Carlow survive second half comeback to claim back to back wins
Carlow's Jonathan Crosssley is tackled by Gorey's Harley Barnett. All Photo: Thomas Nolan
Carlow survived a second half comeback from Gorey to build on their win over Clondalkin last week and claim back to back wins, recording a bonus point win over Gorey on Sunday afternoon. However, they will be frustrated and will have concerns going forward. They were 29-0 up at half-time and cruising, but took their foot off the gas in the second half and let Gorey back into the game. Whilst Gorey struggled for the most of the half, Carlow frustrating them, eventually they broke Carlow down though, which will be a concern. The win propels Carlow into third place in the table.
Two minutes in, Carlow went ahead as they put pressure on from the start of the game. From the kick off, Carlow made good ground down the left but Gorey knocked on, leading to a scrum on the left hand side which was recycled into the middle with some great ground made, and recycled back out to the left where they were inches short before John Lyons crashed over the line to give Carlow an early advantage. Ben Crotty missed the ensuing conversion from a tough angle on the left hand side. Ten minutes later, Carlow were awarded a penalty which they elected to kick and Crotty slotted over his effort with ease to give Carlow an eight point lead.
Carlow should have extended their lead when a cross field kick was played into Johnny Crossley on the right hand side in plenty of space but he couldn’t get onto the end of the ball, going out for a Gorey lineout on the far side. With 22 minutes gone, a scrum 5m from the Gorey line offered Carlow an opening and it in fact did as Alan Owens got the ball from the scrum and handed off to his left where Matt Dempsey went in through the gap. Ben Crotty added the extras from the kicking tee. Seven minutes later, another 5m scrum for Carlow offered another opening as it was played again to the left where Sean Quinlan went through and around the back in spectacular fashion, coming from nowhere to go down under the posts. Six minutes before half-time, Carlow had the bonus point wrapped up as another 5m scrum in the left hand corner which was recycled to the right where Crossley was waiting to go down, trying to edge closer to the posts.
Carlow had a glorious chance to get another try when they won a penalty for a high tackle and elected to kick into the left hand corner. However, the kick was kicked out on the full and the referee brought it back for a goalline dropout, allowing Gorey to clear. On the hour mark, a Gorey penalty was kicked into the left hand corner but they couldn’t do anything with it. They put pressure on the Carlow line who conceded another penalty. Again it was kicked into the corner where Gorey pushed towards the left hand corner and tried a cross field kick to the right but Carlow intercepted and they were brought back for a 5m scrum on the left. It was recycled out where Carlow turned over the ball. With ten minutes to go, Gorey won a lineout and recycled the ball out wide to the right where Archie Thomas got on the end of it and recycled it out to the right where he went in around the back. Cian Hadden added the conversion. Three minutes later, another Gorey lineout led to a penalty for Carlow. They took it quickly and pushed towards the line, Crossley went close before being recycled out to the left where Crossley got it and went in behind the Gorey defence. Crotty added the extras from the tee. With the last action of the game, Gorey got awarded a penalty on the 5m line and took it quickly with John Milne going down under the posts. Hadden added the conversion but the game was already over.
Ben Crotty, Johnny Crossley, Sean Quinlan, Evan Jordan, Caomhán Brennan, Matt Dempsey, Alan Owens; Patrick Rogers, Evan Gordon, Tadhg Ronan, Wes Shirley, John Lyons, David McDermott, John Murphy, Conor Treacy.
Scott Neale, Ross Byrne, Diarmuid Long, Noah Cope, Daniel Gray.
Jack Gallagher, Darragh Kelly, Sean Cribbin, Mikey McGiff, James Buckeridge, Blaise Barnes, Josh Oakley; Oscar Reilly, Simon Feeney, Ponamu Palazetti, Dean Moore, Cian Buckley, Joe Kelly, James Reilly, Matthew Linehan.
Jack Walters, Guilherme Neto, Charlie Lappin, Louis Gallagher, Hugh Duignan.
