Tullamore Rugby Club celebrate great Metro League Final win

Tullamore renewed rivalries with old foes St Marys in the Metro league final. Both previous encounters had been closely contested, feisty affairs and this match would prove to be no different.

Metro League Division 8 final

Tullamore 20

St Mary's 3

In very windy conditions Tullamore played with the wind in the first half but it was Mary's that had most of the possession and territory.

"On my command, unleash hell" roared talismanic skipper John Connolly as Tullamore kicked off.

Mark Brolly filled in at prop for the injured Dan Cronin and looked to lay down an early marker with a strong carry. Brolly had a massive game both with ball in hand and in defence.

Mary's started the better and broke through the Tullamore defence. Their big number 6 had the tryline in his sights only for Sean Dunne to complete a magnificent cover tackle and save the try.

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Tullamore looked to take on Mary’s up front and the first scrum was a portent of things to come with grizzled old props Eddie Connor and Mark Brolly and young tyro hooker Ryan Mealiffe attacking the Mary’s scrum and causing scrappy ball for their back line to work with.

Mary's had come to play and enjoyed a long period of possession, but the back row three musketeers of Dermot Hickey, Gav Ridgeway and Tadgh Dowdall worked tirelessly all afternoon and their hard tackling nullified the big Mary's strike runners. On 20 minutes as Mary's were camped on the Tullamore try line, after a series of penalties Brolly was sent to the sin bin. Only minutes later Tullamore received another yellow card so were down to 13 men and it was looking ominous for them as Mary's battered the line.

Just as Mary's looked certain to score Ridgeway and Connor put in a massive double tackle and when Connor was able to hold up the ball over the try line Tullamore could clear their lines. Mary's were getting frustrated with the resolute Tullamore defence and decided to take the 3 points when they were awarded a penalty in front of the posts on 32 minutes even though they had a 2 man advantage. This proved to be a key turning point as Mary's with all the possession and territory only had 3 points to show for it. Just before half-time Tullamore broke from deep and after a brilliant break from Colin Draper, he linked well with Tom Gilligan who put Pat Fahey in for the try and a 5-3 lead at half time.

Ian McGlinchey gave a rousing half time team talk, using all of his military experience to drive on his troops:

Tullamore were now playing into the wind and had to run the ball from deep. Frank Lynch, Connolly, Dermot Hickey and Ryan Mealiffe started to eke out the hard yards. Tom Gilligan rolled back the years with a 40 metre line break and when John Tobin flashed the ball wide Fahey sped through for his second try.

As the match wore on Tullamore were relentless in defence and Mary's began to tire. Brendan Daly had drilled the team hard over the last few weeks and his fitness training certainly paid off. ‘A pint of sweat will save a gallon of blood.’ quipped Daly as Mary's struggled with the high tempo of the match.

McGlinchey unleashed his dogs of war, a real heavyweight bench of Cian Sullivan, Dave Boland, Fionan Redmond and Rob Connor adding massive impetus and all carrying the ball hard and straight to get over the gain line with ease. Dean Broderick also came on at scrum half and upped the pace with his crisp passing.

Dave Boland put in numerous big tackles, one huge hit forcing their big prop off injured.

With 60 minutes gone and the game very much still in the balance Cian Sullivan broke from deep and offloaded to Colin Draper who took the ball up to halfway. The ball was flashed wide to Pat Fahey who sped through for a sensational try and suddenly there was daylight between the teams as Tullamore led 15-3. Fahey, not happy with just the three tries, scored another fantastic try after a strong carry from Jimmy Rabbitte to round off a man of the match performance with 4 tries. On the day Fahey was simply electric with ball in hand.

This was a hard earned win against a very good Mary's side. The match was won through a brilliant defensive effort in the first half where Mary's probably should have scored at least two tries. The Tullamore pack all had to put in a serious defensive effort with Dermot Hickey magnificent all afternoon and the pick of the forwards. The back line too had to work hard in defence to contain the dangerous Mary's back line and Tom Gilligan and John Tobin combined well to shut down Mary's back line attack. Tullamore have now sealed back to back promotions. The season is not finished yet as they play Carlow away next Saturday to defend the Anderson cup that Tullamore won last season.

Team: Eddie Connor, Ryan Mealliffe, Mark Brolly, John Connolly, Frank Lynch, Dermot Hickey, Tadgh Dowdall, Gav Ridgeway, Colin Draper, Rory Lynch, Tiernan Quinn, ,John Tobin, Tom Gilligan, Sean Dunne, Pat Fahey. Subs: Cian Sullivan, Dave Boland, Jimmy Rabbitte, Fionan Redmond, Rob Connor, Mark Whelan, Dean Broderick.

Head Coach Ian McGlinchey. Fitness coach: Brendan Daly.