Portlaoise RFC 27 Athy 10
Leinster U-14 Girls Rugby League Division 1
The Portlaoise U14 girls met their counterparts Athy in a top of the table clash in Athy at the weekend.
While the traffic may have eased in the town of Athy the weather conditions on the day certainly made it difficult.
Athy would kick off with proceedings into a cold and what felt like a hurricane force wind. Portlaoise would have to defend deep into their territory for the opening couple of minutes.
However Portlaoise would quickly find there groove and with strong running from Aoibheann Conroy would start making moves towards the Athy try line.
Swift passing from Lilly Brophy out to Molly Jane Dempsey would see her race along the touch line for the first try of the game.
Again with the wind howling into Athy’s face for the re start it was making the high ball very difficult to control. Athy would regain control of possession and gain ground in the Portlaoise 22.
Superlative rucking by Chloe Kavanagh would be foundation of the Portlaoise defence for the game as well as atrong tackling from Amy Peters and Daisy Whitten who was equally impressive with her ball carrying.
Portlaoise would hold strong and Sarah Cunningham would release Freya Stanley who would dance through the Athy defence only to be brought down 5 yards outs with a super defensive tackle from Athy.
With support in abundance from Portlaoise Freya would Pop pass the ball up to Molly Jane Dempsey who would drive across the line for her second try of the day.
Athy remained committed and strong throughout the first half putting in some great tackles however Portlaoise were just too strong, the ever present Jessica Delaney powered over the line for another Portlaoise try.
It was then Saffron Adams’ turn to power through the Athy defence this time evading tackle after tackle.
A quick off-load to Freya Stanley would see her avoided a couple of tackles to cross the line for Portlaoise’s fourth try of the game and leave them 20-0 up at the break.
The second half would kick off as conditions would start to worsen with Hurricane like wind now bringing his mate driving rain to the party.
However, Portlaoise seemed to enjoy the conditions. Tara Peavoy drove her way into the Athy 22 and with Emily Harvey now pulling the strings at 9, she unleashed a great pass to Jessica Delaney to power over for her second try of the day converted brilliantly into the wind by Saffron Adams.
With hands starting to get cold, tackles were starring to be missed by both sides, Molly Fitzpatrick was taking advantage of this and causing problems on her wing.
Orlaith Costigan and Sarah Keane worked tirelessly for day were key to most of Portlaoise’s defence and attack. With Faye Scully, Muireann Thompson, Abbi Fitzpatrick, Ella Sherlock and Sarah Ging all coming off the bench and all preforming well showing the power and strength of this Portlaoise team.
As the conditions began to take their toll on both sides Portlaoise became a little stretched and Athy ran in 2 tries at the end of the game.
In fairness to them they were well deserved for their efforts but Portlaoise remain top of the group.
PORTLAOISE: Jessica Delaney, Daisy Whitten, Amy Peters, Chloe Kavanagh, Lilly Brophy, Molly Jane Dempsey, Saffron Adams, Freya Stanley, Kate Ging, Kate Dowling, Emily Harvey, Molly Fitzpatrick, Abbie Delaney, Aoibheann Conroy, Tara Peavoy, Ella Sherlock, Emma Heffernan, Faye Scully, Orlaith Costigan, Ellie Mahoney, Grace Pearson, Ciara Cuddy, Emma Fitzpatrick, Sarah Cunningham, Muireann Thompson, Sarah Keane, Jessica Horan & Meabh Dooley.
Portlaoise 37 Mullingar 19
Leinster U-16 Rugby League Division 1 Round 4
Portlaoise continued their winning ways with a hard-fought victory away to Mullingar on Saturday with Eanna Moynihan playing a captain’s role with a hat-trick of tries.
It wasn’t a game for the purists as a strong wind made playing conditions very difficult for both sides and near impossible for kickers.
Portlaoise made the most of the elements in the first half to build up a strong lead and held firm despite a spirited fight back from Mullingar in the second half.
Portlaoise kicked off with the wind at their back but the early exchanges were even as Mullingar were more than up for the battle.
Slowly but surely, Portlaoise got a foothold in the Mullingar half and the pressure eventually told with Portlaoise going over in the corner for an early 5-0 lead.
Strong carries from Fionn Mullen, Shane Foley, and Darragh Maher brought the away side into the 22 and, from there, the back line to kick into gear with right-wing Zach Maginness finishing off a fine move.
Midway through the half Portlaoise had crossed the white wash again.
Great work from Bill Rigney and Donnchadh Carroll saw Kyle Moore release Moynihan and he powered up the right wing only to be tackled into touch just short of the line.
However, Portlaoise stole the lineout and Moynihan drove over for hist first of the afternoon with Matt Cunningham adding the extras for a 12-0 lead.
More joy for Portlaoise on that same wing came shortly after as Portlaoise extended their lead. Ricky Lyons and Conor Deegan made the hard yards before Moynihan off-loaded to Cullen Kirwan who finished neatly in the corner to make it 17-0 to the visitors.
Mullingar were working hard and had a number of forays into the Portlaoise half but it was the away team that had the final say before halftime.
Cunningham sent a well-placed clearance kick deep into the Mullingar half and, as the home side tried to keep ball in hand, Daniel Whelan read the move perfectly to intercept and score in the left corner for a 22-0 at the break.
Portlaoise got off to a great start in the second half and two tries against the elements put them in a commanding position.
A fine line break from Cunningham gave Portlaoise field position on the 22 and a fine team move, with Jamie Shiel and Eoghan Kennedy joining the line to good effect, saw Aaron Fitzpatrick draw the defence and set up Foley to drive over in the right corner.
From the re-start, Moynihan fielded the ball and a trademark run, with the hand-off used to great effect, saw him go all the way up the left wing and dot down in the corner to extend the lead to 32-0.
Credit to Mullingar, they stormed back into the game with three tries on the bounce. First, their forwards did all the hard work to drive over to the left of the posts.
Then their scrum half, Ollie Murphy, went on a great run to touch down under the posts and, a few minutes later, a fine move by the backline resulted in a penalty try. With two of the three converted, the scoreboard read 32-19 to Portlaoise.
Portlaoise rallied with Mark Ging, Joey McGuinness, and David Allely making a strong contribution when introduced up front.
Paul Byrne, in at scrum-half, kept the ball moving as Portlaoise made it to the Mullingar 22 where the home side were penalised at the breakdown.
A quick tap and go from Cunningham brough Portlaoise to the 5-metre line and Moynihan was on hand to drive over for his hat-trick and seal a 37-19 win at full-time.
PORTLAOISE: Eoghan Kennedy, Zach Maginness, Daniel Whelan, Aaron Fitzpatrick, Jamie Shiel, Matt Cunningham, Kyle Moore, Shane Foley, Conor Deegan, Ricky Lyons, Darragh Maher, Bill Rigney, Fionn Mullen, Donnchadh Carroll, Eanna Moynihan (c).
Replacements: Alastair Cleland, Dan Murrell, Mark Ging, Cullen Kirwan, Paul Byrne, Joe McGuinness
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