Rampaging Rathdrum

ON Sunday, the Rathdrum women travelled a familiar road to Coolavacoose Carbury to face Edenderry RFC.

Rathdrum were coming off the back on a solid performance over Carlow the week previous whilst Edenderry have struggled with numbers thus far this season. As such, this made for a decidedly one sided affair at Edenderry with Rathdrum growing steadily in confidence week by week.

As with the previous week, Rathdrum opened brightly. Receiving the opening kick off from Edenderry they marched up the field with some line breaking runs from the Rathdrum backline.

Within one minute of kick off Linda Dempsey powered across the line to open the scoreboard, Heather Cullen converted as Rathdrum prepared to receive another kick off.

In a repeat of the opening kick off, Rathdrum once again attacked the Edenderry defensive line with intensity, gaining yard after yard. Some very solid rucking from the Rathdrum pack allowed for fast ball and suddenly full back Caitlin Olohan was sprinting towards the Edenderry 22. Excellent hands from the full back put Laura Kavanagh into space and the speedy winger burst across the line for the second of the day.

In a time when you would expect Edenderry to drop their heads, they upped the intensity, and eventually got their chance to attack due to a Rathdrum knock on. Rathdrum defended well but following an infringement -Edenderry drove across the line for their only score of the game.

Disgruntled but not deterred, Rathdrum marched on. The ball moved across the field with ease as Rathdrum vowed to keep the ball alive. It wasn’t long before winger Laura Kavanagh found herself once again striding towards the try line. However, Edenderry were alert to her threat and made ground to tackle. The winger showed great awareness to keep herself driving through the tackle until the line was reachable, she dived across for her second and Rathdrum’s third of the day.

With Rathdrum’s confidence rising steadily, and some fantastic go forward ball being provided by the hard working Rathdrum pack, Edenderry were stretched across the field. A good break up the right wing by Trish Byrne found Sammy Mc Coy in support, she in turn found Noelle Ward who stormed towards the try-line. Some great cover defense by Edenderry stopped Ward just short but a quick recycle found Aine Geoghegan who happily dived across the line for the fourth try of the day.

With about seven minutes remaining in the first half, Rathdrum abated and perhaps hit their lull of the match. Whilst they remained solid in defense, with some textbook tackles from both captain Kellie Fennell and prop Hannah Fennell keeping Edenderry at bay, their attack failed to produce any further scores and the first half closed 24–5. The first score of the second half was to come from a Rathdrum scrum deep in their own 22. A draw and pass from Lisa Cahill set Caitlin Olohan away up the blind side, she stepped through and outpaced five Edenderry defenders and sprinted the 65 meters to score under the posts.

Heather Cullen added the conversion and the Rathdrum confidence was back on the rise. Rathdrum both attacked and defended hard with Emily Ryan and Aoife Mc Grath poaching Edenderry ball at will.

Before long, some fine forward play found Stephanie Ward-Windsor attacking the try line, she fell short but a quick recycle found out-half Mo Dowling. Dowling sold the Edenderry backline to sail through and across the Edenderry line, Heather Cullen added the points. The Rathdrum pack, although the lighter bunch worked remarkably hard to twart Edenderry’s set plays, in particular Nikki Fennel causing disruption in the line outs and Aoife Byrne disrupting the scrum.

The next try came from Heather Cullen, who had attacked the Edenderry line ferociously all day. She was finally rewarded when a ball taken at her familiar pace saw her burst through across for the eight Rathdrum try. She added the conversion and was eager for more. Before long Cullen made another break but was stopped before the line, another quick recycle found the Rathdrum backline and a superb draw and pass from Sammy Mc Coy saw Caitlin Olohan power across for her second of the day. The game finished 53-5.

Next week see our Senior Women travel to Mullingar in the Division 1 League whilst our development team will play their first Division 4 game at home at 1pm.

Squad: Linda Dempsey, Becky Condron, Hannah Fennell, Aine Geoghegan, Aoife Mc Grath, Nikki Fennell, Kellie Fennell, Noelle Ward, Lisa Cahill, Mo Dowling, Laura Kavanagh, Sammy Mc Coy, Heather Cullen, Trish Byrne, Caitlin Olohan, Emily Ryan, Aoife Byrne, Stephanie Ward-Windsor, Neasa Clissman, Vickie Doyle.