Seapoint halt Carlow’s winning run in tough conditions
Ben Crotty races clear to score a great try for Carlow Rugby Club during their defeat to Seapoint Photo: Pat Ahern
Seapoint put a halt to Carlow’s two match winning run on Saturday, denying Carlow a losing bonus point at the death. It was awful conditions for a game with the wind from Storm Darragh making life harder for both sides. Carlow were very much in the game for large parts against a side who finished second in the division last season, they just failed to take advantage in the opposition 22 and when they went ahead, they couldn’t keep their foot on the gas.
Seapoint got the better of the conditions early on, scoring with less than 90 seconds on the clock. A Seapoint scrum just outside the Carlow 22 was won and the ball driven towards the line, when Matt McKenna found some gap in between the posts and the right hand touchline and went down. The ensuing conversion was hit off the left hand post by Cormac Hurley. Carlow replied with six minutes on the clock as a Ben Crotty penalty was sent up the pitch on the right hand side into the 22.
They won the lineout and pushed to the line where Joel Brown went over in the left hand corner. Crotty’s conversion from the touchline was pulled wide on the far side. Seven minutes later, Carlow went ahead as Crotty jumped on a loose ball and with nobody ahead of him, made a dart for the line and went down near the posts on the left. His conversion was hit wide on the left. With 18 minutes gone, a Seapoint lineout on their own 10 meter line was knocked on leading to a Carlow scrum which they won and tried to push towards the line but gave away a penalty allowing Seapoint to clear. Four minutes later, Seapoint pulled ahead.
A scrum 10 meters out was won and they pushed towards the line and won a penalty 5 meters out. They elected to take a tap and go and recycled it over to the left hand side where Gareth Hughes went over in the corner. Hurley converted to put the visitors back ahead. Just shy of the half hour mark, a Carlow scrum just outside their 22 came to nothing as they failed to take advantage of their space. With the last action of the first half, Hurley sent over a penalty in front of the posts to extend the lead to five points.
The second half was a lot tighter as both sides struggled with conditions and cancelled each other out for long periods. Five minutes into the second half, a Carlow lineout 30m out was won and they pushed towards the try line but Seapoint pushed it out for a lineout of their own on the Carlow 5 meters line which allowed them to clear. Two minutes later, Crotty had a chance from a penalty 40 meters out but his effort was just short of the upright. On the hour mark, Dan O’Donovan for Seapoint found himself in space and with the Carlow defence closing in on him, kicked the ball up the pitch towards the try line but they conceded a penalty and Carlow cleared. Five minutes later, a lineout on the 5 meter line was cleared. With nine minutes to go, a Crotty penalty was hit to the right hand side and Carlow won a lineout on the 22 meter line. They recycled the ball into the middle but couldn’t find an opening and Seapoint cleared. As the final whistle approached, Carlow kicked the ball straight to a Seapoint player but didn’t chase it down, and only a handling error from Seapoint saved their blushes. With 30 seconds left on the clock, a Hurley penalty was sent over as Carlow lost their losing bonus point.
The defeat was compounded by Tullow's 31-14 away win over eighth and bottom of the table Ashbourne which sees them leapfrog their county rivals into sixth place.
Will Casey, Jonathan Crossley, Fionnan Burke, Ian Atkinson, Ben Crotty, Dan Crotty, Alan Owens; Patrick Rogers, Scott Neale, Tadgh Ronan, Wes Shirley, John Lyons, Joel Brown, John Murphy, Conor Treacy. Subs: Evan Gordon, Larry McGrath, Caolan Fitz-Henry, Cormac McEliigott, Liam Slater.
Cormac Hurley, Gareth Hughes, Sean Cronin, Matt McKenna, David O’Reilly, Charlie McLoughlin, Cian Tallon; Gordon Britchfield, Eoin Brian Mahon, Brian Duggan, John Southern, Hugh Ross, Zac Jungmann, Liam Forster, Donal McMahon. Subs: Conor Anderson, Joshua Whelan, Jack Campbell, Dan O’Donovan, James Brindley.
