MARK Coady was happy when he took the phone call shortly after the Towns Cup second round draw was made.
He had every good reason to be.
After a dodgy spell early in the second half Tullow, who had a number of Towns Cup debutants, moved up a gear and eased away from Clane.
They may be on the road for the second round and Wicklow away won’t be easy but the team manager says it could have been worse.
“We are very happy with the draw for the next round. Once we avoided anyone in Division 1A we were happy. We won up there last year (35-21) and we would be confident enough going up there,” he said. He was all too aware what a defeat could have done for the club. “The league hasn’t been going to plan so it was very important for us to get a win today. If we had been beaten today there would have been no rugby between now and the next league match,” he said.
Those two Clane penalties brought the margin back to four points and Coady was getting anxious.
In a five-minute spell when his side was pinned down inside their own half the Tullow forwards won a scrum and a lineout. Inexplicably they coughed up easy ball to a marauding Clane back row.
“In the conditions I was worried. A ball kicked through and a footrace to the try line could have changed things. At 11-10 it might have been hard to get back,” he conceded.
In the awful conditions, which were the cause of the postponment of Co Carlow’s first round game against Roscrea, Coady said the team continued to hold their shape and are responding well to coach Bernard Jackman. “In fairness, the ball was like a bar of soap.
“I think we tried to play a lot of rugby in the conditions which was very encouraging.”
Towns Cup Second Round Draw Wicklow v Tullow Roscrea/Carlow v Edenderry/Athy Matches to be played Sunday, 19 February
Outstanding rain-affected first round matches to be run off over next two weekends.