Tipperary side late late defeat in Munster Junior Rugby League thriller

Munster Junior League

SUNDAYS WELL 36 KILFEACLE & DISTRICT 33

In what was a fiercely competitive Munster Junior League game in Cork on Sunday last, Kilfeacle definitely started the better, but with a pair of penalties each the game was locked at 6-6 after a quarter of an hour.
In the 18th minute Sundays Well finally made their dominance pay with a converted try after three missed Kilfeacle tackles for 13-6.

A long-range penalty kick by Luke Heuston provided a glimmer of hope for Kilfeacle in the 33rd minute but this was clawed back by their opponents three minutes later for a 16-9 lead.

On the second half restart Sundays Well immediately put pressure on Kilfeacle and District and controlled the ball with some excellent team play. Just three minutes in, Sundays Well scored a second try to go 21-9 ahead.

Kilfeacle brought on some substitutes and made a number of positional changes on the field. These changes had an immediate impact. The tireless work from the pack started to present opportunities for the ball carriers in the forwards and backs to pin Sundays Well back in their own 22.

In the 58th minute, Kevin Doyle scored in the corner to reduce the deficit to 21-14 in favour of the home side.

The only respite for Sundays Well came in the shape of a penalty kick from the halfway line for 24-14.

As soon as the action restarted, the pressure was again mounting on Sundays Well’s defence. In the 58th minute, and after numerous phases of play involving every member of the team, Keith Burke brushed aside three opponents to crash over the line and score Kilfeacle’s second try. Luke Heuston added the two points and now the deficit was just three.

To their credit, Sundays Well raised their game and started to make inroads into the Kilfeacle half. When in the 63rd minute an overlap in broken play presented the chance to score in the corner, Sundays Well seized the opportunity and scored the try but missed the conversion attempt to lead 29-21.

Kilfeacle heads did not drop and they once again went about their task with gusto. In the 66th minute Jacques van Wyngaardt finished an excellent team move to crash over the line under the posts. Luke Heuston turned five points into seven and now Kilfeacle only trailed by a solitary point, 29-28.

The next 12 minutes of the game were all Kilfeacle and they came so close to finding the winning score on numerous occasions, including a penalty kick that scraped the paint off the outside of the post and a kick through that saw Kevin Kinnane beat the defensive cover. But it was deemed that he had not beaten the dead ball line before grounding.

With only three minutes remaining on the clock the cry went up that it was do or die time for Kilfeacle and the boys in blue went in search of a score that would win the game. What followed was an assault by Kilfeacle on the Sundays Well try line. During these final minutes Kilfeacle threw everything apart from the kitchen sink at their opponents, who to their credit did everything and anything to keep out the onslaught. Sundays Well could not wrestle the ball from Kilfeacle’s grip and in the 78th minute Kilfeacle found the breakthrough, when a sublime offload in the tackle by Brian Barlow provided Darren Lowry with the opportunity to score in the corner. The conversion attempt against the wind and from the touchline was missed but it didn’t matter, as Kilfeacle had wrestled the lead back from their foe.

With just one minute remaining Kilfeacle now led 33-29. A minute in rugby can last a very long time! Long enough to salvage a season, definitely long enough to win a game. All Kilfeacle had to do was secure the restart and maintain possession until the clock turned red. Kilfeacle secured the restart and went about their job, only to be halted by a shrill blast of the referee’s whistle. The official signalled that an onrushing attacker had been impeded in his pursuit of the ball and awarded a penalty to Sundays Well. As Sundays Well kicked for the corner, the referee called last play. Sundays Well won their own lineout and started a rolling maul. With Sundays Well bearing down on the visitors’ line both teams piled in, and this left Kilfeacle’s try-line exposed. One short pass and Sundays Well had a winger diving over in the corner, with the try then converted for 36-33.

CLONAKILTY NEXT UP

Our next game is at home in the league against Clonakilty on this Sunday, February 4 at 2.30pm.

Kilfeacle and District RFC’s squad on the day was 1 Diarmuid O’Donnell, 2 Richard Whitney, 3 Simon Barry, 4 Bob Purcell, 5 Cian Carroll, 6 Gavin McCormack, 7 Brian Barlow, 8 Kevin Kinane, 9 Gavin Heuston, 10 Luke Heuston, 11 Jacques van Wyngaardt, 12, Keith Bourke, 13 Darren Lowry, 14, Killian Noonan, 15 Kevin Doyle, 16 Brian Barron, 17 Brendan Barron, 18 Rian Doody, 19 Adam Crowe, 20 Kyle Morris, 21 Timmy Clarke, 22 Christopher Thomas.