Tullamore 13 Enniscorthy 16

Enniscorthy got back to winning ways on their travels in Division 2C of the All-Ireland League, with a hard-fought 16-13 victory in Tullamore on Saturday.

The game was decided at the death by a Ben Kidd penalty kick. In horse racing parlance the ‘going’ would have been described as ‘heavy’, which meant running rugby was at a premium.

The home side dominated the first-half and held the lead at 13-0 at the break, with another tough away day on the cards for Enniscorthy.

Tullamore took an early lead through a penalty under the sticks, and they soon extended the advantage through a well-worked try.

Conor Dunne added to his early penalty to extend the lead to 10-0.

Tullamore added one further penalty before the break, but they were probably disappointed their dominance didn’t yield more points.

Enniscorthy looked to revert back to basics in the second-half, pinning Tullamore back with a well-executed kicking game, and tightening things up in both the line-out and general play.

Fiachra Hourihane was shifted back in to scrum-half and Darragh Joyce was introduced to bolster the pack.

They soon cut the deficit when Ben Kidd nudged over a close-range penalty. Enniscorthy’s kicking game soon paid dividends.

A penalty kick to the corner allowed them to set a maul which sucked the Tullmore defence in, leaving space out wide for Davy Murphy to cross in the corner. Kidd was narrowly wide with the conversion.

The away side continued to put the pressure on and Tullamore began to crack, eventually seeing them lose three players to yellow cards.

Enniscorthy made them pay from another well-worked line-out maul, with Tom Ryan getting the honours.

Kidd was again just wide with the difficult conversion, leaving the game tied at 13-13 with ten minutes to play.

Enniscorthy had the final say with the last kick of the game, when a Tullamore transgression at ruck time gave Kidd the opportunity to take the spoils, which he duly accepted.

In a game dominated by kicking and forward play, Enniscorthy delivered a big second-half to tighten their grip on the promotion places.

Hourihane led the pack from the base of the scrum throughout the second-half, keeping the visitors moving forward.

David O’Dwyer, who was deployed in the centre, also kept Enniscorthy going forward well and defended resolutely throughout.

Enniscorthy will next face Bangor at home in Alcast Park on Saturday, March 2.

Enniscorthy: Scott O’Connor (Andy Redmond, 70), Davy Murphy, M.J. Doyle, Tom Ryan, Timmy Morrissey, Mikey McVeigh (Darragh Joyce, 40), Lee Treacy (Aaron Doyle, 60), Nick Doyle, Graham Barry (Dominik Morycki), Ben Kidd, Killian Creed, David O’Dwyer, Fiachra Hourihane, Miguel Byrne, Jack Kelly, also Ryan Cahill.

The full article can also be read in this weeks Enniscorthy Guardian.

Tullamore RFC President presented Andrew Owen with a bottle of Egan's Whiskey.