Tullamore suffer first defeat in eight games

Tullamore suffered their first defeat in 8 games in an away fixture to Ballina on Saturday. The group had beaten the same side with a bonus point, but had to make some wholesale changes to the squad for various reasons.

All-Ireland Rugby League Division 2C

Ballina 19

Tullamore 18

The game started and it was clear that Ballina had a chip on their shoulder. They closed the Tullamore forwards down with each defensive set and the visitors struggled to combat that with other attacking options. Ballina converted their first penalty after 15 minutes when Tullamore were adjudged to be offside in open play.

Tullamore battled back and scored a brace of 3 pointers by the boot of Conor Dunne. Ballina had the last say of the half when they rumbled over the try line from the 5 metre line to leave the score at 10-6 at half time.

The second half ebbed and flowed until Tullamore made some costly errors at the breakdown on their own 10 metre line. The Ballina outhalf converted 2 more penalties to stretch the lead to 10 points. Conor Kelly was introduced soon after half time and his impact was immediate. He made several storming runs which obliterated the Ballina defence and made Tullamore valuable metres. It was through one of Kelly's breaks that teed up the visitors for their first try: Barry Bracken, Cathal Feighery and Gavin Kelly all made notable bursts in this period also grind the side inches from the line. Conor Kelly borrowed his way under the posts for an important score.

Ballina capitalised on Tullamore's indiscipline at the breakdown soon after with another penalty to leave 6 points between the teams. Tullamore bounced back and dominated the final 10 minutes of play. The visitors carried with intent and began to find holes in the Ballina rearguard. Sam Burns received the ball in the 22 metre line and skipped the ball to Craig Strong. Strong fixed the last defender to send Scott Milne away in the corner to close the gap to a point. The conversion was missed but Tullamore continued to battle and worked their way back up to the 22. The ball was eventually ripped from the visitors and the ball was kicked to touch to close out the game.

This will be a big learning for Tullamore, as they prepare for a massive game at home to Bangor this coming Saturday at 2.30. 

TULLAMORE: 1. Matthew Murphy, 2. Cathal Feighery, 3. Mark Kennedy, 4. Gavin Kelly, 5. Alan Douglas, 6. Christopher Whittle, 7. Leon Fox, 8. Barry Bracken, 9. Sam Burns, 10. Craig Strong, 11. Karl Dunne, 12. Lance Batten, 13. Conor Dunne, 14. Stephen Joyce, 15. Brian Geraghty.