Derby joy for Dundalk as Boyne face scrap
RUGBY LEINSTER LEAGUE DIVISION 1A
Boyne Dundalk 8 10
A 10-8 DERBY win for Boyne three years ago helped secure their league status and condemn Dundalk to relegation, but last Saturday that scoreline was reversed and it’s the Drogheda side now facing the drop.
These teams were plying their trade in the All-Ireland League in 2015, but both clubs’ fortunes have waned since then and the alarm bells will certainly be ringing around Shamrock Lodge following this narrow defeat.
Skipper Karl Keogh had an opportunity to rescue a draw for the home side with the last kick of the match, albeit from tight against the touchline, but he pulled his effort wide and Dundalk could breathe a collective sigh of relief.
Mike Walls’ charges are hardly out of trouble yet, with half the season still to run, but they’re in considerably better shape than their neighbours, who now lie bottom of the table ahead of a crucial home game against fellow strugglers Ashbourne this coming Saturday.
As a spectacle, this latest show- Enniscorthy Wicklow Gorey Bective Rgrs Dundalk Ashbourne Kilkenny Boyne
Results
Bective Rangers 35 Wicklow 39 Boyne 8 Dundalk 10 Gorey 8 Enniscorthy 11 Kilkenny 15 Ashbourne 14
Fixtures
P 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 W 6 5 5 3 3 2 2 2 L 1 2 2 4 4 5 5 5 D 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Boyne v Ashbourne Enniscorthy v Wicklow Gorey v Dundalk Kilkenny v Bective Rangers
F A 183 98 169 137 125 84 139 136 138 130 131 144 118 169 79 184 BP 4 4 3 6 4 5 3 1 Pts 28 24 23 18 16 13 11 9
down between Louth’s rivals was dull to put it mildly, pretty much like the grey, misty Drogheda skyline.
Dundalk spent the early stages in opposition territory, but when their forwards failed to clean out a messy ruck their scrum half Daragh Conroy knocked on at the base, allowing Boyne to clear their lines.
Then the home side made good use of scrappy scrum possession to mount a backline attack, with Robert Vallejo and Rory Hen- nessy combining to release Kevin McCleery whose grubber kick in behind Dundalk full back Sam Weber bounced into touch just short of the whitewash.
Both sides were guilty of trying to force things too much, with handling errors mounting up, but Karl Keogh eventually kicked Boyne into a 3-0 lead in the 23rd minute after Dundalk were penalised for not releasing in the tackle.
That seemed to spark the visitors to life and after Tiernan Gonnelly got over the line but was held up, a series of five-metre scrums followed where Dundalk put their neighbours’ forwards under intense pressure.
The third of these scrums collapsed just as Dundalk seemed to be getting a shove on, prompting referee James O’Hara to award a penalty try to leave the away side 7-3 ahead.
Keogh pulled a relatively straightforward Boyne penalty to the left of the posts, but Gary Downey’s men must have been relieved to reach half-time just four points in arrears as they somehow survived another series of Dundalk scrums near their line.
That didn’t come without a cost, though, as early replacement Ciaran Smith was sent to the sinbin right on the half-time whistle to leave Boyne a man down for 10 minutes.
They did start the second period strongly despite their temporary numerical disadvantage as good carries by Eoghan Duffy, McCleery and Brodigan brought them into the Dundalk 22 where a knockon by Hennessy cost them the chance of a score.
After Smith’s return the Drogheda men pushed again and a quick tap penalty and kick in behind the Dundalk defence by Vallejo looked like producing a try for the number 10, only for the retreating Dundalk winger Derek Williams to make a brilliant intervention by diving on the loose ball.
Boyne went through a series of phases to engineer another try-scoring chance on the hour mark, with Vallejo and Conor Walsh prominent in the build-up, but an over-hit pass with the line in sight went to ground. A strong carry by Weber helped Dundalk gain a foothold in opposition territory and they made it count on the scoreboard in the 65th minute as Conroy extended Dundalk’s lead to 10-3 with a penalty.
All the while, the away side’s forwards - in particular John Smith, Niall Smullen and captain Enda Murphy - were getting through a mountain of work, but even they couldn’t stop the tide as Boyne bossed in the territorial and possession stakes in the latter stages.
A move involving Duffy and Brodigan ended with McCleery just failing to ground the ball over the line, a brilliant burst by Vallejo was followed by a clever offload that just didn’t go to hand and it took a Williams interception and burst up to half-way from his own 22 to relieve the pressure on Dundalk for a brief spell.
At a critical stage the home side were also penalised twice for not throwing straight into the lineout, but finally they made their pressure count in the fourth and last minute of injury time.
For once their handling was spot-on as they attacked from their own half, with Brodigan twice punching holes in the Dundalk defence with significant carries. And when the ball was moved from right to left through the hands of Duffy and McCleery, second row Walsh provided the scoring pass for Vallejo who dived over the line.
That gave Keogh the chance to secure a draw for Boyne with a successful conversion, but the kick was a difficult one and his effort sailed to the left of the uprights to confirm the narrowest of victories for Dundalk.
BOYNE: Eoghan Duffy; Michael Briscoe, Adam Brodigan, Rory Hennessy, Kevin McCleery; Robert Vallejo, Shaun Rooney; Pat Shuttleworth, Padraig Mongey, Keith Keogh; Conor Walsh, Paul Kelly, Declan Moore, Wilson Twentyman, Karl Keogh. Replacements: Tadhg O’Reilly, Sean Callaghan, Ciaran Smith, Brian Howell.
DUNDALK: Sam Weber; Patrick Reilly, Ray McCabe, Laurence Steen, Derek Williams; Mike Walls, Daragh Conroy; Robert Farrell, Sean Arrowsmith, John Smith; Greg Whately, Niall Smullen; Enda Murphy, Alistair McCormack, Tiernan Gonnelly. Replacements: Conor Williams, Johnny Gray, David Murdoch.