Ken McGovern

Clontarf 12

Tallaght 1sts 8

Try: Aaron Shanahan
Pen: Rob Hudson

Metro League Division 7
Castle Avenue
19/01/2019

Tallaght travelled over the Liffey to take on third placed Clontarf. The home side had a big experienced pack and they played a hard-running style. They dominated the early part of the match and earned a penalty kick at goal that was missed. However from the restart poor concentration from Tallaght let Clontarf straight through and though they were stopped close to the line eventually they got it wide and scored a try in the corner. They converted to take a 7-0 lead.

Tallaght hit back and Daryl Keogh made a fine run which led to a penalty which was kicked to touch near the Clontarf line. However the Tallaght lineout malfunctioned as it did on several occasions and Tallaght couldn’t take advantage of Clontarf being down a man for ten minutes after they got a yellow card for a high tackle. Tallaght got themselves in good positions to score but every time they undermined themselves with basic errors and Clontarf led 7-0 at half-time.

In the second half Clontarf took advantage of more poor tackling from Tallaght to score a second try to take a 12-0 lead. Clontarf’s lineout was also struggling and Alan Moore was constantly stealing their ball. A good run from winger Rob Hudson got Tallaght into the Clontarf half and earned a penalty which Hudson kicked to make it 12-3. Tallaght looked to have scored a try when Ciaran Keane kicked ahead and appeared to have touched the ball down before the deadball line. But the referee, who had been badly out of position, decided as he couldn’t see the grounding that he couldn’t award the try.

Then with three minutes left to play Tallaght finally got their backline moving and they scored a try through full back Aaron Shanahan to make it 12-8. After another fine run by Hudson was halted by a high tackle, the ball was kicked to touch and Tallaght had a final change to snatch the win. However the lineout malfunctioned again and Clontarf won the ball and kicked it out to end the contest. However the losing bonus point leaves Tallaght two points ahead of Clontarf with a game in hand. When the news came through later that AIB had lost heavily away to Seapoint it meant Tallaght stay on top of the table.

Tallaght coach Tom Leigh saw some positives despite the defeat. “We’ve come away and got a losing bonus point, which could be vital in what’s turning into a tight league. They were a big experienced team but we defended them quite well for the most part. We never quite got our own attacking gameplan going though but we’re still top. However we have to get back on the saddle and beat Seapoint next week.”

Man of the match: Daryl Keogh

Tallaght RFC

15. Aaron Shanahan
14. Rob Hudson
13. Daryl Keogh
12. Padhraig Jones
11. Karl Segrave
10. David Clarke
9. Andrew Rudd

1. Alan Sower
2. Sean Hanlon
3. Tony McManus
4. Colin Morrison
5. Joe Ivers
6. Jack Russell
7. Alan Moore
8. Adam Nolan (Captain)

Replacements

16. Andy Caswell
17. Kevin Quinn
18. Daniel Pomares
19. Ciaran Keane
20. Ken McGovern
21. Shane Guerrine
22. Brian Lacey

Report: Jim O’Connor
Photos: Anne Kavanagh