Tullamore progress to Anderson Cup Final

Tullamore J3s made the long trip to Drogheda to take on Boyne who had recorded some notable results en route to the semi final.
For a change, conditions were excellent for rugby. The small & vocal crowd, scattered along the sideline, had the sun on their faces. A light breeze blew into the bottom corner of the Drogheda grounds.
Boyne started the brighter with their larger pack carrying hard, making life difficult for the Tullamore forwards. Tulliers slowly got a foothold in the game, with back row trio David & John Dunican and John McQuaid particularly combative in the opening exchanges.
The half continued in a “tit for tat” manner, with neither team able to muster up a clean line break or opportunity to score. 0-0 at half time.
Tullamore had the benefit of a light breeze in the 2nd half. 10 minutes into the half and it was 5.0. Some smart work at the lineout by John Dunican allowed Cathal Feighery enough space to slide in in the corner.
Boyne responded straight from the kick off. Tullamore adjudged to have sealed off at the ruck that came from the kick off allowing Boyne a routine kick at goal which their 13 converted.

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Niall McCabe added a penalty 10 minutes from time which put Tullamore ahead 8.3. It looked like this would be enough but to their credit Boyne scored the final play of the game, in the corner to force extra time. The conversion was missed, into a tricky breeze. 20 minutes of extra time to follow.
Tullamore settled into extra time well, and an inch perfect cross field kick from Rory Lynch was gathered at pace from Niall McCabe to touch down in the corner. The full back added a monster of a conversion to crucially put Tullamore 7 points clear.
Boyne again responded almost immediately. Tullamore badly managed the restart allowing Boyne a lineout & then a scrum 5 metres out. Eventually their number 8 crashed over in the corner & from the tightest of angles, & their number 13 added the conversion.
This would be the final score of the game, with both teams failing to trouble the scoreboard in the 2nd half of extra time.
Tullamore go through to the final as per Leinster Branch Rules, the game must be decided on the day. Teams finished level on tries scored, but Tullamore received less yellow cards than Boyne, sending them through.
In another game won in the trenches, Dunican Brothers, David & John along with McQuade had excellent games. The lineout was extremely impressive all day, with Feighery throwing the darts, while Conolly & Hickey ruled the skies.
A lively Boyne backline were well marshalled by centres - Lynch and Van Rensburg. Fionán Redmond, Gary Cantwell & James Roe added lots of value when introduced from the bench.
This writers man of the match is full back Niall McCabe. He handled a lot of tricky ball very well in the backfield, and when you look down on this game, he got all of the crucial scores.
Tullamore J3s can now look forward to a Towns Cup final of their own, next weekend against Ashbourne, with a day, time & venue to be announced.
Squad: Ben Hensey, Cathal Feighery, Dan Cronin, Odhran Hickey, John Connolly, John McQuaid, John Dunican, David Dunican, Ronan Hooper, Colin Draper, Mark McGrath, Rory Lynch, Estiaan Janse Van Rensbourg, Mark McGrath, Niall McCabe, James Roe, Fionán Redmond, Jake Kenny, Darren Brady, Tiarnan Quinn, Gary Cantwell & Eoin Dixon.