Gorey 12
Tallaght 47
Try: Aisling Pyke 3, Ellen Crotty 2, Eileen Shanahan, Sorcha Burns
Conversion: Grainne Flood 6
Women’s Leinster Division 4
Clonattin Road
17/09/2023
Tallaght’s women’s team travelled to Wexford to take on Gorey in their first competitive game of the season in Division 4 of the Women’s league.
After heavy rain the previous two days, the game was in doubt but the Gorey pitch was in excellent condition. Despite the wet conditions, both teams were passing the ball well and Tallaght made a breakthrough after 15 minutes. After some good carries from the forwards centre Aisling Pyke spotted a gap and raced through to score a try to give Tallaght a 5-0 lead. Not long after, her fellow centre Ellen Crotty took a fine line to break away to touch down. Grainne Flood came off the bench to take over the kicking and made a fine conversion to make it 12-0 to Tallaght.
Gorey hit back and scored a try after sustained pressure to reduce the deficit to 12-5. But Tallaght hit back quickly with first Crotty and then Pyke scoring their second tries of the match. Flood converted both to give Tallaght a 26-5 lead at halftime.
In the second half Tallaght went about settling the game as a contest. First skipper Eileen Shanahan sniped through a gap to score a try. Then Aisling Pyke completed her hat-trick of tries and finally Sorcha Burns followed up to score a try after Nicole Fanning was tackled close to the line. Grainne Flood converted all three tries for a personal points haul of twelve. To their credit Gorey kept battling and they scored a converted try to make the final score 47-12 to Tallaght.
Tallaght’s head coach Hayley Whyte was delighted with the start to the season. “It was a wet day but the girls trusted their handling skills and we scored some fine tries. It was a great performance all round and we’re looking forward to taking on Tullamore at home next Sunday.”
Player of the match: Aisling Pyke
Tallaght RFC
- Karen Corrigan
- Orlaith Plunkett
- Vicky Cobbe
- Martina Fitzpatrick
- Samantha Ledden
- Lorraine McManus
- Kim Littlefield
- Louise Leonard
- Eileen Shanahan (Captain)
- Nicole Fanning
- Niamh Moore
- Aisling Pyke
- Ellen Crotty
- Sorcha Burns
- Abbie Keeley
- Grainne Flood
- Jensen Byrne
- Nikita Murray
- Aimee Travers
- Lisa Kennedy
- Noemi Garcia Fernandez
- Clodagh Cullagh