Tallaght Rugby Football Club

The Postal Club, 14-03-09

Leinster League J4 Pool 2

Tallaght saved the best for last, beating Stillorgan in their final league game of the season. In their short history, it was perhaps their best ever performance in both attack and especially in defense. What’s more they did it the hard way, playing twenty minutes with fourteen men as they incurred two yellow cards.

Tallaght took the option of playing with the wind in the first half and made a great start. Out-half Danny Behan took the ball flat and fixed the defense before off-loading to centre Colin Malone. Malone had taken a superb line and he powered through two tacklers to score an excellent try. Behan missed the conversion but made amends minutes later when he kicked a penalty to make it 8-0 to Tallaght.

Tallaght were playing the conditions well with Behan pinning Stillorgan back in their own half with a series of massive touch finders. From a lineout taken well by Craig Kelly, the pack mauled the ball on and prop Derek Burke went close to scoring but was held up. From the resulting five-metre scrum, number eight Mick O’Dea powered his way over the line and Behan added the conversion to extend the lead to fifteen points.

Last week Tallaght made a similarly good start against Millmount House, but then relaxed and let them back into the game. They were determined to avoid going down the same route this time and they were rewarded for keeping their focus with another try. It was almost a carbon copy of the first try as once again Behan supplied Malone who’d taken another excellent line to power through and touch down under the posts. Behan converted and the half-time score was 22-0, Trevor Byrne unlucky to have a try disallowed for an offense at the lineout. The only negative point for Tallaght was the yellow card given to scrum-half Brian Massey for illegal use of the boot just before half-time.

Playing into the wind in the second half was always going to be tough and Tallaght knew they’d be doing plenty of defending. However Conor McGill had other ideas as he ran in a superb individual try. When he took the ball in his own half there didn’t look to be much on but he took off on a mazy run, leaving several tacklers in his wake, just keeping his balance long enough to touch down. Behan added the conversion and the score was 29-0.

Stillorgan hit back immediately with Sean Mitchell scoring a try that Rob O’Brien converted to cut the lead to twenty two points. There was still twenty five minutes to go though and Tallaght still had a lot of defending to do, but it’s a testament to their character that Stillorgan didn’t score again.

Time and again Stillorgan were camped on the Tallaght line but the big tackles kept coming in from the likes of Tony Heaney, Gary Doyle, Keith Mason and Jonny Allison. In such a tough, physical match, injuries were inevitable and coach Thomas Ferriera made full use of the bench, with Stephen Heaney most notable for his versatility playing flanker, centre and wing as injuries dictated.

Through it all, Tallaght’s determination and spirit never wavered even for the exhausting last fifteen minutes, made all the harder as they incurred another yellow card, with flanker Jack Russell sin-binned. In fairness to Russell he was a touch unlucky as he paid for the sins of the team who’d been warned for consistent fouling. But Tallaght kept going and nearly sealed the win with another try when replacement wing Darran Kearney was through but was caught with an excellent cover tackle in the corner.

That was the last of the action though and the ref blew the whistle and Tallaght celebrated their best ever win against a fine Stillorgan team who beat Terenure earlier in the season. There were some great individual performances. Colin Malone took his tries superbly, Andy Ward counter-attacked fearlessly, Mick O’Dea tackled like a demon and captain Brian Curtis got through a mountain of work in attack and defense. But man of the match was Danny Behan who set up two tries and kicked superbly from hand all day.

Ferreira was delighted with the efforts of his team. “There were some issues with discipline today but I don’t want to be negative after such a great win. I was delighted that the whole squad contributed to the win. The defending in the second half was heroic, the guys really put their bodies on the line.” Stillorgan captain Shane O’Neill was magnanimous in defeat. “We’re disappointed but it was a great performance from the Tallaght lads”.

The league may be over but Tallaght finished fifth, an improvement on their last place finish last season. They now have a tough cup-tie in two weeks time away to Blackrock, but if they can play like this, especially in defense, then they have a chance of causing a major upset.

Tallaght R.F.C.

15. Andrew Ward
14. Conor McGill
13. Trevor Byrne
12. Colin Malone

11. Gary Doyle
10. Danny Behan
9. Brian Massey

8. Mick O'Dea
7. Jack Russell
6. Jonathan Allison

5. Craig Kelly
4. Keith Mason
3. John Burke
2. Brian Curtis (Captain)
1. Derek Burke

Replacements:

16. Richie Norris
17. Tony Heaney

18. Darran Kearney

19. Steven Heaney

20. Shane McCarthy

21. Ray Doyle