Under-17s stun All-Ireland champions in Tullow
NIALL Bermingham’s wonder try, converted by Gavin Meally, proved decisive as Dundalk U-17s claimed a superb victory over the reigning Leinster and All-Ireland champions Tullow in their own back yard.
Dundalk were high in confidence, having strung together an unbeaten run going back to last April, but this match would be the real litmus test as to how far this exciting team has progressed as they faced Tullow who were unbeaten in a year.
Wind, rain and mud made playing conditions very difficult, but Dundalk knew they had to start fast and not allow this Tullow team to get their noses in front and potentially pull away.
Sure enough Tullow started well, but great scramble defence and some superb counter-ruck- ing by prop Adam Duffy forced a much-needed penalty and gave Dundalk the chance to clear.
A good lineout received by number 8 Daniel McArdle and after a number of phases Tullow infringed again at the ruck and out half James McDonald kicked the penalty to the corner. In difficult conditions hooker Birmingham threw a great dart for flanker Joshua O’Hare to take and start a maul, touching down himself in the corner.
The next score came from Tullow, with their players finally breaking through the Dundalk defence to score off the back of a scrum, tying the score at 5-5 after 20 minutes. Soon after came another try from Tullow and it was still 10-5 at the interval.
Tullow were a very physical side, but Dundalk were fired up and refused to be intimidated or bullied and they played with great skill and commitment. Nevertheless, the next score in the game was a Tullow try close to the posts and it was converted to give the hosts a 17-5 lead.
Undeterred, Dundalk dug deep and piled on the pressure, winning a five-metre scrum resulting from a Tullow chargedown in the in-goal area.
From the scrum Tom Corcoran passed to ‘Chippy’ Mc Donnell who ran a switch with inside centre PJ Tiernan, and outside centre Aidan Kane crossed over under the posts. Meally converted to make the score 17-12.
Tullow responded with intense pressure for 10 minutes and were camped in Dundalk’s 22, but the defence held strong. Fionn O’Brien, Seamus Boyle and Darragh Maher hit ruck after ruck and a superb turnover forced a Dundalk scrum on their own 22-metre line.
With the clock ticking towards full time Dundalk took the brave decision to run the ball rather than clear their lines. Corcoran, back on for the injured James O’Connell, fed McDonnell who then fed wing odhan Fitzpatrick, who made a good 20 metres.
The Dundalk backline fanned out right on the openside, but McDonnell fed flanker Stephen Dyas who cut back blindside and popped the ball to hooker Bermingham who ran from Dundalk’s 10-metre line to score a wonder try under the posts. Meally then held his nerve to nail the conversion and suddenly Dundalk were 19-17 ahead with two minutes remaining.
Meally retrieved the restart and from there the away side calmly went through a number of phases, with Darragh Maher and Jack Cassidy making solid carries. Tullow were then penalised for a side entry into a ruck and Dundalk won the resulting scrum, allowing Corcoran to kick the ball out to start scenes of jubilation. •Dundalk RFC’s best wishes go out to player Fionn O’Brien who was involved in a serious car crash not long after the game ended. He is in St James Hospital and thoughts, wishes and prayers are with him to make a speedy recovery.