Tallaght Women 18
Tries: Abbie Keeley 2, Chloe Conroy
Pen: Abbie Keeley
Ashbourne 5
Women’s League Division 3
Tymon Park
17/11/2024
The Tallaght women’s team took on their old rivals Ashbourne in Division 3 of the Women’s league.
Tallaght had a rough start when the kick off was adjusted to have been knocked on. From the resulting scrum, Ashbourne broke away to score a try to take a 5-0 lead. Tallaght settled into the game though after that, with big hits from the likes of Lucia Benito Marin and Lisa O’Connell leading the defensive effort.
From a lineout close to the Ashbourne line, Abbie Keeley won the ball and then forced her way over the line for a try to level the game at 5-5. Tallaght kept pressing and Chloe Conroy was making some powerful runs from midfield but there was no more scores in the first half
Tallaght started the second half well and Arianda Selvila made a massive break running nearly fifty metres before the Ashbourne cover defence brought her down. Tallaght were slow to support her though and the chance went begging. But Tallaght weren’t disturbed by mistakes and just kept going. Chloe Conroy’s tactical kicking was on the money and kept them in the right part of the pitch.
A sharp pass by Kim Littlefield put Abbie Keeley away down the left flank. Keeley still had a lots of work to do but he showed pace and great footwork to step the covering defence and score her second try of the game. She narrowly missed with the conversion but Tallaght led 10-5.
Tallaght suffered a setback when Niamh Moore was shown a yellow card for a high tackle on 57 minutes. But within two minutes the immense Orlaith Plunkett, who had done Trojan work all day in the trenches, was also on the receiving end of a high tackle. Ashbourne were shown a yellow card to even the numbers up at 14 each. Abbie Keeley kicked the resulting penalty to give Tallaght a 13-5 lead.
With normal time nearly over, referee Mark McDonagh staggered everyone on the sideline when announcing he had found 15 minutes of extra time from somewhere. But Tallaght kept their cool and continued to play smart rugby, pinning Ashbourne in their own half and forcing them to play their way out. Eileen Shanahan and Nicole Fanning were making loads of tackles to keep Ashbourne at bay and Ellen Crotty was dangerous every time she got the ball.
Then Roisin Ni Uileagoid make a break and delayed her pass expertly to put her centre partner Chloe Conroy over for a try. It was a well-deserved score for Conroy’s excellent all round performance. The referee still made time for Ashbourne to have another lengthy attack, but at 2.45PM, he finally had enough and blew the whistle and Tallaght celebrated a deserved 18-5 win.
Tallaght head coach was delighted for his players. “We had a very tough game last week away to Greystones. But we worked very hard all week in training as we wanted to see a reaction. Ashbourne are a good team and they scored in the first few minutes, but they never really looked like scoring again. Our defence was tough but also smart. We kept working for each other and took our chances when they came.”
“The whole squad was excellent today. But I want to mention the likes of Sam Ledden and Orlaith Plunkett who carried fearlessly. Arianda Selvila and Lucia Benito Marin have only come into our pack in the last few matches but both of them have added real value with their tackling and ball carrying. Chloe Conroy was brilliant today with both her tactical kicking and powerful runs. But Abbie Keeley takes the player of the match award today as she was just different class. We’ve two more games before Christmas now, at home to the Lions and away to CYM. We know if we play like this, we’ve every chance in both games.”
Player of the game: Abbie Keeley
Tallaght RFC
- Karen Corrigan
- Orlaith Plunkett
- Samantha Ledden
- Abbie Keeley
- Arianda Selvila
- Kim Littlefield
- Lisa O’Connell
- Lucia Benito Marin
- Eileen Shanahan
- Nicole Fanning (Captain)
- Niamh Moore
- Chloe Conroy Kearns
- Roisin Ni Uileagoid
- Ellen Crotty
- Sorcha Burns
- Lorraine McManus
- Martina Fitzpatrick
- Vicki Cobbe
- Shauna Fitzgerald
- Layana Mukkadekat