Clearcut home win over Clonmel paved the way

ENNISCORTHY CONTINUED to power their way through to the Senior ranks of Irish rugby when they beat Munster champions Clonmel 46-5 at Ross Road in their second A.I.L. qualifier.

To be fair, the visitors came out of the blocks flying and they scored an excellent opening try right from drop-off, with Luke Hogan’s pace catching the Enniscorthy defence off guard.

The conversion was missed but Clonmel continued to dominate the exchanges as the home team struggled to find their rhythm, and the visitors were on top for the opening 15 minutes.

Enniscorthy eventually settled and on their first visit into the Clonmel ’22 they were awarded a penalty which Ivan Poole slotted over.

The forwards at last put some consistent play together and eventually, after some pick and drives, the first try came.

With Nick Doyle and Paddy Waters initially involved, the ball was worked to Killian Lett who put hooker Davy Murphy in for a try to create the lead which they never relinquished.

In the 35th minute they scored their second try, and again it was the forwards who set up a maul from a line-out.

After several moves the ball found its way out to the left wing, and David O’Dwyer burst through to touch down.

Whilst the conversion was missed, the score was now 13-5.

Clonmel did not give up and had some chances themselves, although the Enniscorthy defence was now well organised.

The defining moment of the first-half arrived just on the break when Clonmel had a scrum under the Enniscorthy post which was set on three occasions.

With the home team’s scrum under pressure, a try looked likely, but they were penalised for a front row infringement which was most certainly a let-off because if Clonmel were to score then it might have changed the landscape of the game.

The second-half was only five minutes old when Enniscorthy scored their third try which was a thing of beauty.

Nick Doyle tapped a line-out ball down to Arthur Dunne, and his footwork saw him escape into space.

He in turn fed the ball to Tom Ryan before Killian Lett’s quick off-load to the flying Ivan Jacob who touched down in the corner.

For good measure, Ivan Poole kicked the conversion from out on the touchline.

Five minutes later, Enniscorthy scored their fourth try and again it had class stamped all over it.

With Richard Dunne making a drive through the middle, the ball was worked to Ivan Poole who had Davy Murphy outside him.

The hooker threw a beautiful pass to Nick Doyle and the number 8 put Ivan Jacob through the space to score again in the corner. Ivan Poole kicked another brilliant conversion, again from the sideline, for a 27-5 lead.

Nick Doyle was sin-binned but that had no impact on Enniscorthy’s play.

It was all Enniscorthy now. David O’Dwyer kicked ahead and won the race for the ball, and he moved it to Hughie O’Neill who had full-back Richard Dunne in support to score the fifth try.

And there was to be one more when Davy Murphy intercepted a sloppy Clonmel pass to touch down from close-in.

Alan Jacob kicked the conversion for what turned out to be an emphatic victory which for a long time didn’t look on.

Team: Paddy Waters (Conal Kavanagh, 68), Davy Murphy (Jamie Barron, 65), Angelo Todisco, Timmy Morrissey, Tom Ryan (Jim White), Alan Jacob, Brian Bolger, Nick Doyle, Arthur Dunne (Billy Wickham, 72), Ivan Poole (Hughie O’Neill, 70), Ivan Jacob, Killian Lett, Daniel Pim, David O’Dwyer, Richard Dunne.