No home comfort for Dundalk against DLS
A LOSING four-try bonus point was the only silver lining for Dundalk as Mike Walls’ men fell to a home defeat to De La Salle Palmerston on Saturday afternoon.
After a successful raid on Enniscorthy on the opening weekend, hopes were high that Dundalk could bolster a solid start to life back in the Leinster League with a home win, but in truth they never looked like troubling the impressive Dubliners.
DLS strolled into a 24-0 lead at the break to leave their hosts playing catch-up in the second period, but they weren’t found wanting as a late rally rescued the bonus point.
The visitors ran in three first-half tries and were deadly accurate over conversions and penalties, while they never really gave Dundalk a sniff at the other end.
Two of Palmerston’s first-half tries came in the opening 15 minutes, and both were converted to leave Dundalk well and truly up against it.
The DLS kicker kicked a penalty and added the extras to a late first-half try to make it 24-0 at the turnaround.
Walls’ men were playing for pride after the restart and their response at least bodes well for the rest of the campaign.
But first DLS extended their lead to 31 points, putting any hope of a comeback to bed.
Robert Williams forced a penalty try and Laurence Steen crossed for a second touchdown to cut the
deficit to 31-12.
Dundalk were never going to overhaul DLSP at that stage, but
the four-try target was very much on when Derek Williams pundered a third.
DLSP crossed for their fifth try, but that didn’t deter the hosts who secured what could well turn out to a valuable point with a late try from Derek Williams.
DUNDALK: Ciaran Brannigan, Seán Arrowsmith, Jonathan Gray, Hamish Walker, Enda Murphy, James McConnon, Laurence Steen, David Whatley, Mike Walls, Gearóid McDonnell, Peter O’Neill, Stephen Murphy, Derek Williams, Robert Williams, Andrew Williams.