Ging inspires Portlaoise to win in high scoring, entertaining contest
ON a bright, windy day, Portlaoise U/15s took on the challenge of Cill Dara in what turned out to be an entertaining and high scoring contest that Portlaoise ultimately came out on top in.
After an even start highlighted by no scores for the first 15 minutes, the match sparked into life with an extraordinary four tries in a five minutes spell. It all started with a Cill Dara converted try-off a line out in the Portlaoise 22. From the resulting
Portlaoise kick-off, Eanna Moynihan regathered. Scrumhalf Paul Byrne was quick to the breakdown and fed out-half Matt Cunningham who used a combination of speed and sidestepping to score underneath the posts, making it easy for his
conversion to level the match at 7-7.
Cill Dara 29
Portlaoise 37
From the resulting Cill Dara kick off, Zach Maginness, Daniel Whelan and Conor Deegan combined to get the ball to Moynihan who evaded a number of tackles to run the length of the pitch and dot down in the corner. In almost a direct replica of Moynihan’s try, Maginness got the ball from the next Cill Dara kick off and used his electric pace to race the length of the pitch and go under the posts, with Cunningham adding the extras to make it 7-19 after 20 minutes.
Like all good teams, Cill Dara responded quickly with a break from their own half, ultimately resulting in a try in the corner closing the gap to seven points. This kicked Portlaoise into life and with excellent rucking and tackling by man of the match Mark Ging and Cormac Drea and strong carries by Joey McGuinness and Fionn Mullen, Portlaoise won a line out in the Cill Dara 22. From an accurate Conor Deegan throw, Mullen gathered and carried strongly. This was followed by excellent carries by Ging and Moynihan. From the resulting ruck, Matt Cunningham got the ball and sold a beautiful dummy to make space to dot down for Portlaoise’s fourth try of the afternoon, making it 12-24.
Cill Dara once again responded and despite some excellent tackling from wings Cullan Kirwan, Cormac Paige and fullback Ethan Kelly, Cill Dara managed to breach the Portlaoise defensive line with another converted try to make it 17-24
after 40 minutes in. With Cill Dara now within touching distance, Portlaoise kicked back into top gear helped by the added energy from Ricky Lyons, Darragh Maher, Nicolas Ibanez and Kyle Moore. After some great work by centres Daniel Whelan and Aaron Fitzpatrick, Whelan made a strong carry into the Cill Dara 22, forcing a penalty. From a signature Portlaoise set piece, Mullen was fed by Carroll and he powered through two tacklers to score, making it 17-29.
Keeping up with the end to end nature of the contest, Cill Dara responded in kind with a try to make it 22-29, before Portlaoise repaid the compliment. Cullan Kirwan won a great ball just outside the Cill Dara 22 and the supporting Carroll was again
on hand to feed Maginness to score Portlaoise’s sixth try of the match, with the scores now 22-34.
Cill Dara were not finished yet, however, and scored another converted try to put just five points between the teams with only minutes remaining. Portlaoise were not to be beaten though and following a great turnover by Carroll that resulted in a
penalty, Cunningham split the posts to make it 29-37.
A fitting end to the game saw man of the match Mark Ging make a strong carry, breaking multiple tackles to make sure Portlaoise kept control of the ball in the Cill Dara half until the referee blew the final whistle on an entertaining and high-scoring game. This Portlaoise win continues their strong momentum over recent weeks and sets them up for future challenges that undoubtedly lie ahead.
PORTLAOISE: Ethan Kelly, Cullan Kirwan, Daniel Whelan, Aaron Fitzpatrick, Cormac Paige, Matt Cunningham, Paul Byrne, Joey McGuinness, Conor Deegan, Fionn Mullen, Mark Ging, Cormac Drea, Zach Maginness, Donnchadh Carroll, Eanna Moynihan (c).
Replacements: Ricky Lyons, Darragh Maher, Kyle Moore, Nicolas Ibanez.