Dundalk pipped at the post by Bective
LEINSTER LEAGUE DIVISION 1A
DUNDALK showed their battling qualities to fight back from 15-0 down and nearly plundered an unlikely victory from their visit to Donnybrook last Saturday.
In the end they returned home with just a losing bonus point, but with bottom club Kilkenny the next visitors to Mill Road, Mike Walls’ charges have every chance of moving into the top half of the table
Division1Atable
Enniscorthy Gorey Wicklow Bective Dundalk Boyne Ashbourne Kilkenny P 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 W 4 4 4 3 2 2 1 0 L 1 1 1 2 3 3 4 5 D 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
F A 129 82 111 70 127 96 98 87 113 105 63 131 107 123 86 140 BP 3 2 2 3 3 0 4 3 Pts 19 18 18 15 11 8 8 3 in the coming weeks.
Despite losing two of their opening four fixtures since relegation out of the All-Ireland League, Bective were expected to be formidable opponents on their own patch and so it proved in the early stages.
The home side actually had a man dismissed around the 20-minute mark for a bad tackle on Derek Williams, yet they ended the first half with a 10-0 lead and moved further ahead with a try two minutes into the second period.
Dundalk had a mountain to climb at that stage, but they responded with true grit Walls’ men showed grit, belatedly putting their first points on the board in the 53rd minute when captain Enda Murphy surged over the whitewash after a slick lineout move. Darragh Conroy converted and Dundalk were now back in touch at 15-7.
However, Bective added their third try just shy of the hour mark, which wasn’t converted, and with a 13-point lead they were now back in a commanding position.
Almost straight from the restart, though, Robert Williams went over for Dundalk’s second major and player-coach Walls then got over for a score converted by Conroy, made it a one-point game with 10 minutes to play.
The visitors were in the ascendency at this stage and had a chance to move in front for the first time as Conroy lined up a penalty from the middle of the field. How- Player-coach Mike Walls’ try earned Dundalk a hard-earned losing bonus point.
ever, his effort dropped just short and the clock ran out on Dundalk.
Walls’ team now take a break from league duties as they prepare for this Saturday’s All-Ireland Jun-
ior Cup opener against Instonians in Belfast - kick-off 2.30pm. DUNDALK: Conor Williams, Seán Arrowsmith, John Smith; Ben Mortimer, Enda Murphy; James McConnon, Ciarán DUNDALK Under-16 girls made the long trip to Birr for their first game of the season.
They took a while to get into their stride, with the home side looking the more dominant from the start with the wind at their backs.
However, despite Birr’s early scores the Dundalk girls were not going down easy and in a short space of time Aoife Bermingham showed her skill and a taste of what was to come when she found space with good support from the backs and forwards and ran in a hattrick of tries.
Two of the three were converted by Sophia Murdock.
The Dundalk girls were on fire and as the second half started out half Murdock was very unlucky following a blistering run from the half-way line at pace through the entire Birr defence, only to be held up at the try line.
This did not deter the Dundalk girls who remained composed and kept their heads, holding
Lennon, Tiernan Gonnelly; Mike Walls, Sam Weber; Jonathan Williams, German Javier Herrera Luhrs; Robert Williams, Derek Williams, Darragh Conroy. Reps: Ciarán Brannigan, Greg Whately, Laurence Steen, Robert Farrell, Ciaran Bellew. Birr to a very tight scoreline.
However, the Birr girls used their physicality in the second half to turn ball over with superb counter-rucking and a determination to keep the ball from Dundalk.
Great running by Sophie Wolfe and a superb interception by Karen Nulty could have made significant inroads to the scoreline, but Dundalk were unlucky not to finish with scores on these occasions.
Aoife Purcell , Caoimhe Conroy, Moira Daly and Bronagh Hughes made some powerful ball carries, and were unfortunate not to get over the whitewash.
Jennifer McElroy and Saorla O’Meara excelled on the wings and newcomer Christina Munoz at full back put in a superb display for her first outing.
Birr ran out winners in the end, but Pat Hughes, the new Dundalk coach, can be very proud of this gutsy performance for the first game of the season. CAOLAN RAFFERTY (pictured) produced a fantastic performance in the wind and rain in Scotland last week to win the 14th Fife Tournament on the British Universities & Colleges Tour.
The Dundalk player, who is a Harrington Scholar at Maynooth University, shot a six under par total of 136 to win the 36 hole event at Fairmont, St Andrews, by seven shots. His victory saw him move up to 54 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, his highest position yet.
The opening day of the competition, which attracted college golfers from all over Britain and Ireland, was characterised by shocking weather which included strong gusting winds followed by heavy that nearly made the course unplayable.
While most golfers struggled in the conditions, Rafferty revelled in them as he showed a high level of skill and patience in carding a one under par round of 70 that included three birdies and 13 pars after he started his round battling the high winds and finished it in a monsoon.
Conditions improved on the second day and Rafferty, who held a one shot lead overnight, quickly stamped his authority on proceedings with three consecutive birdies from the third to move to four under.
Stirling University’s Laird Shepherd emerged from the chasing pack as five birdies over the front nine saw him reduce Rafferty’s lead to two shots but the Dundalk man put his foot on accelerator down the back nine with birdies on 10 and 11. Although he dropped a shot on the 12th Rafferty holed his sixth birdie of the day on the 14th and finished with a five under par 66 for a two round total of six under. He won by seven shots from Maynooth teammate Eanna Griffin with Laird in third.
Rafferty was only player in the field to finish under par and he led Maynooth University to victory in the team event as they beat Durham University by a massive 23 strokes with Stirling a further two strokes back.
The tournament brought Rafferty’s 2019 season to an end and he can look back on very successful campaign which saw him make a major breakthrough by winning the South of Ireland Championship and getting into the top 100 in the World Golf Rankings as well as helping Dundalk to its first ever senior title when winning the Leinster Barton Shield at Mount Wolseley in July.