Clinical Carlow cruise past Clondalkin in nine-try thriller
Photo: Co Carlow RFC.
This weekend marked the return of the Leinster League as the teams up and down the divisions played their first games of 2026.
Third-place Carlow made the trip to Dublin on Saturday afternoon to take on a Clondalkin side rooted to the bottom of Division 1B with just three bonus points on the board after nine consecutive defeats in 2025.
The Dublin club remain without a win as Carlow ran in six tries to leave Baldonnel Farm with all five points.
The visitors were playing some beautiful, free-running rugby in the opening ten minutes, but Clondalkin were served well by some ferocious tackling and dogged work on the ground to keep the game scoreless.
Carlow went to their set piece and drove forward 20 metres with an incredibly powerful maul, forcing Clondalkin to concede a number of penalties on their own try line.
The visitors persisted with crash ball for a prolonged period, but spent ten minutes in Clondalkin's 22 without troubling the scoreboard.
They finally broke the deadlock in the 23rd minute when number eight Cormac McElligott peeled off the back of a 5-metre scrum before second row John Lyons powered over besides the post. Full back Ben Crotty added the extras.
But the hosts wasted no time in hitting back, attacking from the restart and eventually going wide where winger Niall Nolan went over in the corner for a try in the 27th minute.
Carlow added a second try five minutes later when lock Wesley Shirley charged down a box kick from Eoin Brady. Centre Sean Quinlan gathered and popped the ball to flanker Rhys Edgehill who went over for the score. Crotty again converted to put his side nine points up.
Clondalkin lost their tight head prop to the sin bin before half time and Carlow soon made the numbers count when winger Sean Raftry ran in from 15 metres to add a third try, with Crotty maintaining his 100% record off the tee to leave Carlow 21-5 up at the interval.
Clondalkin had won a lot of turnovers in the first half and started the second half with another. From there Carlow lost prop Patrick Rogers the sin bin before his opposite number James Kenny crossed for his side's second try. Fionn Kenna added the extras to reduce the gap further.
But Carlow responded immediately from the restart, with Edghill and Matthew Dempsey combining to release Ben Crotty for a bonus-point try in the corner - although he was unable to add the resulting conversion.
Carlow smelled blood and were soon in for a fifth try when Dempsey floated a beautiful kick into the corner where Raftry was on hand to gather and score his second five pointer. Crotty this time landed his sideline kick to make it 33-12 approaching the final quarter.
The speed of ball generated by Carlow scrum half Daniel Crotty was simply devastating for Clondalkin all afternoon, a problem that the hosts struggled with in the closing stages.
When the quick-ball stopped working Carlow reverted to one-out carriers and powered over for another try under the posts thanks to Shirley, with another conversion added from Ben Crotty to bring the visitors up to the 40-point mark.
A second yellow-card offence from Darren Madden followed as the Clondalkin prop saw red with 15 minutes still on the watch.
But it was the 14 men who ended the game with the lion's share of possession and territory, however, scoring the final try of the game as a powerful charge down the touchline saw Joshua Apps get over in the corner.
Carlow won't mind too much as they finished 23 points better off as they cut the gap on Dundalk and De La Salle Palmerstown at the top of the table.
Tom Crotty's men are back on the road this coming Sunday when they make the trip to Clonattin to face sixth-place Gorey.
SCORERS:
Clondalkin: Niall Nolan, James Kenny, Joshua Apps (1 try each), Fionn Kenna (1 con) Carlow: Ben Crotty (1 try, 5 cons), Sean Raftry (2 tries), John Lyons, Rhys Edghill and Wesley Shirley (1 try each).
CLONDALKIN: Niall Hilliard; Louise Dixon, Darren Madden, Matthew King, Niall Nolan; Fionn Kenna, Eoin Brady; James Kenny, Josh Domican, Darren Madden; Cillín Walsh-Phillips, Lemeki Vaipulu; Alejandro González, Eoin Delaney, Joshua Apps.
Replacements: Nikolaz Patsia, Jake Lusk, Ken McMahon, Aodhán Kenna, Liam Redmond.
CARLOW: Ben Crotty; Jonathan Crossley, Sean Quinlan, Evan Jordan, Sean Raftry; Alan Owens, Daniel Crotty; Patrick Rogers, Evan Gordon, Tadhg Ronan; Wesley Shirley, John Lyons; David McDermott, Rhys Edghill, Cormac McElligott.
Replacements: Caolan Fitzhenry, Ross Byrne, John Murphy, Diarmuid Long, Matthew Dempsey.
REFEREE: Kenny Coldrick
