Class and tradition to be tested in Towns Cup
Tullow's Ryan O'Neill crosses over for Tullow's first try despite the leg tackle from Kilkenny's Harry Prineas.
The local club rugby scene is about to reach it's crescendo for the 2025/26 season, with Tullow and Carlow about to wrap up their respective league campaigns, just in time for the Provincial Towns Cup to kick into gear.
Tullow visited the John J McDowell Memorial Grounds on the North Dublin coast on Saturday afternoon, where they suffered a sobering 41-point defeat at the hands of Suttonians.
The hosts ran in eight tries to Tullow's one, leaving the Carlow club just three points above the relegation zone with only one league game remaining.
Tullow's final game is a trip to Drogheda to play a Boyne side who will need a win to guarantee themselves the Leinster League Division 1A title.
The other candidate for the drop are Athy, who's final game will be away to already-relegated Wexford, a far more straightforward proposition than Tullow, and with only three points separating the sides, Athy may just pip Tullow right at the death.
Carlow brought the curtain down on their Leinster League Division 1B campaign on Sunday afternoon, with a one-sided victory at home to Kilkenny.
Three converted tries and a clean sheet at the other end was the perfect culmination to Carlow's commendable league campaign.
Tom Crotty's side knew their fate before the game, with third-place guaranteed, they finished 13 points adrift of newly crowned champions, Dundalk.
Back-to-back winners in 2023 and '24, Tullow received a bye in the first round of this year's Towns Cup, and have been handed a home draw in Round 2 against Kilkenny in what will be a repeat of the 2023 final.
Maurice Logue's side will be slight favourites against a Kilkenny side who finished third-from bottom in one rung below Tullow in Division 1B. The Marble City club impressed in their Towns Cup opener, however, running in five tries to beat Enniscorthy 27-7.
Tullow reached the first of their six finals in 2008 and lifted the trophy three times, the first in 2017. Kilkenny have reached the final 17 times, winning the title on six occasions - the most recent coming in 2022.
Still smarting from their loss to Athy in last year's final, Carlow were out for blood in the opening round and made light work of New Ross, with a 66-0 hammering - the largest winning margin of the 11 Round 1 games.
With the league now wrapped up, Carlow focus all thei attention on the Towns Cup as they welcome Wicklow to Oak Park in Round 2.
Opponents, Wicklow, were handed a bye in Round 1, and come into the game having recently secured their place in Leinster League Division 1A, one rung above Carlow.
With 12 titles to their name, the last coming in 1997, and a total of 17 trips to the final, Carlow are the competition's most successful club.
Wicklow have made three final - all in the last 20 years - lifting the trophy for the only time in 2016.
