DUNDALK BACK WITH A BANG
DUNDALK appear to be in freefall following a fifth straight defeat as Adam Doyle’s side went down 17-3 away to Kilkenny on Saturday.
The loss see’s Doyles side slump to third from bottom as his injury hit line-up failed to score a try for a second week running.
Both captain Johnny Williams and Willie Schutz were ruled out for the remainder of the season following injuries in the attritional defeat at home to Gorey last week.
Things went from bad to worse for Dundalk when inside ten minutes they lost Tiernan Gonnelly, who was filling in as skipper. He appeared to have suffered a facial injury and may be passed fit for the next fixture in two weeks.
In a slow moving game the hosts were the first to break the deadlock shortly after Gonnelly’s departure. While the conversion was missed Dundalk didn’t score before the break. The Mill Road side remained competitive though, their set-piece remained functional which offered them some lifelines.
There was a real frustration though as Jack Connolly found a gap and broke through but his offload to Ronan Greene was marginally in front and didn’t go to hand with a try almost guaranteed.
Dundalk cut the deficit to two points early in the second-half when Gauthier Petit converted from a penalty, but that was to be as close as they would get to Kilkenny.
They looked to be getting to terms with the game and were moving the ball well but just not breaking the gain line enough to threaten.
A lapse in concentration though was punished by the hosts when Dundalk were caught cold off a tap-and-go move from the back of a scrum and several missed tackles saw Kilkenny go over. The game was put well out of reach with ten minutes remaining when Kilkenny were once again the beneficiaries of poor tackling to get their third try of the game.
A losing bonus point would have been big boost to Dundalk, such is the compact nature of the bottom half of the league were three points separates the teams from Gorey in fourth to Seapoint seventh. Indeed Dundalk and Seapoint are tied on points with Doyle’s side sitting in sixth. Next up though will be a tough trip to Dublin to face Suttonians on the 9th of February.
The Northside club went down to Gorey at the weekend, but with Ashbourne’s form of late and the very real possibility they could be promoted to the AIL through the round robin they are currently occupying the other relegation spot.
The break will give Doyle a chance to once again reshuffle his squad as they gear up for a massive two weeks which will seal their fate in the top flight of Leinster. DUNDALK: Conor Williams, Seán Arrowsmith, Robert Farrell; Enda Murphy, Alistair McCormack; James McConnon, Ciarán Lennon, Tiernan Gonnelly; Gauthier Petit, Conor Hennessy; Jack Connolly, Andrew Williams; Robert Williams, Ronan Greene, Patrick Reilly. Replacement: Laurence Steen.