Carlow stumble into Towns Cup quarter-final
Carlow’s Daniel Crotty gets his pass away during the Towns Cup match against Longford in Oak Park. Photo: michaelorourkephotography.ie
Carlow stumbled into round three of the Provincial Towns Cup on a sunny Sunday afternoon, beating a battling Longford side. Longford who play their rugby two divisions below Carlow currently, came out fighting and made life very difficult for the hosts, frustrating them on a number of occasions. Their defence was resilient and Carlow weren’t able to find a way through for large periods. There were large parts of the game where the game was at a standstill with the two teams unable to break each other down.
After a minute’s silence to remember the late Ken Broderick who was involved with Carlow for many years, the hosts went closest after three minutes with a lineout from 5m out. They won it and recycled the ball into the middle where they knocked on, giving Longford a scrum. Carlow managed to push them back into the end zone and were awarded a 5m scrum of their own. From that, Carlow won a penalty and chose to scrum it but they were forced back, they recycled the ball forward but couldn’t get over the line. They got another penalty and again chose to scrum. Dave McDermott went close but fell just short. It was recycled and Wes Shirley went over the line on the left hand side. Ben Crotty sent over the conversion. With 16 minutes gone, a Jaydon Boshoff penalty for Longford fell just short. With three minutes to go until half-time, a Carlow penalty was kicked into the left hand side, and a lineout happened which was won by Carlow and they pushed towards the line but won a penalty. They again kicked to the left hand side and won a 5m lineout, which was knocked on leading to a Longford scrum. In stoppage time, Andrew Farrell got sent to the bin for Longford and Carlow earned a penalty. This time, they decided to kick but Crotty’s effort was pulled wide.
At half-time there was a homecoming for the Carlow Ladies team who won the Leinster League Division recently in their first year.
Four minutes into the second half, a 5m lineout was stolen by Evan Gordon at the back but Longford were adjudged to have knocked on the ball and a Carlow scrum from 5m was awarded which led to a Carlow penalty. Crotty kicked over from the left. Five minutes later, a Carlow penalty was hit into the corner on the left hand side. The lineout from 5m was stolen but Longford couldn't control the ball and Carlow overturned and recycled into the middle where Dan Crotty was held up under the posts. The ball was cleared and played back in. Ben Crotty fell just short of the line and the ball was played back to Gordon on the left but he was in touch. A 5m lineout was awarded to Longford. Carlow stole it and Caolan FitzHenry made good ground but ultimately fell just short. Carlow couldn’t take advantage and the ball got cleared up the pitch. Longford were held up on the line on the hour mark. With 15 minutes to go in the game, Longford got a foot back in the game as Joe McGowan went over for a try by going in behind the Carlow defence from a ruck down the right hand side. It was converted by Boshoff. Four minutes later, Crotty hit over a penalty to stretch the lead to six points. As the clock ticked into the red, Longford broke up down the left hand side but Carlow dealt with the danger on the 10m line but the ball got recycled to the left where they were held up. At the death, a 22m lineout for Carlow was recycled across the pitch with Josh Cope going over in the right hand corner to win the game for Carlow. Crotty missed the conversion but Carlow were through to round 3 of the Towns Cup where they will travel to Boyne.
Ben Crotty, Jonathan Crossley, Will Casey, Dave McDermott, Peter Henessey, Brian Broderick, Dan Crotty; Larry McGrath, Evan Gordon, Tadhg Ronan, Wes Shirley, John Lyons, Cormac McElligott, Joel Brown, Conor Treacy. Subs: John Farrell, Caolan FitzHenry, Rhys Edghill, Josh Cope, Alan Owens.
Shane Farrell, Scott O’Boyle, Andrew Farrell, Ryan McHugh, Ronan Bleakley, Jayden Boshoff, Robert Shaw; Séamus McKeon, Ronan Collum, Liam Brady, Gerard Mullarkey, Fred David, Daire O’Brien, Nigel O’Reilly, Alan Crowe. Subs: Dylan Quinn, Barry Sullivan, Andrew Beirne, Kevin Rogers, Joe McGowan.
