Understrength Tullamore stun Omagh with four try salvo

Tullamore made the long trip north to Omagh with hopes of continuing their winning ways. The sun shining made for an open game of running rugby where Tullamore earned a well deserved bonus point win after a slightly shaky start.

All-Ireland Rugby League Division 2C

Omagh 12
Tullamore 27

Omagh have a fearsome home record and Tullamore entered the County Tyrone bearpit shorn of the three Ballycommon footballers (Karl and Conor Dunne and Barry Bracken) who were in Leinster junior club football action, as well as long term injury casualties in the 2nd row, Conor Kelly and Ciaran Ennis, so nothing other than a five star away performance would suffice for this Tulliers that is on a nice little bit of a run.

Omagh came out of the blocks quickly moving the ball well using their lively backline to good effect. With the wind at their backs their pressure finally paid off when their lively centre took advantage of some poor Tullamore defence to open the scoring. With a missed conversion it was 5-0 to the home side.

Tullamore upped the ante with Sean McCabe and Leon Fox carrying hard and the Tullamore front row proving dominant in the scrum. The away side opened their account after some brilliant maul defence from Gavin Kelly and Chris whittle resulted in a turnover. Whittle broke from the base of the scrum that followed with huge pace beating 3 defenders bringing the ball to the half way line with Omagh scrambling to cover.

The ball was moved wide to the marauding Brian Geraghty who took advantage of the scattered Omagh defense to break the line on the half way and bullishly run in their opening try, a devastating bit of attacking play by the Tulliers captain. Craig Strong added the extras to leave the halftime score at 7-5 to the visitors. The unfortunate Fox, who has been in brilliant form this season had to leave the pitch with a suspected broken hand, a cruel blow to both him and the team. Jack Delahunt entered the fray and gave an outstanding display in the back row when called upon.

Much of the rest of the 1st half was played between 2 10 metre lines, which chances very much at a premium and neither side able to dictate matters, Tullamore had good phases that were often pockmarked with cheap turnovers.

Tullamore started the second half with purpose, using the wind to play in Omagh's half. Strong kicked a superb, booming penalty from 45 out to bring the score to 10-5 in Tulliers favour.

The game was in the melting pot now and the next score was crucial and thankfully it was Tullamore that struck with a brilliantly executed set play from a dominant Tullamore scrum. Strong at outhalf moved it wide to Eoin Farrell who showed good pace on the outside to put away the lively substitute Stephen Joyce for his first AIL try to leave the score at 15-5. Joyce has been in superb form for the J1 development side and justified his promotion to the bench with an accomplished performance when called upon

Tullamore should have been in cruise control at this stage but their mistakes kept Omagh in the game.

International recognition for Tullamore rugby youths

After some handling errors from the Tullamore backline, Omagh pounced with a kick through to score a very scrappy try bring the home team right back into the game at 15-12. Game on and the worry was the momentum had swung in the northerners favour

The travelling support need not have worried as Tullamore rallied well after this error with Gavin Kelly and Alan Douglas carrying well. Constant pressure found the visiting team camped in the Omagh 22 retaining the ball well, going throughphase after phase, Slug Behan inching his way on, before fellow prop Mark Kennedy made further inroads.

With Omagh short defenders on the narrow side, Strong placed a perfectly weighed kick in behind where in form finisher McCabe was on hand to catch and extend the lead.

But Tullamore weren't finished yet and with a bonus point now in their sights their pressure continued. Eventually the pressure told with a slick inside pass from scrum half Sam Burns putting bullocking lock Gavin Kelly away to secured the bonus point with the last play of the game, a superb finish by the big Geashill man who only this season converted to the boiler room, having previously played in the more comfortable surroundings at centre.

A brilliant result on the road for Tullamore moving them up to second in the table behind unbeaten Instonians. In the pack Gavin Kelly and Chris Whittle were all over the pitch carrying hard and marshalling the defence. In the backline Eoin Farrell put in another strong performance at 13 and Sam Burns and Craig Strong stepped up at 9 & 10 when Tullamore needed them in the second half. Overall it was a full squad performance with all 20 players having an impact on the game.
Next for Tullamore is a home game against Sunday's Well on November 12th at 2.30pm

Tullamore: Brian Geraghty (Captain), Sean McCabe, Eoin Farrell, Lance Batten, Liam Farrell, Craig Strong, Sam Burns, Leon Fox, Chris Whittle, Scott Milne, Alex Bercovici, Gavin Kelly, Cathal Behan, Matty Murphy, Mark Kennedy. Reps. Dan Cronin, Alan Douglas, Jack Delahunt, Zach Wright, Stevie Joyce

Management. Darin Claasen, Dave Hanlon, Mick Gunning. Physio Collie Malone