Disappointing ending for Newbridge after a fine league campaign

Newbridge were looking to finish their season on a high with an away game to New Ross in the final league game of the campaign. Sitting in third place, they had an outside chance of pipping second-placed Longford to a play-off spot.
Longford were at home to unbeaten league winners Coolmine.

It was a wild, blustery day, and the ground was soft underfoot. Newbridge began slowly and never really got out of gear.

New Ross went ahead early through an Eythan Van Tonder penalty and spent much of the opening half inside the Newbridge 22. The home side’s game plan was to keep things tight, and their bigger pack were able to make the hard yards.

A try from lock Rory Browne put them ten points ahead, and the Kildare side struggled to get any rhythm or flow into their game. The score at half-time was 10–0.

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Newbridge started the second half well, but after a dropped ball in midfield, New Ross capitalised, grounding a kick ahead in the corner to extend their lead to 15–0 and take firm control of the contest. Newbridge made changes, and they had a positive impact.

The tempo increased and John O’Brien found himself out wide to touch down in the corner and get Newbridge on the scoreboard at 15–5.

Another Van Tonder penalty increased the home side’s lead to 18–5 before Stephen Cooke barrelled over in the corner to reduce the gap to eight points at 18–10.

Newbridge were much improved, but dropped balls and poor execution at key moments prevented them from narrowing the gap further.

Another New Ross score, coming against the run of play, effectively sealed the contest and left New Ross as the only team to record a league double over Newbridge this season.

It was a disappointing end to the league campaign, but Newbridge can be proud of their overall showing. Having only been promoted this season, they finish third in Leinster League 2A and now look forward to a Provincial Towns Cup quarter-final at home to Longford on March 29.

Final score: New Ross 25 Newbridge 10.

NEW ROSS: 1 James Bryan, 2 David Bailey, 3 James Ryan, 4 Jamie Brennan, 5 Rory Browne, 6 Jake Cullen, 7 Tim Coughlan, 8 James Fitzgerald, 9 Eythan Van Tonder, 10 Eoghan O'Dwyer, 11 Matt Crowdle, 12 Craig Bradley, 13 Walter Walsh, 14 Kealan Fuhrmann, 15 Matthew Dunleavy, 16 Jordan O'Brien, 17 John Joe Lawless, 18 Liam Whelan, 19 Sean Kinsella, 20 Yaseen Williams.

NEWBRIDGE: 1 David Morgan, 2 William Jennings, 3 Brendan Commane, 4 Jack Moore, 5 Cameron English, 6 Mark Bennett, 7 Denis Clarke, 8 Max McLoughlin, 9 Kevin Commane, 10 John O’Brien, 11 Gavin Houlihan, 12 James Parkinson, 13 Riain Murphy, 14 Stephen Cooke, 15 Darragh Whyte, 16 Michael Ugochukwu, 17 Steven Mc Elligott, 18 Chris Leech, 19 Joshua O’Keeffe, 20 Robert Waters.