LEINSTER RUGBY

BANK OF IRELAND

PROVINCIAL TOWNS CUP

Sunday March 1st 2020

SHAY MURTAGH PARK

MULLINGAR 36

BOYNE 5

We finally got the long sought after but thoroughly deserved Provincial Towns Cup win in fine style with a five try win over Division 1B opposition. With good numbers in vocal support and both teams having a long tradition in this historic competition, there was a fair bit of tension in the air from the start. Despite playing into the considerable wind in the first half, Boyne started well with territorial advantage and played good rugby to keep Mullingar under pressure in the first quarter. The first scoring opportunity came after fully 15 minutes. Maxwell was high tackled on the halfway line and Millar just missed the right upright, but showed that he was well capable of converting from range.

Then on 23 minutes, Conway fielded a clearance kick and sent Glennon on the charge. Followed up by a good Moran break, quick ruck ball sent Millar looking for the gap and he broke the defensive line to score a fine try near the posts, converting his own try; 7 nil to the Mullingar men. Boyne came back strongly, forcing a penalty for holding, but Cormac Dunne athletically won the Boyne lineout and Mullingar used the wind at last to clear. Then on the half hour mark, A Mullingar clearing kick was half blocked down, and Alan Brabazon followed up and gathered and although he looked well covered, he escaped the tackle and took off from inside his own half along the right touchline. The Boyne cover just got him to touch five yards short.

As half time approached, there was a clear sense that Mullingar needed to get points on the board given the wind advantage. Boyne defended well. A knock on gave Mullingar a scrum in great position, and Mullingar had the better scrum throughout the game. Moving left a switch between Millar and Conway just failed to break through. Then a period of good play began with Mitic passing to the backline and Brabazon again made ground. Lynam threatened on the left and Lemeki made a trademark charge, forcing a penalty. This time Millar made no mistake so ten points separated the sides at halftime; the game was still open with Boyne having the wind advantage for the second half.

Mullingar started the second half with clear intent to get on top. From the kick off, Lynam and Lemeki hit the receiver hard and forced a penalty. Putting the ball into the corner, the lineout throw was not straight, so Boyne had a scrum and cleared their line. However, Mullingar attacked immediately and Millar put Brabazon through on an inside pass. Then Daryl Quinn took the ball forward and the next ruck allowed Campbell put Mitic on the charge. With great feet he swerved past the last defender and scored the crucial try under the posts. Millar converted and 17 nil after 5 minutes felt more comfortable and deserved.

The kick off was deep and fielded by Aaron Glennon. He managed to avoid the first tackler, and the second, and continued all the way to the half way line to great applause.  Moran and Lemeki added a few more yards and only a marginally forward pass stopped that phase. The Mullingar team seemed to settle and started to boss the contacts. However Boyne knew they had to respond and they threw everything at the Mullingar defence. A penalty was kicked to corner but the overthrow was read well by Aleksa Mitic and Mullingar cleared the danger, with Geraghty tackling well to force a knock on.

A period of kick tennis was won by Sean Rock and Millar with Lynam blocking down a Boyne clearance in their own 22. Then Rock fielded a poor clearing lick and passed to Brabazon but the ball went loose. Glennon seized on it and ran from the 22 untouched to score under the posts. Millar converted yet again and now it was 24 nil with the third quarter dominated by Mullingar. The real difference was that Boyne could not break down the Mullingar defence, with Maxwell and Geraghty particularly effective. Luke Finegan replaced Cormac Dunne and Niall Derham replaced Daryl Quinn, both having put in a really good shift.   

Then with ten minutes to go, Boyne had a purple patch and despite excellent defence, they manged to cross the try line to reduce the lead to 24 points to 5. McGovern replaced Conway, who with Brabazon had shut the defensive door all afternoon.  Mullingar reacted to the Boyne score very well, winning a penalty, finding good touch, Luke Finegan won the lineout, and Mullingar played the most effective rugby of the day. McGovern bounced a number of tackles but was stopped short. The ball went left to right and Campbell pounced to cross near the posts; 29 – 5. Reidy replaced Lemeki and Fox replaced Brady and in the last minutes, more good rugby saw Mullingar stretch the defence with a lovely passing move seeing Rock put Lynam clear in the corner. Millar converted from the touchline and the referee blew the final whistle.

Great celebration followed, with a lovely mixture of young players getting their first taste of Towns Cup rugby and some of the old guard savouring their first Towns Cup glory after many a near miss in recent years. The draw for the last 16 was announced later and Mullingar are away to Gorey RFC on March 15^th.  That will be a fine test for this Mullingar squad and a challenge that the whole club will look forward to. 

Team: 1. Darren Brady (Captain) 2. Aleksa Mitic 3. Johnny Moran 4. Daryl Quinn 5. Darrech Geraghty 6. Paul Maxwell 7. Cormac Dunne 8. Lemeki Vaipula 9. Thomas Campbell 10. Mitchell Miller 11. Dave Lynam 12. Daire Conway 13. Alan Brabazon. 14.  Aaron Glennon 15. Sean Rock

Subs: 16. Chris Fox 17. Brian Reidy 18.Luke Finegan 19. Niall Derham,20. Donal McGovern

Scorers: Tries: Miller, Mitic, Campbell, Glennon, Lynam. Conversions: Miller (4) Penalty: Miller.  

Boyne: 1 Try 

Next match

vs

Newbridge RFC

Shay Murtagh Park

Sunday 8^th March

Leinster League 

J2 Kick Off 13.30

J1 Kick Off 15.00

ALL SUPPORT WELCOME.