CYM 14
Tallaght 25
Tries: Niamh Moore, Roisin Ni Uileagoid, Louise Leonard Flood, Kim Littlefield, Samantha Ledden
Paul Cusack Cup
Terenure Sports Park
30/03/2025
Tallaght women took on CYM in the Paul Cusack Cup in Terenure.
Most of the first half was fairly uneventful as neither team created many chances. But Tallaght finally made the breakthrough five minutes before halftime when nice passing from Nicole Fanning put Niamh Moore in for a try. It left the halftime score at 5-0 to Tallaght.
The second half was a far livelier affair as both teams found their feet. Chloe Conroy made a powerful run to gain huge ground and then Kim Littlefield set up Roisin Ni Uileagoid for the try to make it 10-0 to Tallaght.
To be fair to CYM, they didn’t give up. After consistent pressure, they forced their way over the line to score a try. They then kicked a superb touchline conversion to make it 10-7. Then in the next phase of play, CYM found a gap to run through to score under the posts. The try was converted to make it 14-10 to CYM and suddenly Tallaght were losing a game they looked in complete control of ten minutes earlier.
Tallaght regathered their composure and set about rescuing the situation. They started getting the ball wide again and Louise Leonard Flood got over in the corner to make it 15-14. Then Leonard Flood turned provider to serve up a beautiful flat pass to put Kim Littlefield away and the Detroit native showed great pace to race away and score. It still only left Tallaght 6 points ahead though so there was still.a few nervous moments before Sam Ledden scored a try with the last play of the game to make the final score 25-14 to Tallaght.
Tallaght Head Coach Andy Grace was delighted for his team to get back to winning ways. “We had a tough run of results in the second half of the league season. But today we showed the value of the hard work we’ve done in training. When we get the ball through the hands, we can be a very dangerous side. After taking a good lead, we let them back into the game. But we didn’t panic and just focused on getting the scores we needed and that shows real character. There was a lot of really great performances but Lucia Benito Marin put in a huge shift and gets player of the match. We’ve a tough game next weekend away to Edenderry but we’ll give it our best shot.”
Player of the match: Lucia Benito Marin
Tallaght RFC
- Martina Fitzpatrick
- Orlaith Plunkett
- Karen Corrigan
- Abbie Keeley
- Samantha Ledden
- Kim Littlefield
- Lisa O’Connell
- Lucia Benito Marin
- Eileen Shanahan
- Grainne Leonard Flood
- Sorcha Burns
- Nicole Fanning
- Louise Leonard
- Selma Jimenez
- Roisin Ni Uileagoid
- Lorraine McManus (Captain)
- Emma Irvin
- Chloe Conroy
- Niamh Moore