All-Ireland title crowns magnificent season for table-toppers Clonmel
Clonmel beat Bective Rangers in All-Ireland League Division 2C final
Clonmel 28 Bective Rangers 24
And so, after 20 games in a great season for the club, Clonmel were crowned champions of the Energia All-Ireland Rugby League Division 2C.
On a perfect spring day in front of a large crowd at a resplendent Ard Gaoithe on Saturday, Clonmel claimed the victory and the trophy that their season deserved, having finished top of the table with more wins than any other team.
Bective Rangers finished second in the league and were more than worthy opponents. There is nothing between these teams, who have shared 163 points and 26 tries in their three encounters this season. Amazingly, over the three games, only seven points separated the teams when the whistle finally blew and drew the season to an end.
Just like the game in January, Clonmel won this encounter by four points to unleash a long weekend of celebrations in the club’s most successful season since achieving senior status in 2019.
This was a great team performance and all the players delivered the performances the occasion deserved. Freddie Davies grabbed the headlines with a stunning hat- trick of tries while Joey O’Connor was again flawless from the placed ball, kicking four from four.
The nervous energy was palpable as Clonmel started strongly and won a number of early penalties, all of which were kicked to the corner. Clonmel battered the visitors’ defence time and again in the first 10 minutes and Bective must have been close to yellow card territory, but their defence was outstanding and they repelled a number of close range drives.
Bective relieved the pressure when their captain and outhalf Matthew Gilsenan intercepted and expertly held onto the ball when a knock-on looked certain. A penalty brought Bective into the Clonmel half for their first attack after 16 scoreless minutes.
Tom O’Dea caused havoc all over the pitch and had his first major intervention when stealing Bective’s first attacking lineout. After some kick-tennis, Freddie Davies picked up a loose kick and sprinted the whole way to the try line from 60 metres, beating multiple defenders on the way.
Clonmel had dominated the opening phases of the game and fully deserved the seven-nil lead and attacked again from the restart, with Mick Connellan weaving his way all the way up to the visitors’ 22 in a thrilling run. Masuka was there – as he always is – to pick up the offload to continue the move. Backs and forwards combined to get within five metres of the try line. Clonmel looked certain to score but turned the ball over in the maul.
After a missed touch finder by Bective, Jack Walsh relieved the pressure with a great clearance kick before Joe O’Connor kicked a fine 50:22 to pin the visitors back. Monua, Melbourne and Daly carried hard all day and made ground before the ball was passed to O’Connor.
The outhalf spotted space in the backfield and prodded through a perfectly-weighted grubber kick. Centre Luke Hogan rolled back the years and pulled back his ears to win the race and dot down the ball for a fine try. Hogan becomes the only player to have achieved both junior and senior honours in the green and black of Clonmel, as the home team took a 14-nil lead after 30 minutes.
It looked like Clonmel would take this lead into the break when Masuku tidied up an overthrow from a Bective lineout and Clonmel gained 40 metres with another fine kick from O’Connor. However, the visitors had other ideas when scrum half Halpenny spotted space up the short side before feeding the ball to left winger Chris Rolland, who scored a fine try.
Not for the first time this season, Davies put enough pressure on the kicker and the conversion was missed to leave the scoreline 14 – 5 at half-time.
Despite being second best for 40 minutes, Bective started the second half stronger and set up an attacking lineout. As Clonmel set up to defend their strong driving maul towards the touchline, openside Chris Poole spotted a gap to break off and score a fine individual try after just four minutes of the half.
Gilsenan kicked a fine conversion to narrow the gap to two points, 14 – 12, and Clonmel had to dig deep. The service from Ben O’Dwyer was snappy all day and he kicked very well. He had willing carriers into the wind with Coyne, Daly, Monua and Huisamen all featuring strongly, while Buttimer marshalled his team very well.
Connellan is a fine footballer and produced a moment of magic up the right wing when gathering his own grubber when no space was available. From the recycle, Melbourne, O’Dea and Monua punched holes while Walsh bounced off a number of defenders.
With Bective under pressure, Luke Hogan made a break up the right and Daly relived his youth, prodding through a grubber that bounced once too often into touch before Connellan could get there.
Clonmel would not be denied for long, however, and from the next attack O’Connor offloaded to Davies, who dotted down in the left corner. O’Connor’s conversion from the touchline into the wind was nothing short of superb to increase the lead to 21 – 12.
Bective regrouped and went on the attack, with Melbourne shipping a yellow card right under the posts as Clonmel’s defence creaked.
With a man extra, everyone in the stand expected Bective to take the scrum, but they attacked the left after a tap and go. Coach Pat O’Connor could be heard telling Clonmel to watch the tight head, Buff Kelly, and committed defence saw the home team hold the big man up over the line.
The goal line dropout was knocked-on in the middle of the field, but Bective did not let this disrupt their momentum and scored a maul try shortly afterwards. When Gilsenan converted, the lead was reduced to 2 points, 21 – 19, as the game entered the final 10 minutes.
The home side upped the intensity, with Buttimer featuring strongly before Melbourne offloaded beautifully to Davies, who completed his hat-trick and most vital of tries. O’Connor nailed the difficult conversion to give Clonmel a two-score cushion on a scoreline of 28 – 19.
The cushion was badly needed, as Bective refused to give up and scored yet another maul try through flanker, Chris Poole. Both Connellan and Davies pressured the kicker enough to ensure the lead remained at four points. This meant a penalty or drop goal would not be enough for Bective.
Despite conceding nine penalties to one and receiving two yellow cards, Clonmel held on to claim the title on a final score line of 28 – 24 when they foiled the last attack of the game.
There were cheers of joy and relief when Andrew Daly kicked the ball into touch deep into stoppage time. Clonmel RFC, AIL champions, has a lovely ring to it!
Clonmel: David Coyne, Brandon Delicato, Jason Monua, Keith Melbourne, Gerrit Huisamen, Tom O’Dea, Ben Masuku, Andrew Daly, Ben O’Dwyer, Joe O’Connor, Freddie Davies, Henry Buttimer, Luke Hogan, Michael Connellan, Jack Walsh. Replacements: Sean Sweetman, David Brennan, Diarmuid Brannock, Luke Slattery, Zac Cahalane, Brian O’Dea, Aiden Russell, Drew Musa.