Tullamore humbled by league winners Instonians

Tullamore had a tough day at the office on Saturday. They faced an instonians team that had a perfect 17/17 bonus point win record and were hungry to finish off the season on a high.

All-Ireland Rugby League Division 2C

Instonians 68

Tullamore 29

Tullamore were the first to strike through a Conor Dunne penalty. Instonians immediately replied with 2 tries of their own. The visitors had a set piece that was unplayable, and the majority of their scores came through some form of lineout maul or scrum. Instonians scored 4 tries on the bounce to stretch the lead to 28-3.

Conor Dunne finished off the half with a quick tap from the halfway line, He spun the ball to Lance Batten, who straightened the line superbly to spot a half gap. He then returned the ball to Conor who glided from the 10 metre line to score a converted try.

Tullamore were very competitive in open play throughout the tie, but couldn't match the accuracy and efficiency of the Instonians pack at line out and scrum time. They scored another maul try straight after the break.

Tullamore arguably had their best period of the game after this point and really tested the instonians rear guard. Shayne Fleming and Matthew Murphy made big carries to work Tullamore to the 10 metre line, Karl Dunne spotted space in behind and chipped a perfectly weighted kick to the 5 metre line. The defending full back conceded a penalty for holding onto the ball at the ruck. Conor Dunne quickly tapped and ran at the Instonians out half. The northern playmaker was steam rolled over his own try line for Conor to get his second of the day.

From the following restart, Scott Milne made an excellent break and showed his footwork and technical ability to call the ball to the halfway line. Tullamore continued to apply pressure and worked their way up to the 22 through Leon Fox and Barry Bracken. Instonians eventually infringed and Tullamore tapped to build their way just short of the try line. Gavin Kelly picked the ball and did extremely well to evade a defender and sneak the ball over the white wash for Tullamore's 3rd of the day.

Instonians continued to dominate the set piece, which paved tries for the visitors, and yellow cards for the home side. They scored a further 5 tries to run away with the contest. Lance Batten scored the bonus point try for Tullamore, but that was as good as it got for Tullamore.

Instonians finished the season with 90 points out of a possible 90. This has never been done before at AIL level. It has been an excellent league campaign for Tullamore, who finished on 62 points. This is the highest number of points Tullamore have racked up since they joined the senior ranks in 2013.

The side went into the game knowing this was a stepping stone for the semi final the following week.Tullamore will now travel to Skerries for their semi final play off, and Bruff will travel to Galwegians on the other side of the draw. The game will take place this Saturday, the 22nd of April at 2.30pm. 

TULLAMORE: 1. Cathal Behan, 2. Shayne Fleming, 3. Matthew Murphy, 4. Alan Douglas, 5. Gavin Kelly, 6. Scott Milne, 7. Chris Whittle, 8. Barry Bracken (C), 9. Sam Burns, 10. Karl Dunne, 11. Sean McCabe, 12. Lance Batten, 13. Conor Dunne, 14. Eoin Farrell, 15. Craig Strong.