Tullamore suffer setback ahead of All Ireland tilt
Rory Deverell powers forward for Tullamore against Westport in the Ulster Bank All-Ireland Junior Cup semi-final at Spollenstown. Picture: Jeff Harvey/HR Photo
The wheels well and truly came of the wagon last Saturday and the coaching staff will have a big job getting everybody focused for the All Ireland Junior Cup Final after this bad loss.
Ashbourne 16
Tullamore 6
While Ashbourne have a great defence, the number of mistakes Tullamore made in attack were incredible. Any doubts about the standard or rugby in Division 1B were well and truly dispelled by a good home team.
Tullamore attacked from the start and a break by Aaron Deverell took play deep into the Ashbourne 22. After a few phases Tullamore lost the ball and the opportunity.
They attacked again through Adrian Hanley but conceded a knock on. The failure to score in the first ten minutes was to prove costly.
Ashbourne gained in confidence and took the game to Tullamore. After seventeen the home side got the breakthrough when they scored a try under the posts that they converted.
Ten minutes later they extended the lead with a penalty. Aaron Deverell replied with a penalty five minutes later. David Clavin made a fifty metre break seven minutes before the break but the cover defence caught him. In injury time Tullamore missed a penalty and turned around seven points down.
An early penalty in the second half should have lifted Tullamore but they failed to get going against an excellent defence.
Ashbourne took their chances and kicked two penalties to take the game out of Tullamore’s reach. Poor discipline did contribute to this defeat.
Ashbourne had a second row from Rahan who played youths rugby in Tullamore in Adrian Buckley and a former Tullamore player in Peter Swanipoel. They also had Niall Neville coaching.
Apart from David Clavin, Aaron Deverell and David Milne the remainder of the squad will need to up their performances next Saturday to have any chance of winning the All Ireland title.
Tullamore: 15 Colin Draper, 14 Rory Deverell, 13 Tom Gilligan,12 David Clavin, 11 Colin Hughes, 10 Aaron Deverell(Capt), 9 Richie Hughes, 1 Tomas Bennet, 2 Cian Glennon, 3 Eddie Brady, 4 Ivor Deverell, 5 David Milne, 6 Jason Clancy, 7 Rob Connor, 8 Adrian Hanley. Replacements; Ger Molloy, Paul McNiff, Kevin Browne, Ivor Scully, Brian Geraghty.
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Wednesday 23 May 2012
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