Terenure R.F.C. 32

Tallaght R.F.C. 2nds 23

Tries: Karl Segrave 2, Emil Wyrebiak
Con: Rob Hudson
Pen: Rob Hudson 2

Metro League Division 11
Lakelands
23/10/2017

Tallaght’s second team travelled to Lakelands to take on Terenure on a Monday evening in Division 11 of the Metro League. Terenure dominated the opening twenty minutes but Tallaght were defending well, particularly Jonny Molloy who made several key tackles. Terenure took an early lead when they scored a try to go 5-0 up. Tallaght got level though when Aodhan Tinney kicked ahead and Karl Segrave showed great awareness and pace to gather the ball and race away for a try to make it 5-5. Terenure got another try though to make the half-time score 10-5 to them.

Tallaght started the second half much better with the addition of the fiesty Emil Wyrebiak to midfield bringing an edge to proceedings. Flanker Kevin Quinn was making big gains with the ball in hand and a good break from Wyrebiak was continued by full back Rob Hudson who put Segrave away for his second try of the match. Hudson took over the kicking and converted to put Tallaght 12-10 ahead. A good break from subsitute John Burke then got Tallaght in position to win a penalty which Hudson converted to make it 15-10.

There was a melee after Wyrebiak was tackled high which saw the Terenure scrum-half yellow carded. However sloppy play from the subsequent line-out saw Terenure gather a loose ball and race over for a try which they converted to go 17-15 up. Tallaght hit back again and Hudson kicked another excellent penalty to make it 18-17 to Tallaght however then Wyrebiak was sent to the bin himself for a high tackle.

Terenure were boosted by some quality replacements and they got their offloading game going. They took advantage of the extra man to score three uncoverted tries in a row to make it 32-18. Tallaght kept fighting though and scored the final try of the match, Wyrebiak redeeming himself after the yellow card to score in the corner. Hudson’s conversion attempt was a decent effort but it went wide. Tallaght kept fighting but they couldn’t get the score that would have given them a losing bonus point, which would have been the least they deserved for their excellent performance.

Coach Brian Curtis was proud of the way his team performed, but lamented another slow start. “The second half performance was as good as I’ve seen from any Tallaght seconds team. However like the Marys game previously, we didn’t really get going until the second half. We need to find a way to get tuned into games from the first whistle, because when we start playing, we’re as good as any team in this league”.

Skipper Simon Gaskell was proud of his player’s efforts. “I want to thank every player who came down here tonight. That Terenure side put about sixty points on us last season so we’ve come a long way. We’re improving with every game and if we keep that progression going, the wins will come. We had a lot of contenders for man of the match with Jonny Molloy, Aodhan Tinney and Karl Segrave having big games for us, but I have to give it to Kev Quinn, who was just immense for us tonight with and without the ball”.

The 2nd’s next game is at home to the Dublin Dogos on the 4th of November.

 

Man of the match: Kevin Quinn

 

Tallaght 2nd

15. Rob Hudson
14. J.J. Walshe
13. Karl Segrave
12. Stephen Heaney
11. Mark Conway
10. Jonathan Molloy
9. Aodhan Tinney

1. Brian Donnelly
2. Simon Gaskell
3. Tony McManus
4. Paul Cunningham
5. Derek Burke
6. Kevin Quinn
7. Mitchel McGrath
8. Sean Judd

Replacements:

16. Alan Sower
17. John Burke
18. John Cowan
19. Dave Kelly
20. Michael Burke
21. Ciaran Keane
22. Emil Wyrebiak

 

Report: Jim O’Connor
Photo: Anne Kavanagh