Derby day beckons in Towns Cup as Carlow cruise past Wicklow
Carlow’s Dan Gray is tackled by Wicklow’s Max Richards in the Leinster Towns Cup Last 16 at Oak Park. Photo: Michael O'Rourke.
The longer this Provincial Towns Cup second round game at Oak Park went on, the better Carlow became. Right from the start they imposed themselves on the opposition and all but made a side who are plying their trade in a higher division look quite ordinary.
As early as the 6th minute, the home side were asking questions of the visitors as Johnny Murphy carried the ball into the 22 at the dressing room end of the ground. The move came to nothing this time as Carlow tried to switch the direction and conceded the scrum. Yet a marker had been laid.
Captain on the day, Murphy, confirmed that this was the game plan.
“They are a division ahead of us for a reason. They are a good team and are coached very well. We were confident that if we could put the squeeze on in the lineout we could get an advantage over them,” he said.
It wasn’t just here where Carlow probed. They found a weakness in the Wicklow scrum early on and by the end, the Carlow eight were totally dominant.
Carlow opened the scoring as a set-piece play went from right to left. When the Wicklow defence were sucked in, Carlow created space out wide to give Jonathan Crossley an easy touch-down in the right corner. Ben Crotty added the points and kicked a penalty seven minutes later.
Wicklow had their best passage of the game in the lead-up to half-time. Yet much of their work was undone by the pressure Carlow put on the visiting ball carriers. Liam Gaffney did punch a hole in the home defence but when he went to ground he overplayed the ball and conceded a defensive scrum.
Eventually Wicklow posed the question and pressure up the centre saw Dylan Byrne go over near the Carlow posts. Paddy McKenzie converted to leave Carlow leading 10-7 at the break.
An early Crotty penalty in the second half was welcome from a home point of view. He added two more as Carlow upped the ante and never looked like losing this one. The scrum produced dividends and the Wicklow line-out all but disintegrated. Murphy says the pre match preparation was good.
“We did work on it. We said during the week that if we allowed Wicklow to play they will look very good but if we could make it a dog-fight, we could then get the upper hand. We did that today,” the flanker confirmed.
It is rare to see a side going backwards at the speed the Wicklow eight did on Sunday. Even more rarer when the referee doesn’t penalise the side in control. This time, the match official had no mercy on the visiting eight penalising them on several occasions.
The coup de grace came late in the game when Carlow went right and again found Crossley in space. The winger had more to do this time but his speed took him past the defence and a change of direction saw the two-try scorer touch down at the posts. Crotty converted and Carlow marched on without conceding in just over ten minutes of injury time.
The scent of Towns Cup glory is beckoning for the eight teams left in the competition now.
“We have a great mix of experience. Last year we got to the final,” recalled Murphy.
“We feel we have the experience to go all the way. I think we showed that today. We were calm. We were cool,” he said.
Then came the news from Longford that the Towns Cup draw produced a Carlow derby between Tullow and Carlow in Blackgates. March 29th can surely not come fast enough for a hungry Oak Park outfit.
Jonathan Crossley (2 tries), Ben Crotty (4 pens, 2 cons).
Dylan Byrne (1 try), Paddy McKenzie (1 con).
Ben Crotty, Jonathan Crossley, Caomhán Brennan, David McDermott, Daniel Gray, Matthew Dempsey, Daniel Crotty; Patrick Rogers, Evan Gordon, Tadhg Ronan, Wes Shirley, John Lyons, John Murphy, Rhys Edgehill, Cormac McElligott.
Owen Edgehill for Ronan (h/t), Brian Broderick for Gray (h/t), Scott Neale for Gordon (50), Conor Tracey for Lyons (50), Ross Byrne for Rogers (55).
Brian Johnston, Finn Fitzpatrick, Cian Reynolds, Shane Farrar, William Fitzpatrick, Paddy McKenzie, Aaron Byrne; Dewald Barnard, Jason Byrne, Mark Cullen, Liam Gaffney, Max Richards, Evan Dwyer, Dylan Byrne, Liam Nicholson.
Luke Long for Byrne (50), Aaron Cantebury for Barnard (55), Frank Reynolds, Josh Watson, Jordan Younger, Peter Schmidt, Tice Rice.
Stuart Donaldson
Tullow’s reward for beating Kilkenny in the Leinster Towns Cup on Sunday is another local derby at the Black Gates, this time against county rivals, Carlow.
On paper, this should have been a simple win for the three-time winners over a side who have been struggling in the division below. However, on a day of upsets in the cup, Tullow made hard work of things in the first half and gave Kilkenny opportunities.
In what was a repeat of the 2023 final, Tullow delivered a superb second half saw them run out comfortable victors.
Shane Duffy, who is better known for his goalscoring exploits with Burrin Celtic and Ballon GFC, made the step up from the J2’s to make his senior debut and shone on the wing, producing two assists.
Tullow’s big prop, Martin Cole, also made a huge impact, coming off the bench to score a brace of tries.
Surprisingly it was Kilkenny who almost took the lead early on, but Simao Costa could only guide his penalty wide on the right.
Tullow, buoyed by the let-off, started coming into the game and with nine minutes gone, racked up their first score. A five-meter scrum gave them a glorious opportunity and it was recycled into the force that is Stephen Smith who powered through to go over to the right of the posts down at the clubhouse end. Peter Burgess converted to give Tullow the perfect start.
Eight minutes later though, Kilkenny got on the scoreboard themselves as they had a five-meter scrum of their own in the left hand corner. They recycled the ball to Garry Dunne who went over to the left of the posts, but their kicking woes continued as Costa guided his conversion wide.
Midway through the half, Tullow extended their lead as they were awarded a penalty right in front of the posts and Burgess made no mistake in slotting it over.
With seven minutes to go until half time, Tullow extended the lead further.
A Kilkenny clearance found Peter Burgess who passed to his left where Duffy was waiting. He made up good ground down the left before laying the ball off for Tom Hughes who weaved between defenders and went over in the gap to the right of the posts. Burgess added the extras.
From the restart, Kilkenny broke forward won a penalty; they went quick into the path of Dunne who again went over to the left of the posts.
With Costa struggling on the kicks, Aaron Askins took over the tee but he also struck his effort wide on the right.
It took Tullow 15 minutes to find their scoring boots in the second half, with Kilkenny making life difficult for them. Cosgrave took on a penalty from the halfway and absolutely nailed it to give Tullow a ten-point lead.
They never looked back from there and three minutes later, Duffy got the ball and raced up the wing before laying the ball off to 45-year-old Joe Waters, who broke through the space from the edge of the 22, beating two defenders and found space on the right to score the third try of the afternoon. Burgess kept his 100% record from the tee intact.
On the hour mark, Martin Cole crashed through to the left of the posts to give the Slaneysiders a fourth try, but Burgess this time sent his kick astray.
Tullow finished try number five off a chaotic lineout with Martin Cole eventually pushing through and got his second try in less than ten minutes.
That sets up a mouthwatering all-Carlow quarter-final on Sunday, March 29th, with the Towns Cups’ most successful ever team, 12-time winners Carlow, making the trip to Black Gates.
Martin Cole (2 tries), Stephen Smith, Tom Hughes, Joe Waters (1 try each), Peter Burgess (3 con, 1 pen), Dara Cosgrave (1 pen).
Garry Dunne (2 tries).
Dara Cosgrave, Shane Duffy, Jack Hanlon, Paul Canavan, Adam Johnson, Peter Burgess, Cian Leonard; Scott Caldbeck, Corey Leigh Hughes, Tom Cashen, Tom Hughes, Joe Waters, Ezrah Vai, Fiach O’Byrne, Stephen Smith.
Brian Keogh, Daniel Culleton, Martin Cole, Colm Gorry, Jack Johnson, James O’Brien, Scott O’Sullivan Magne.
Padraig Mahon, Rory O’Carroll, Dan Dowling, Mark Coughlan, Geoff Power, Wesley Carter, Simao Costa Pereira; Josh Evans, Donal Kealy, Mark Power, Jonathan Young, Jay Leahy, Jason Connolly, Joe Murray, Garry Dunne.
Ben Devlin, Conor Rowe, Jamie O’Brien, Harry Matthews, John Drennan, Caleb Hogan Eyre.
