Newbridge 17 Portlaoise 22
North Midlands U-16 Area Rugby League Semi-Final
Portlaoise travelled to Newbridge on Sunday and got the better of the home side to progress to the North Midlands Area league final.
In mild and breezy conditions, both sides played some great rugby in what was a tight and tense contest but it was the visitors who prevailed at the final whistle.
Portlaoise kicked off and some early pressure in the Newbridge half saw them open their account with a penalty.
Strong tackling by Cormac Drea and Bill Rigney forced a scrum to Portlaoise and from there they put a number of phases together
with Shane Foley and Fionn Mullen making the hard yards before Newbridge were penalised at the breakdown just outside the 22. Matt Cunningham split the posts for an early lead.
Newbridge settled into the game and had a good spell of territory and possession. Conor Deegan, Mark Ging, and Darragh Maher were leading the resistance but strong carries from the home pack saw them drive over to take a 5-3 lead.
Portlaoise responded in kind a few minutes later to go back in front. Eoghan Kennedy gathered a relieving kick and made it to the Newbridge 10 metre line with Aaron Fitzpatrick securing possession.
From there, Paul Byrne fed Cunningham who chipped in behind the defence. He was first on hand to force a five metre scrum for Portlaoise.
Eanna Moynihan picked off the base and off-loaded to Cunningham to go over with the extras added.
In keeping with the see-saw nature on the scoreboard, Newbridge went back in front once again. Some fine play with strong carries forced Portlaoise to concede a penalty deep in the 22.
A quick ‘tap and go’ caught the defence napping as Newbridge drove over and the extras were added for a 12-10 lead.
Portlaoise had the final say in the half to take a deserving lead into the break. A fine tackle from Bill Rigney forced a turnover on the Newbridge 10 metre line.
From there, a fine move by the backline, with Daniel Whelan making a decisive break, saw Carroll time his pass to perfection to put Cullen Kirwan over in the corner.
A fine kick from Cunningham made it 17-12 at halftime. The second half produced more good rugby from both sides. Newbridge piled on the pressure but it was Portlaoise that got the scoreboard moving once again to push the lead out to 22-12.
Kennedy had been safe under the high ball all afternoon but, midway through the half, he returned an attacking kick with interest for a ’50-22’ to put his side in a great attacking position.
With possession secured at the lineout, Kyle Moore got the backline moving and it was fitting that Kennedy was on hand to finish off a free-flowing move with a try in the left corner.
Newbridge weren’t finished and responded with a fine try to leave the game very much in the melting pot. Again, the pack made the hard yards up from with the Portlaoise pair of Joey McGuinness and Foley doing their best to disrupt the advance. However, the home side weren’t to be stopped and created a nice overlap to score out on the right and reduce the lead to 5 points.
Credit to the visitors, they managed the remaining minutes of the game well to take the spoils.
PORTLAOISE: Eoghan Kennedy, Aaron Fitzpatrick, Daniel Whelan, Donnchadh Carroll, Matt Cunningham, Cullen Kirwan, Paul Byrne, Shane Foley, Conor Deegan, Mark Ging, Darragh Maher, Bill Rigney, Fionn Mullen, Cormac Drea, Eanna Moynihan (c). Replacements: Alastair Cleland, Joey McGuinness, Kyle Moore, Jamie Shiel, Ricky Lyons, Dara Coffey, David Allely, Eugene Balayko.
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