Tullamore thirds take down second placed team

Tullamore J2s made the trip to Dr Hickey Park in Greystones on Saturday to take on the hosts who were placed 2nd in the league.

Conditions were perfect with no breeze and dry conditions overhead and underfoot.

Tullamore kicked off, and some early defensive pressure turned over the ball just outside the Greystones 22. Assured scrum-half Adam Hughes (20 years on from his AIL debut on the same ground) fed the ball back to Colin Draper who slotted an opportune drop goal to leave the score 3-0 after 60 seconds played.

This set the tone for what was to be a very dominant 20 minutes for Tullamore. David Mann provided the platform for the 1st try of the game. A strong carry from the kick off, narrowed the “Stones” defence. Some quick hands from Kevin Healy and Ronan Hooper allowed Cian Lynam some space to eventually offload to Kon Fennelly for a well taken try. 8-0.

Lynam was very unlucky not to score again minutes later, but for a horrible bounce of the ball with only the line in front of the pacy full back.

Tullamore’s tails were up at this point, and chose to run the ball from deep at every opportunity. Ryan Strong was proving a real handful at 13 and it was a 60 metre break from the Balingar man, that caused all the damage for the next try. He fed Cian Lynam to scamper home which left the score 15-0

Greystones rallied well after this try and had their best period of the 1st half where they were camped on the Tullamore line for 10 or so minutes. Young guns Griff Smith, John Dunican, Mark Devine & Dave Mann were incredible in these exchanges keeping the big “Stones” pack at bay. These 10 minutes and the 5 that followed before half time were the deciding factor in the game.

Cian Lynam added another try after some lovely build up play from Hughes & Healy.

On the stroke of half time Mark McGrath added a score to leave it 29-0 after he collecting a neat grubber kick from Draper down the left wing.

The 2nd half was never going to live up to the pace and attrition of the 1st, but still provided some lovely movements by both teams.

Tullamore introduced young forwards James Rowe & John McQuade to add some fresh legs to the pack.

Greystones came out with renewed purpose in the 2nd half and they were to get a deserved try after 5 minutes.

The next score from Tullamore was arguably the best of the game. A set play off a lineout, Tullamore moved the ball to the opposite wing with Kevin Healy passing to Evan Harris (just on for the injured Mark McGrath), who eventually fed Ronan Hooper. The electric winger raced down the touch line, chipped the oncoming full back, regathered the ball, and with the help of John Dunican, barged over the last Greystones defender to score in the corner. 34-5.

Greystones added 2 further tries in the final 10 minutes, sandwiched between a Hooper penalty to leave the final score 37-19.

This was certainly the best collective showing from this group so far this season. The 4 points gained from the win leaves them 3 points off top with 7 home games in a row to look forward to, beginning with Trinity College on the 6th of December.

Lineout generals, Fennelly, Hickey & Cronin fixed the problems from the week previous and the clean line out ball was the platform for a lot of what was good for the J3s on Saturday.

The backs were all very impressive with key performances from Ryan Strong, Ronan Hooper and Cian Lynam both in defence and attack.

Player of the match was awarded to John Dunican. The attritional Ferbane native was impressive throughout, stopping Greystones at source with some great tackling and was excellent also with the ball in hand.

It is to be noted the extra support Jimmy Rabbitte and James Joyce provided on the sidelines.

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Team: Kon Fennelly, Dan Cronin, Griff Smith, Odhran Hickey, Jake Kenny, John Dunican, Mark Devine, David Mann, Adam Hughes, Colin Draper, Mark McGrath, Kevin Healy, Ryan Strong, Ronan Hooper, Cian Lynam. Subs: James Rowe, Xavier Kossowski, John McQuade, Cian Dunne Guilfoyle, Evan Harris, Killian Dunne, Alex Birmingham