Tipperary rugby: Lessons to be learned for Clonmel after crunch home tie yields nothing

All Ireland League Division 2C

CLONMEL 13 BALLINA 21

Sports psychology covers those intangible factors which impinge on the thoughts of athletes prior to any sporting contest.
The Clonmel players had plenty to ponder last Saturday when they hosted Ballina RFC – would their injury list impact their performance?

Would the loss of “home advantage” by having the game transferred to the CBS High School G4 pitch be a factor?
Would the all-weather surface, on which Ballina play at home, give the visitors an advantage?

Would the expectation that Clonmel should get a comfortable win against the team propping up the table become a burden?
Lots to think about as the game kicked off in horrible conditions, with Clonmel having the benefit of a nice breeze blowing directly down the pitch.

All the early work was done by Clonmel who spent some time in the Ballina half – they moved the ball around a lot but did not really trouble Ballina who seemed comfortable in defence. The home side did not help themselves due to a number of handling errors. Then Ballina came alive and a strong surge down their left wing saw them score near the corner – Clonmel were surprised to be 0-5 behind having done most of the work to that point.

This became the pattern of the first half – Clonmel moved the ball around but were unable to penetrate a strong Ballina defence – it became clear also that the Mayo side had the stronger pack which became an ongoing problem for Clonmel, even on their own put-in to scrums.

But Clonmel continued to press, with forwards Tim Nugent and Diarmuid Brannock working hard. The pressure began to tell on Ballina and they coughed up penalties in quick succession in the 22nd, 23rd and 24th minutes – the referee lost patience and the visitors collected a yellow card. But, on all three occasions, Clonmel ignored the posts and went to the corner, where they got no success from the lineouts and finished a period of pressure with nothing to show for it.

Clonmel’s Ben O'Dwyer whips the ball away to his backs during last Saturday’s All Ireland League game against Ballina which was played on the Clonmel High School's 4G pitch. Pic: Paul Morris

In the ding-dong battle which ensued, it became Clonmel’s turn to take a yellow card.

The home side continued to press and were rewarded with a penalty on 38 minutes which Josef O’Connor converted with a fine kick to reduce the deficit to 3-5 for Clonmel. Another converted penalty from O’Connor on the stroke of half-time meant that Clonmel entered the break leading 6-5.

Ballina went straight into offensive mode from the restart and were rewarded with a penalty on 43 minutes to put them 8-6 ahead.

The visitors were now tactically astute, using the breeze to kick the ball long and pin Clonmel back – Clonmel then had to commence every move from deep in their own half and they got very little change out of a very determined Ballina defence.

The overall strength of the westerners, particularly up front, began to tell and on 50 minutes another converted penalty put them 11-6 ahead.

This was a sizable margin in the awful conditions. Ballina, through clever kicking, now had a stronger territorial grip and their continued pressure bore fruit on 60 minutes when they touched down to go 16-6 ahead – the successful conversion increased the margin to 18-6.

Clonmel battled gamely, with Dean Slattery making inroads on the wing but, in overall terms, it was hard to see how Clonmel could come back here.

But that’s rugby – out of the blue, Clonmel roused themselves and put together their best move of the day to put Seamus Keating over in the right corner to reduce the deficit to 18-11 – O’Connor’s fine conversion narrowed the margin further to 18-13.

There was a buzz among the rain-soaked crowd now – could we snatch this game in the final 10 minutes?

The incident which settled the outcome came a few minutes later – Clonmel kicked a penalty into the Ballina corner – this would be the clincher - a converted try would see a home victory.

A scuffle broke out near the sideline and when the referee restored order he issued a yellow card to a Ballina player - and a red card to the Clonmel player. The referee then, correctly, reversed the penalty and Clonmel’s chance of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat was gone. This bout of ill-discipline would prove to be very costly.

A further Ballina penalty just prior to full-time gave the visitors a 21-13 victory. Whatever thoughts they harboured prior to this game, the Clonmel lads will not have much time to ponder on this result as they go on the road to meet Omagh next weekend.

Last Saturday’s outcome does not affect Clonmel’s position in the table – Clonmel remain in seventh position. They are now in the home straight, with five games remaining, two of them at home – Clonmel will be confident of racking up more points and finishing well up the table.

Mention has to be made of the home support who turned up in the most appalling conditions and shouted on their team as they were soaked to the skin. Well done, folks.