Leinster Division 1B.

October 4, 2015.

North Kildare 7 Mullingar 15

by Finian Coghlan

Mullingar have not come to Division 1 rugby to make up numbers, and thiswas no more expertly demonstrated than on Sunday when they went to North Kildareand inflicted a first defeat in two seasons on their hosts.Despite the Kilcock side having recruited a number of AIL players from Buccaneers, Mullingar bowed to no reputations and came from behind to takehome four extremely satisfying points.Fui was absolutely massive, and he did such damage to their front row I suspect he ate two of them. Behind him all the way was Daryl Quinn, an underrated treasure for the club, whilst off the sharp fringes Cormac Dunneand Andrew Purcell allows one the luxury of saying 'Maxie who?'The pressure brought to bear on the very first scrum saw Butler just scrapethe underside of the crossbar with a penalty from the halfway line. However,when Quinn was taken out in the air at the re-start he made sure for the 3-0lead.

He then kept the home side on their toes by pinging a few to the corners,and from one of these the big man from the Morning Cloud got his first sniff ofthe whitewash.Brabby then had a fine dander into the danger zone but unfortunately wasnot aware of Ryan Tighe off his right shoulder for what would have been a stonecold opener. However, for all their supremacy Mullingar just couldn't make it count.Then on the half hour, disaster.Fui - god bless him - thought he was a back for a moment and tried anunder oxter ship to Matt Coade but missed. They hacked on and though Andrew Coade saved it on the line, they were up there and two phases later made it count under the sticks. Jonny had two more attempts to re-take the lead, and thoughunsuccessful, it proved Mullingar were in the right neighbourhood.Half time was calm, and the intensity was garnished.From the first line-out Cormac Dunne again became a troublesome blip on the screens of nearby air traffic control, and but for a most uncharacteristic handling error by Ganto Mullingar would have been back in the game.However, the Foo-man decided he wanted that scrum so who were North Kildareto argue.

Coade grubbered to the top left corner and the posse went in hotpursuit.Mullingar snarled into town, and three phases later who else but Jonathan Fuimaono barrelled over from short to make splendid amends with his maiden northern hemisphere try.Full dander was now returned and the outside backs were licking their lips. Ganto looked through but the pass was marginally forward.However, in the 14th minute the locals put the frighteners on Mullingarafter a quick tap'n'dart down the left, only for their winger to make a rubber titof it. With 23 minutes gone Wallsy brought on himself, Moran and Liddy for freshlegs, but inexplicably decided to perhaps question the ref's parentage, and got himself the quickest yellow your correspondent has ever seen.It was a pity too, because Mullingar had just murdered their scrum all theway to the line and were probably one phase away from penalty try country, andnow it was reversed.

The remaining 14 gird up and with 11 minutes remaining, Butler is givenanother kickable, but again he cannot stretch the lead.North Kildare now brought the kitchen sink and put some concerted pressureon the Mullingar line, but they held out with some nail-gun tackling fromO'Reilly and Purcell.Wallsy returned to the steering wheel and guided Mullingar out of the dirt.Then, just into injury time, following good pressure on the kick-chase from Andrew Coade, North Kildare conceded a line-out inside their 22.Again Dunne did the sky work and he landed in the maw of a killer wedge.Like a beefy blitzkreig they rumbled on the whole way, and fittingly it was the workhorse Quinn who had the honour of the flop over for 15-7, and denyNorth Kildare a losing bonus point into the bargain.Next week, as a curtain raiser or the France match, Mullingar are at hometo Coolmine RFC with a 2.30pm kick-off.

p>Team: 1. Jonathan 'Fooey' Fuimano, 2. David O'Reilly, 3. Darren Brady, 4.Daryl Quinn, 5. Cillian Murphy, 6. Andrew Purcell, 7. Cormac Dunne, 8. NiallHannon, 9. Arthur Brabazon, 10. Matt Coade, 11. Ryan Tighe, 12. Eoghan Gantly, 13.Alan Brabazon (c), 14. Andrewe Coade, 15. Johnny Butler. Subs used: Donal Liddy,Alex Moran, Ritchie Pyke, Micky Walls,

Scorers:Tries:Fuimano, Quinn.Pen: Butler.Con: Bulter.

Try scorers (as of 4.10.15): Matt Coade (8), Donal Liddy, Sarah Murphy (3), Arthur Brabazon, Clodagh Cleary, Niamh Kennedy, Daryl Quinn, Katie Layde(2), Jenni Gibson, Louise Kelly, John Nixon, Davy O'Reilly, Jonathan Fuimano,Niall Hannon (1).