Listowel RFC V Charleville & District RFC

The teams took to a soaking slippery pitch in the Town Park in Listowel, which was to the advantage of the current league leaders with their large forward pack. Listowel are unbeaten in the first three rounds of the league so far and Charleville boys were keen to put a marker down in only their third league game of the season.

With the stiff breeze and the hill, (yes, you read that correctly) behind them Listowel exerted early pressure through a sequence of rucks on Charleville try line to score in the 5th minute of the match. The conversion was well taken, a factor that would prove decisive in the end, to put Listowel 7-0 ahead.

Charleville grew into the game steadily through the first 17 minute period as they dominated the lineout stealing a high number of opposition throws that negated Listowel penalties and allowed Charleville to camp in the opposition half for the remainder of the first period. Converting that dominance into scores was difficult and not helped by the disappearance of the try line due to the Listowel training session that had taken place in the hour before kick off.

Charleville didn’t want the half to end and not just because there wasn’t a dressing room to go to. But it did, and the teams took the break with the score at 7-0.

The second half opened with Charleville putting on big pressure to force Listowel back down the pitch through a sequence of rucks to score wide out on the left through the pacey elusive running of Luke Hogenes to make it 7-5 in the first minute. Concerned at the potential momentum swing, Listowel made substitutions and through a capable centre paring worked their way up the pitch to win a penalty 10 metres out from Charleville try line. An unfortunate lapse in concentration by not quickly getting set to defend and facing the penalty led to an easy converted try to stretch Listowel lead to 14-5. This was soon followed to another converted try to stretch Listowel lead to 21-5 mid way through the second period after Listowel ran back a Charleville kick out of hand.

Where other teams might go to pieces and buckle under such circumstances, Charleville brought on some fresh legs and dug deep to go again. Charleville put persistent pressure on to force errors from the opposition. A couple of opportunities to score were lost through knock on and penalty conceded respectively after several phases to get to within metres of the try line. Undaunted, Charleville were eventually rewarded with a try 2 minutes from the end of the match, with Harry O’Conner following up his own kick to beat the defender to dive onto a mud stuck ball in the try zone to make it 21-10.

Charleville were not finished and sensed that they could cause an upset in the dying minutes of the match. With Listowel deep in Charleville 22 the ball broke to be picked up by Charleville who launched a counterattack at pace down the right hand side of the pitch. The ball was passed inside to Muiris O’Riordan, who, being excellent in his direct running at the opposition all day, ran through the defence leaving them grasping at air to score under the posts. Muiris converted his own try to bring the score 21-17. Charleville rushed up the pitch for the restart, with momentum firmly on their side and had sufficient time been added on for retrieving the ball out of the surrounding rushes during the match, it is very likely that the comeback would have been completed. But soon after the whistle went for full time in the competitive match to finish 21-17.

The final 17 minute period was an opportunity for Charleville to continue to apply their training and grow as a group and finish the day positively. With all the u13 available to play, they did their team proud with fantastic application to the challenge. The forwards exerted early dominance, driving Listowel back with strong aggressive carries from Jack Foley who worked tirelessly all afternoon. Retaining possession for phase after phase in the first 5 minutes Charleville led through a Krzystof Dadzuta score with a crash over ball.

Charleville starved Listowel of possession through the control from their pack for the full 17 minute period. What few opportunities Listowel had on the ball were swiftly snuffed out with high press forcing the errors. The referee noticing that he would have to let the game flow, allowed advantages that Charleville capitalised on to move the ball out to their backs to complete excellent finishes from Luke Hogenes and Harry O’Conner respectively to seal the 15-0 win.

It is when faced with the hardest adversity that a team learn the most valuable lessons, and while the day was not won by U14/U13 Boys, they came away knowing that they have a depth of character far beyond their years that will stand to them for many days to come. While upset at the result on the day, the enduring feeling should be one of great pride at the heart they showed where others would fall apart. It is still early in the league with many opportunities yet to get the ‘game faces on from the start’ and get the results this tight talented group deserve.