Bonus point win for high flying Tullamore

Tullamore made it 5 wins on the bounce after a bonus point win against Sunday's Well.

All-Ireland Rugby League Division 2C

Tullamore 29

Sunday's Well 10

Tullamore had an excellent win last week away to Omagh. Several squad members returned to the squad after missing the previous game for numerous reasons.

Tullamore can be very pleased with their performance against Sunday's Well at the weekend. Marshalled by Denis Hurley (Former Heineken Cup winner with Munster), Tullamore knew they would be in for a battle against a tough and driven side. They were met with exactly that in the first half when Sunday's Well showed intent from the get go. They attacked from all angles and had the majority of the possession in the opening half. They were camped on Tullamore's line for large parts of the opening exchanges but failed to cross the white wash.

Scott Milne made a notable try saving effort to hold up a man over the try line. Sunday's Well won a handful of penalties during this period and opted to kick for the corner several times. They eventually decided to kick for goal and converted the kick to take the lead. Tullamore rallied and replied with a strike of their own through Conor Dunne. Tullamore took the lead late in the half with an opportunistic effort. Conor Dunne sent a box kick high into the clouds, the Sunday's Well winger claimed the kick on the half way line only to be levelled by Sean McCabe. Stephen Joyce then raced to the breakdown and stole the ball expertly. The ball was sent through the hands to Eoin Farrell who glided under the sticks from the half way line. Conor Dunne added the extras to leave the half time score at 10-3 in favour of Tullamore.

Barry Bracken, Karl Dunne and Cathal Feighery were all introduced at half time, and this seemed to give Tullamore a real injection of precision and structure. Immediately from the restart, Tullamore carried robustly through Gavin Kelly, Scott Milne and Mark Kennedy. The ball was then sent to Conor Dunne, who jinked by his opposite man to split the defence. He then spotted space in the backfield, and cooly grubbered the ball in the path of Eoin Farrell. Farrell picked the ball up and flopped over the try line for Tullamore's second score.

The forward pack of Tullamore were in ascendency at this point, and started to make huge ground. Tullamore dominated possession and worked their way to the 22 metre line. Karl Dunne released Brian Geraghty into space, Geraghty then skipped past his opposite man and popped the ball to Conor Dunne who finished an excellent team try. The home side got their bonus point score soon after. The visitors kicked the ball deep into the home sides 22. Sean McCabe gathered the ball and offloaded to Brian Geraghty. Geraghty then fixed the oncoming defender and slipped the ball to Karl Dunne who looped around him. Dunne Galloped down the tram line and eventually gave the ball back to Geraghty. Brian then chucked the ball to Sean McCabe, who steam rolled his opposite man to score the coveted bonus point try.

Sunday's Well were eventually rewarded for their first half efforts with a try of their own in the dying moments of the tie. The Sunday's Well winger picked off a wide lobbing pass to jog in unevaded for the final act of the game. Tullamore can be extremely happy with this result, and has catapulted the men from Spollenstown to 2nd place on the table. Instonians remain at the summit with 30 points from a possible 30. Tullamore rest on 23 points, winning 5 games on the bounce after losing their first outing away to the league leaders. Conor Dunne and Brian Geraghty were excellent for Tullamore in the second half while Gavin Kelly got the nod for man of the match with his excellent display in defence and attack. Tullamore now have a break this weekend but will welcome Skerries on their return for what will be a very exciting clash. 

TULLAMORE: 1. Cathal Behan, 2. Mark Kennedy, 3. Matthew Murphy, 4. Alex Bercovici, 5. Gavin Kelly, 6. Scott Milne, 7. Jack Delahunt. 8. Chris Whittle, 9. Conor Dunne, 10. Sam Burns, 11. Stephen Joyce, 12. Craig Strong, 13. Eoin Farrell, 14. Sean McCabe, 15. Brian Geraghty (C). Replacements: Barry Bracken for Delahunt – HT, Karl Dunne for Strong (HT), Cathal Feighery for Behan (HT), Alan Douglas for Bracken (65mins), Dan Cronin for Murphy (70mins)