Bonus point win for Carlow over dogged Kilkenny in local derby
Action from the Kilkenny v Carlow Leinster League clash on Sunday Photo: Kilkenny RFC
Carlow picked up a bonus-point win in Kilkenny on Sunday afternoon to keep pace with the top two in the league. Whilst the scoreboard shows a bonus point win for Carlow, it doesn’t tell the whole story. Kilkenny were dogged and much of the second half saw Carlow buried in their own half, defending like dogs, even for periods towards the end of the first half, Kilkenny caused Carlow all sorts of problems. They were relentless and whilst Carlow had several opportunities in the first half, pushing close to the Kilkenny line, the home side stayed strong and didn’t relent. A quick look at the league table tells you that Carlow will have been going down the M9 hoping to get a bonus point so they’ll be relieved to escape from Foulkstown with the full complement of points against the side second from bottom. If you look through Kilkenny’s results though, they’ve been troubling a lot of teams and this is the first time that they’ve been kept scoreless this season, which speaks a lot to Carlow’s defence which has struggled over recent weeks. However, the lack of scores in the second half will again be a worry for Tom Crotty and his team as it’s becoming a habit that they dominate in the first half but struggle to see games out. Especially when they face a season defining game against De La Salle Palmerston next week where defeat will all but end Carlow’s chances of going straight back up to Division 1B. The usually reliable and potent Ben Crotty also struggled from the kicking tee, kicking just two of his four conversions, albeit in tough conditions with the wind causing issues. However, there was some good news for Carlow with their captain of two seasons ago Dan Crotty returning from a long term injury that has kept him out of the season to date as he played for the J2’s.
It took Carlow just six minutes to pierce the Kilkenny defence as a 5 meter scrum was recycled out to the left hand side where they played a couple of phases before Alan Owens got the ball back and found a gap to go in to the left of the posts. Crotty hit his conversion off the upright to leave it at just a five point lead early on.
The second try came with 15 minutes to go until the half-time break. A Kilkenny lineout on their own 5 meter line was won but Carlow conceded a penalty allowing the home side to clear up the line. They won a lineout just inside their 22. They won and kicked up the pitch to clear the danger. Carlow won a lineout on the halfway line which Wes Shirley fumbled but Carlow managed to recover the ball and recycled it to the right hand side, winning a penalty in the process. Johnny Crossley made good ground up the pitch as Carlow pushed forward and Sean Quinlan went over in the left hand corner. Crotty missed the conversion.
On the stroke of half-time, Carlow got their third try of the game. Quinlan made good ground up the pitch and got close to the line on the left, falling just short as he was taken down meters away. He handed the ball off to David McDermott who couldn’t quite get in. They played the phases and won a penalty close to the line. They took it quickly and pushed up towards the line before Jonathan Young got himself sin binned for Kilkenny leading to a scrum on the 5 meter line for Carlow. The scrum was played into Matt Dempsey who made good ground up the pitch with the ball being recycled to the right with Ben Crotty going over in the right hand corner. Crotty converted his own try.
With five minutes to go, Carlow made it into the Kilkenny 22 for the first time in the second half and Daniel Gray went over in the left hand corner to secure the bonus try. Crotty converted.
Alan Owens, Sean Quinlan, Daniel Gray (1 try each), Ben Crotty (1 try, 2 conversions)
Ben Crotty, Johnny Crossley, Sean Quinlan, Evan Jordan, Daniel Gray, Matt Dempsey, Alan Owens; Patrick Rogers, Scott Neale, Tadgh Ronan, Wes Shirley, John Lyons, David McDermott, John Murphy, Conor Treacy.
Evan Gordon, Ross Byrne, Rhys Edghill, Cormac McElligott, Noah Cope.
Simao Costa Pereira, James Davy, Padraig Mahon, Mark Coughlan, Thomas Murphy, Aiden McDonald, Aaron Askins; Brian Howe, Donal Kealy, Josh Evans, Wesley Carter, Mark Power, Jonathan Young, Joe Murray, Harry Prineas.
Ben Devlin, Colm Kealy, Liam McWey, John Drennan, Joe Manue, Ben Devlin, Colm Kealy
