Tipperary Rugby: AIL pressure mounts with Clonmel's defeat in Skerries

ALL-IRELAND LEAGUE DIVISION 2C

SKERRIES 40 CLONMEL 14

Saturday last saw Clonmel travel to Skerries in north county Dublin for Round 15 of the All-Ireland League campaign. Skerries, always a strong side, had beaten us back in October on our home turf and have commanded second place in the 2C league table for some time now. Optimism of expectation was tempered with realism as the Clonmel team made the journey to the seaside location on what was a glorious afternoon for rugby.
On the day, however, the locals once again proved too strong and a somewhat flattering full-time score of 40-14 conferred the bonus point honours on the Dublin side, even if the numbers didn’t fully reflect the tightness of the game at various stages during the 80-minute encounter.
In perfectly sunny, springtime conditions, playing on the Skerries artificial pitch, Clonmel kicked off into a stiff breeze that was whipping in from the Irish Sea. Skerries were onto the ball quickly and set a marker for the tempo that the game would be played at. An early crossfield kick put Clonmel under pressure defensively and Skerries got their first points, a well-executed, converted try to register 7-0 on the scoreboard within the opening five minutes.
Clonmel re-grouped and attacked from the re-start, but the ball was lost forward in the Skerries 22 and a relieving kick from Skerries brought play back into the Clonmel half. Skerries applied more pressure and Clonmel withstood much of it with some superb tackling and defensive set-pieces.
Two Clonmel attacking plays came closest to delivering results, with one rolling maul crossing the Skerries line, only to have the ball adjudged to be held up while a second maul inside the Skerries 5 metre line disappointingly lost the ball forward.
However, the Clonmel defensive line was breached with a Skerries try in the corner late in the first half. The attempted conversion was wide of the mark and the teams went into half-time with the home side leading 12-0. Despite the deficit, it was a good first half for Clonmel and at various stages they came close to scoring but just came up short.

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The second half opened with Clonmel determined to get back in the game from the restart. A great early passage of play ended with Luke Hogan, ball in hand, crossing the Skerries line for Clonmel’s opening try on 45 minutes. Darren Cass converted to make it 12-7.
Skerries responded and within 13 minutes, having challenged Clonmel across the park, a converted try on 58 minutes put the locals 19-7 up.
However, three further converted tries for Skerries in a 15-minute period put significant daylight between the sides. At 40-7, the home side had bagged their bonus point and the contest was effectively over.
The game did end on a brighter note for Clonmel, with Hogan and Cass combining once more for a second converted try as the clocked ticked into the red. That proved to be the last score of the day and the game finished 40-14 to Skerries.

THREE GAMES TO GO
Saturday’s defeat sees Clonmel drop down to 10th place on 18 points with three games remaining. The bottom two teams will face each other in a home and away play-off, with the winner remaining in the AIL. That said, there is still hope, and a plan, that Clonmel can avoid that route, with games against Bruff (at home om March 26), Bangor (away on April 2) and Sunday Well, the final game (at home on April 9) yet to be played.
There is a two-week break in the league now while focus shifts to the international games over the next two weekends. We wish the boys in green well in the closing rounds of the Six Nations.
Team: Forwards: Niall Campion, Rob Wynne, Billy O’Kelly, James Corbett, Jack Lonergan, Tony Cantwell, John Gallagher, Diarmuid Devaney. Backs: Dean Slattery, Gavin Whelan, Conor Pearson, Luke Noonan, Luke Hogan, Greg Carroll, Darren Cass. Replacements: Brandon Delicato, Mikey Lonergan, Johnny Young, Eoin Breen, Andrew Daly, Mattie O’Toole.