Tullamore thirds head into festive season on top of the table

Metro League 6: Tullamore J3s 8, Seaport J3s 0

Tullamore welcomed Dublin outfit Seapoint RFC to Spollenstown on what was a wet and windy Saturday afternoon. Between squad sickness and the wedding of their talismanic captain Colin Draper the night before, Tullamore were shorn of plenty of players for his top of the table match. Thankfully for Tullamore, their squad depth allowed for opportunities for plenty of players to showcase their talents.

Tullamore played with the wind in the first half in the hope of racking up scores knowing playing into the wind in the second would be a difficult affair. Indeed, they got off to the perfect start and were a try ahead after only 5 minutes. This try came from working their way down into Seapoint territory through strong carrying from the likes of Dan Cronin and Dave Mann in the forwards and some nice intricate play from Ja Glynn and Cian Lynam in the backs.

Tullamore’s early pressure gave them a lineout 10 metres from the Seapoint line. The lineout partnership of Cathal Feighery and Odhran Hickey worked a treat to lay the ball down to Ronan Hooper at scrum half. Primed for a long pass to his outhalf, the young scrum half saw the Seapoint defence start to rush forward to cut down the space for the Tullamore backline. His fast feet and acceleration saw Hooper dart behind the onrushing defence, and he left them in his wake as he dove over for the opening score. The conversion sailed agonisingly wide to leave the score at 5-0. The ideal start for Tullamore left the coaching staff confident of adding more scores. Little did anyone know at the time that that would be the only try of the game.

The rest of the half was spent in the Seapoint half as Tullamore tried in vain to add to the scoreboard. Jake Kenny was coming more into the game showing his strong carrying ability and even deftness of foot with smart grubbers. Eoin O’ Reilly was finding his groove in the out-half role despite his lack of sleep, while James Roe and the scrum were showing extremely well in driving back the Seapoint scrum. Tullamore had numerous attempts between close pick-and-drives from the forwards and wider plays from the backs to cross the Seapoint line, but sloppy errors let them down repeatedly.

The one bright point amongst that frustration was a 50 metre drop goal from O’ Reilly. After being held up over the line, O’Reilly received a drop out from the Seapoint out half. With not much happening, and with Jimmy Hyland’s words of encouragement ringing in his ears, O’ Reilly struck the ball perfectly and watched on proudly as it sailed between the posts. It is to be noted that by the end of the evening, the drop goal had extended to a massive 60-metre effort into a gale-force wind!

With the half ending with the scoreline at 8-0, Tullamore knew they were in for a tough 40 minutes of defensive efforts as Seapoint now had the strong wind at their backs. If there is one thing this Tullamore team likes to do, it is tackling. Whether it’s Dunican or Kon Fennelly in the back row, the returning Calym Dunne or Paul Galvin in the front row or Glynn and Kevin Healy in the centres, to a man, the Tullamore team tackled Seapoint into submission. The Seapoint pack relied heavily on the carrying of two players in their pack in getting them over the gainline.

Knowing this, the Tullamore pack took great pride in meeting them head on and chopping them low. This forced the Dublin outfit to repeatedly kick the ball down the field in the hope of gaining territory through Tullamore mistakes. Tullamore had nothing to fear as the back three of Niall McCabe, Cian and Jimmy Hyland worked incredibly well to catch all that was kicked to them and return with pace and power. Indeed, Cian took great pride in taking on the onrushing Seapoint players and showing how powerful he is despite his relatively small stature.

Frustration was getting the better of the Seapoint team with yellow cards being handed out for high tackles and off the ball rough-housing. With Seapoint a man down, O’ Reilly and Hooper began to kick behind Seapoint pinning them inside their own half. Tullamore did have chances to extend their lead and were very unlucky to be held up over the line despite Paul Galvin’s assertion to the ref that he had dotted the ball down. The ref just wasn’t convinced by the Daingean man’s argument.

With Sean Flynn, Mark Devine and the returning Rory Lynch now on the pitch, Tullamore continued to dominate the contact area and managed the game excellently well. It was this game management from the experienced heads in the Tullamore team that brought the game to a close with Tullamore comfortably holding on to their 8-point lead.

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This result leaves Tullamore top of Metro Division 6 and with 5 more home games to come after Christmas they will be confident of maintaining that position. It is a very competitive league with only 6 points separating 1st from 6th with the top two come the end of the season playing a final. Tullamore next welcome Terenure to Spollanstown on the 9th of January, but for the moment, they can enjoy the festive period as they sit proudly atop the Metro 6 league.