MULLINGAR RUGBY FOOTBALL CLUB
BUILDING A COMMUNITY SINCE 1925.
MULLINGAR RUGBY FOOTBALL CLUB
BUILDING A COMMUNITY SINCE 1925.
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Destination Greystones. Paul Flood Cup Final 2015
April 20, 2015
April 19, 2015. Paul Flood Cup, semi-final.
Mullingar 23 CYM, Terenure 3
Tired and battered but Mullingar women still on for Double
by Finian Coghlan
Once more they went to the well, and despite the collective creak in those
well rattled bones, the Mullingar women supped deep to defeat a very
earnest CYM opposition and earn their place in the Leinster Cup final next
Saturday against their arch-nemesis Tullow.
With the attritional nature of the long season already having denuded the
team of five backs, three forwards, and with Layde, Crosby, Bagnall and
Tait basically operating on a single leg between them, the herd was still
able to rely on the experience and canniness of the old heads to see them
through.
Out back Gibson and Kelly minded the house with their usual murderous
aplomb, while up front Bagnall, Talbot and Rattigan led the way in the hard
yards.
However, the woman to whom the hat gets tipped the most is the
hyper-industrious hattrick queen Clodagh Cleary who now joins her boyfriend
Johnny Butler on eight for the season, but with a chance to pip him in the
final next week. I’m sure she’ll not be thinking like that.
Mullingar started quietly, and from the off CYM looked like a team on a
mission. Indeed, had their handling matched their pace and discipline
Mullingar could have been in a lot of early trouble.
It took nearly 20 minutes for Mullingar to threaten. After a long Tait
penalty down the line was erroneously carried back by a CYM defender
Mullingar won the scrum and whistled left where Holmes should have backed
herself on the outside for her duck breaker.
Nonetheless, Mullingar were now up there, and after Roundtree and Gibson
were held after a breakthrough, the very zippy Murphy flashed it fast
right where Cleary was looming with intent. A handoff and stretch finally
saw Mullingar on the scoreboard.
Tait added to this with a penalty three minutes later, and with Cleary on
full rob, Mullingar began to wriggle back into the driving seat.
Then in first half injury time, Mullingar won a super lineout in the CYM 22
and as the ball went wide it looked like Louise Kelly had woven her way in
for a second try, only to inexplicably knock-on in her reach for the line.
No matter. Mullingar kept up the pressure at the next scrum andit looked
like Aoife Bagnall had burrowed in with the help of honorary forward Tait,
but she was somehow stopped. Again Murphy was too fast to be dealt with and
she found her skipper Kennedy, who in turn just put one in front of a
thundering Cleary who would not be stopped from short distance.
Turning into a very stiff breeze, there was some disquiet on the line that
13-0 might not be enough, and this was compounded just four minutes in when
they kicked over a penalty to shorten the lead to 10.
Things got a little squeakier when the influential Cleary got a yellow 10
for leading with her elbow, in the 15th minute, but CYM couldn’t
capitalise.
Mullingar held valiantly on until her return, and within one minute of this
she had secured her first ever hattrick, and CYM were done.
With two minutes remaining she even had a hand in the cherry on top.
The excellent ferret Sarah Murphy forced a turnover at a CYM scrum in their
own 22 and she then fed biffster-in-chief Cleary for some go-forward
yards. Murphy was on the back of this in a micro-jiffy, and when she
released those outside there was a substantial overlap. Kelly feinted
imperceptibly towards Roundtree. It was half-bought, but enough to
manufacture a Louis-sized hole and she made perfect amends for her first
half faux pas to bag her 12th of the season, but more importantly, to
cement her side’s place in the cup final and the exquisite possibility of
an unprecedented double.
Greystones RFC at 2pm on Saturday if you wish to witness this little bit of
history.
G’wan d’Heffs!
Team:
Mullingar: 1.AoifeBagnall, 2. Adrienne Andrews, 3. Tracey Talbot, 4.
ClaireO'Brien, 5. Sylvia Rattigan, 6. Sarah Crosby, 7. Katie Layde, 8.
Clodagh Cleary, 9. Sarah Murphy , 10. Niamh 'Crilly' Kennedy (c), 11 Sinead
Holmes, 12. Jenni Gibson, 13. Louise Kelly, 14. Nicola Roundtree, 15.
Ellen 'Tayto' Taite. Subs used: Aoife Hynes, Kate Graham, Stacey Boland.
Tries: Cleary 3, Kelly.
Pen: Taite
Mullingar 23 CYM, Terenure 3
Tired and battered but Mullingar women still on for Double
by Finian Coghlan
Once more they went to the well, and despite the collective creak in those
well rattled bones, the Mullingar women supped deep to defeat a very
earnest CYM opposition and earn their place in the Leinster Cup final next
Saturday against their arch-nemesis Tullow.
With the attritional nature of the long season already having denuded the
team of five backs, three forwards, and with Layde, Crosby, Bagnall and
Tait basically operating on a single leg between them, the herd was still
able to rely on the experience and canniness of the old heads to see them
through.
Out back Gibson and Kelly minded the house with their usual murderous
aplomb, while up front Bagnall, Talbot and Rattigan led the way in the hard
yards.
However, the woman to whom the hat gets tipped the most is the
hyper-industrious hattrick queen Clodagh Cleary who now joins her boyfriend
Johnny Butler on eight for the season, but with a chance to pip him in the
final next week. I’m sure she’ll not be thinking like that.
Mullingar started quietly, and from the off CYM looked like a team on a
mission. Indeed, had their handling matched their pace and discipline
Mullingar could have been in a lot of early trouble.
It took nearly 20 minutes for Mullingar to threaten. After a long Tait
penalty down the line was erroneously carried back by a CYM defender
Mullingar won the scrum and whistled left where Holmes should have backed
herself on the outside for her duck breaker.
Nonetheless, Mullingar were now up there, and after Roundtree and Gibson
were held after a breakthrough, the very zippy Murphy flashed it fast
right where Cleary was looming with intent. A handoff and stretch finally
saw Mullingar on the scoreboard.
Tait added to this with a penalty three minutes later, and with Cleary on
full rob, Mullingar began to wriggle back into the driving seat.
Then in first half injury time, Mullingar won a super lineout in the CYM 22
and as the ball went wide it looked like Louise Kelly had woven her way in
for a second try, only to inexplicably knock-on in her reach for the line.
No matter. Mullingar kept up the pressure at the next scrum andit looked
like Aoife Bagnall had burrowed in with the help of honorary forward Tait,
but she was somehow stopped. Again Murphy was too fast to be dealt with and
she found her skipper Kennedy, who in turn just put one in front of a
thundering Cleary who would not be stopped from short distance.
Turning into a very stiff breeze, there was some disquiet on the line that
13-0 might not be enough, and this was compounded just four minutes in when
they kicked over a penalty to shorten the lead to 10.
Things got a little squeakier when the influential Cleary got a yellow 10
for leading with her elbow, in the 15th minute, but CYM couldn’t
capitalise.
Mullingar held valiantly on until her return, and within one minute of this
she had secured her first ever hattrick, and CYM were done.
With two minutes remaining she even had a hand in the cherry on top.
The excellent ferret Sarah Murphy forced a turnover at a CYM scrum in their
own 22 and she then fed biffster-in-chief Cleary for some go-forward
yards. Murphy was on the back of this in a micro-jiffy, and when she
released those outside there was a substantial overlap. Kelly feinted
imperceptibly towards Roundtree. It was half-bought, but enough to
manufacture a Louis-sized hole and she made perfect amends for her first
half faux pas to bag her 12th of the season, but more importantly, to
cement her side’s place in the cup final and the exquisite possibility of
an unprecedented double.
Greystones RFC at 2pm on Saturday if you wish to witness this little bit of
history.
G’wan d’Heffs!
Team:
Mullingar: 1.AoifeBagnall, 2. Adrienne Andrews, 3. Tracey Talbot, 4.
ClaireO'Brien, 5. Sylvia Rattigan, 6. Sarah Crosby, 7. Katie Layde, 8.
Clodagh Cleary, 9. Sarah Murphy , 10. Niamh 'Crilly' Kennedy (c), 11 Sinead
Holmes, 12. Jenni Gibson, 13. Louise Kelly, 14. Nicola Roundtree, 15.
Ellen 'Tayto' Taite. Subs used: Aoife Hynes, Kate Graham, Stacey Boland.
Tries: Cleary 3, Kelly.
Pen: Taite
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Mullingar Rugby Club
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