another excellent team try to make it 26-0 to Tallaght.
Even with the game won, Tallaght kept going and Martina Fitzpatrick seemed to have scored her second try but the referee ruled she had lost control when grounding the ball. The Tallaght bench came on to make an impact and Alison Lyons made her first appearance for the club. To their credit DLSP kept working hard and though Tallaght made them work hard for it, they did get over the line for a deserved consolation try to make the final score 26-5. But Tallaght will be delighted to have won four from four and will be looking forward to the new year when three of their remaining four league games will be at home.
Tallaght coach Hayley White was delighted with her team’s performance. “The conditions didn’t make things easy and it took us a while to get going. But once we did, we performed really well as a team. We got two tries from good hard carrying from the forwards and two more from excellent interplay from the backs. There were so many players who could have gotten women of the match, but we had to give it to Orlaith Plunkett who carried brilliantly all day and gave us a platform to play off. I want to thank all the girls for their hard work so far and we’ll enjoy the Christmas break before we come back in the New Year fully focused on winning this league. I also want to thank all the Tallaght supporters who came out on a bitterly cold, miserable day plus the members of their men’s team who came out to support us when their game was postponed. It helped drive us on and all the players and coaches really appreciate it.”
Forwards coach Andy Grace was also quoted as saying “I’m very f**king happy!”
Player of the match: Orlaith Plunkett
Tallaght RFC
- Samantha Ledden
- Orlaith Plunkett
- Emma Irvin
- Aimee Travers
- Martina Fitzpatrick
- Lisa O’Connell
- Kim Littlefield
- Louise Leonard
- Eileen Shanahan (Captain)
- Grainne Flood
- Nikita Murray
- Aisling Pyke
- Nicole Fanning
- Ellen Crotty
- Doireann O’Byrne
- Laura Dalton
- Jensen Byrne
- Hilary Allen
- Alison Lyons
- Niamh Moore