RUGBY: Offaly side overcomes Dublin outfit in dull affair

On a bitterly cold Saturday afternoon, Tullamore locked horns with Clontarf, knowing a win of any sort would put them in a divisional league final.
In a game that struggled to come to life at times, Tullamore did enough to dig out a win in a performance that was at times disjointed and sometimes littered with errors and penalties.
Tullamore actually started well here, big hitters Colgan, Whittle, Moloney and Carthy all carrying well and overall the first 15 minutes were very positive. Tulliers had several near misses before Gary Cantwell spotted the space and dinked the ball across the field, Diarmiud Ralleigh did the hokey pokey down the touchline and scored an excellent try.
Wave after wave of Tullamore pressure yielded little, the final pass simply not sticking.
This pattern continued until the 30th minute mark, Tulliers largely dominant but lacking the necessary patience and incision to do harm on the scoreboard.
And then Clontarf come to life and camped their tent in the Tullamore 22 for the next 12 minutes and only some heroic defence by Colgan, Redmomd, Carthy and Whittle prevented the seemingly inevitable score. Somehow Tulliers hung in til ht and at 5 - 0 it was still anyones game.
Cantwell banged over a straightforward penalty for 8 - 0 before Targ responded in kind and then out of absolutely nothing, Chris Whittle went on a mazy run and was only halted illegally 40 metres later with the try line in sight. Penalty try given and finally some daylight.
Unfortunately Tulliers lost composure after this score and Clontarf bounced back with 5 minutes, their no 9 sniping from close range. 15 - 8 with 60 gone.
It was still very much anyone's game now but thankfully Tulliers just about had enough juice in the tank to see the game out, the bench making a fine impact, Kennedy, Galvin and Fennelly all making contributions.
Delahunt would have the final say when he scurried over off the back of a Tulliers scrum to see out the score at 22 - 8.
An imperfect game but satisfying in its own right, to play below par and get a win is never a bad sign and a case of job done.
In the bigger picture, reaching a league final after last year's promotion is a fantastic achievement in itself and bodes well for the clubs future.
On the day Tullamore had best performances in the pack with Colgan and Whittle pushing Carthy hard for the man of the match award.
Cantwell, Strong and Moloney being the pick of the backline. Next Sunday Tullamore play Mullingar in a mouthwatering towns cup 2nd round fixture in Spollenstown with a 3pm ko. All support is needed to help overcome a formidable challenge against an unbeaten Mullingar side, flying high after securing leinster league 2A last week.