Ashbourne pile pressure on struggling Dundalk side
ASHBOURNE DUNDALK 53 15
ALREADY occupying the relegation play-off spot before kick-off, Dundalk were plunged deeper into crisis in Ashbourne on Saturday afternoon.
The hosts racked up a whopping eight tries in a routine victory and with Boyne defeating Wicklow at Shamrock Lodge for a rare victory the gap between the Louth rivals was reduced to just four points.
The hosts played with a strong breeze at their backs and inside three minutes Gavin Kennedy, Simon Deevy and Kelan Toolan all combined for the latter to score.
Ashbourne were playing well and eight minutes later they added their second try, with Andy Whittaker taking an inside pass from Rooney on the Dundalk 10-metre line to power through the cover and score under the posts.
Kennedy converted to leave Dundalk trailing by 12.
But the visitors didn’t throw in the towel and within five minutes they had scored their first try. It followed a period of sustained pressure and a yellow card to Ashbourne’s winger Gibson for blocking down a pass. The Louth men went to the corner and Robbie DUNDALK U-18 girls defeated a very strong Tullow team on Saturday.
Since meeting back in November in the qualifying stages of the competition, both teams have been promoted to Leinster Youth Girls Premier 1.
Tullow won that clash 27-24 and the much anticipated re-match was played out on the firsts pitch on Saturday.
Having conceded eight tries against Wicklow the previous week, the Louth girls had much to prove going into the game and with coach Dermot Lennon stressing that defence wins games.
They duly delivered a strong Farrell powered over from the lineout for an unconverted try.
It was turning into a try fest and in the 19th minute Mark Rooney scored the first of his two touchdowns. Again soft tackling from Dundalk was a factor as Rooney ran in the try from well outside the 22. Kennedy converted to stretch the lead to 19-5.
Ashbourne were not having it all their own way and in the 24th minute Dundalk added their second try through Conor Hennessy, before Kennedy kicked a penalty to make the score 22-10 heading into first-half injury-time.
Dundalk, though, snatched a third try before the whistle with Robert Williams crossing to cut the gap to 22-15 and they would have retired fairly confident of over-turning the deficit with wind advantage to come after the break.
However, the second half turned out to be all one-way traffic as the hosts racked up 31 unanswered points. Against the wind Ashbourne worked on ball retention and gave very little opportunity for Dundalk to play.
Dundalk will be glad of a break from league action when they take on Athy away in the opening round of the Towns Cup.
They return to Leinster League action against Bective in four weeks time with Boyne breathing and determined team effort, putting in an incredible amount of tackles, to stop the opposition and overcome them.
From the start Tullow showed their intent by turning over a solid Dundalk attack to move the ball up the pitch.
In confident phases the Carlow girls scored the first try of the game and easily converted.
Dundalk answered not long after by moving the ball out wide to right winger Sophie Kinghan who at speed raced down the right wing, side stepping the opposition and handing off another. She headed into the Tullow 22 cutting inside another defender to offload an inside pass to fullback Maria Smith who at speed crossed the whitewash and grounded the ball under the posts making an easy conversion for Aoife Laurence.
Dundalk scored two more tries, down their necks.
ASHBOURNE: Kelan Toolan; Andrew Gibson, Dermot Colreavy, Mark Rooney, Matt Connolly; Donal Crotty, Gavin Kennedy; Mark Behan, Brendan Meehan, Ciaran Roche; Sean Kent, Sean McKeon; Conor Hurley, Justin Whittaker, Simon Deevy. Replacements: Danny Norton, Frank Keegan, Andrew Whittaker, Shane Bass, Clive Donaldson.
DUNDALK: Robert Williams; Paddy Reilly, Sam Weber, Ray McCabe, Conor Hennessy; Robbie Farrell, Mike Walls; Alastair McCormack, Tiernan Gonnelly, James McConnon; Greg Whately, Enda Murphy; Johnny Grey, Sean Arrowsmith, Robbie Farrell. Rep[lacements: Laurence Steen, Conor Lenehan.
P Enniscorthy 11 Gorey 11 Wicklow 11 Kilkenny 11 Ashbourne 11 Bective Rgrs 11 Dundalk 11 Boyne 11
Results
W 10 7 7 5 4 4 3 3 L 1 3 4 6 6 7 8 8 Ashbourne 53 Dundalk 15 Bective Rangers 7 Enniscorthy 31 Boyne 19 Wicklow 12 Kilkenny 30 Gorey 17
Nextleaguefixtures
Dundalk v Bective Rangers Enniscorthy v Kilkenny Gorey v Boyne Wicklow v Ashbourne D 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0
F A 316 154 198 155 252 219 231 246 240 233 191 221 209 263 153 299 BP 8 3 5 6 7 7 5 1 Pts 48 33 33 26 25 23 17 13 the third try of the game was grounded by left winger Aoife Laurence in the left corner and not long after a break from the half way line saw centre Caoimhe O’Callaghan race down the pitch, out-running the opposition to score under the posts.
An early charge down by Tullow from the base line unfairly blocked the conversion kick.
For the last five minutes of the first half Dundalk defended their try line with their lives denying Tullow a score before the half time whistle to lead 17-5 at the interval.
Tullow hit back with an early try after the break and stepped up their game putting Dundalk’s defence under pressure but the Louth girls tackled like demons and the Tullow girls started to tire.
Dundalk emptied their bench and put on fresh legs and for the final 15 minutes of the game Dundalk dominated with some strong ball carries by Ellie Meade and Eva Toal and some great line breaks by Nina Hjalmers.
Meade’s hard work paid off as she was the next to cross the whitewash with five minutes left on the clock and then Caoimhe O’Callaghan increased Dundalk’s tally in the final minute of the game by side-stepping the opposition to score under the posts.
Player of the match was awarded to Caoimhe Kampes for her defensive tackling and her work turning over Tullow ball at the breakdown.
DUNDALK: Aoife Holmes, Miriam Finnegan, Grace Quigley, Nina Hjalmers, Nicola Bolger, Erin Casey, Caoimhe Kampes, Ellie Meade, Clodagh Flynn, Amy Turley, Aoife Laurence, Eva Toal, Caoimhe O’Callaghan, Sophie Kinghan, Maria Smith, Neasa Boyle, Molly Hughes, Emily Molloy, Gouda Usaite, Arina Risovaite. Coaches: Dermot Lennon, Kevin Conway.