Ardee 0
Tallaght 1sts 32
Try: Simon Collie, Orhun Orel, Ken McGovern, Luke Deegan, Rob Hudson
Conversion: Rob Hudson 2
Penalty: Rob Hudson
Leinster League Division 3
Townspark
22/01/2023
Tallaght’s men’s first team travelled to Louth to take on Ardee in Leinster League Division 3.
Tallaght got off to a great start. They kicked a penalty into the corner and from the resulting lineout a loose pass was scooped up by centre Simon Collie. The Australian stepped a couple of tackles to cruise over for an excellent try which Rob Hudson converted to make it 7-0 to Tallaght. It wasn’t long before Tallaght scored again. Good hands from the backs put Collie away and he could probably have scored his second try of the match, but he passed to Rob Browner who put winger Orhun Orel in for the try to make it 12-0 to Tallaght.
After the bright start, Tallaght got dragged down into a niggly contest with plenty of off-the-ball challenges. Tallaght were totally dominant and Ardee only briefly left their half in the first forty minutes but Tallaght squandered several great opportunities and it remained 12-0 at half-time.
In the second half Tallaght got their focus back and first Rob Hudson kicked a penalty to make it 15-0. Then a smart exchange of passes between hooker Ken McGovern and Niall Mahon at a lineout put McGovern over for a try to make it 20-0. Replacement wing Luke Deegan had been out of action since early last season, but he was a late call up to the bench today. Before he was brought on, he jokingly predicted he’d score a try with his first touch of the ball. Remarkably he did exactly that when he finished off a fine backline move in the corner. That made it 25-0 and earned Tallaght a bonus point.
Ardee were in a constant running verbal battle with the referee and eventually their chat earned them a yellow card. There was still time for one more excellent try. Good hands from Niall Mahon helped put Rob Hudson away and the winger skinned his man and kicked ahead. He had time to follow up, steady the ball with his foot and then touch down. Hudson converted his own try to make the final score 32-0 to Tallaght.
Tallaght backs coach Gary Brennan was delighted with their performance and result. “It’s not easy to come down here and play on a heavy pitch in January. But we adapted well and played some really nice rugby with four of our five tries coming from the outside backs. We had to call up a few lads late today to play but they came in and did a great job. There were a lot of candidates for man of the match, but big Al Moore was excellent in the way he carried aggressively, took on their lineout and he even threw in a fly-kick! And he would have been even better had he not worn multi-coloured mould-studded boots on one of the heaviest pitches in Ireland! We’re looking forward to keep playing positive rugby next week away to Clane.”
Man of the match: Alan Moore
Tallaght RFC
1. Alan Sower (Captain)
2. Ken McGovern
3. Andy Grace
4. Patrik Toth
5. Alan Moore
6. Aaron Hickey
7. Kevin Quinn
8. Colin Morrison
9. Ezequiel Roldan Olivera
10. Daryl Keogh
11. Rob Hudson
12. Ciaran Rudd
13. Simon Collie
14. Orhun Orel
15. Rob Browner
16. Tony McManus
17. Rosemar Alves
18. Niall Mahon
19. Ken Lynch
20. Luke Deegan
21. Sean Smith
Photos: Mark Luttrell
