Charleville & District RFC V Killarney RFC
When a Final Score doesn't tell the whole story....
It was back to the league competition this Sunday and after weather affected training in the week running up to this morning’s match, there was work to be done to get the players up to speed.
Killarney RFC came into this game with high expectations of a straight forward victory. As ever, the Charleville boys were left in no doubt what was expected of them to defend their home turf. Charleville were put through their paces to get body temperatures up, so that they could get stuck in from the off.
The opening 17 mins started with Charleville doing exactly what the game plan was. Put pressure on cold bodies, hands and heads. The pack fizzed into the breakdown, protecting their ball well and moved quickly up the pitch towards the Killarney line with phase play. The opening score was not long in coming when Muiris O’Riordan took the ball on in a straight dash, drawing the defender and putting the pass out to Harry O’Connor to score. A well struck conversion attempt was only just short from wide out near the left touchline. If Killarney thought they were here just for the cake and sandwiches, there was none and it was game on! 5-0.
Charleville continued to pile on the pressure, forcing errors that led to a series of scrums, an area of their game that has improved considerably over the past couple of weeks. A breakdown off scrum ball in Charleville 22 drew in the Killarney defence and seeing the space behind Harry O’Conner kicked. Alan Krause shot up on the follow up, gathering the ball to run at full tilt with Killarney desperately trying to catch him to score. The unconverted score was 10-0.
Killarney sensing that the game could get away from them started to rise themselves, but Charleville were already up the gears and had no intention of backing off. Not yet at least. Charleville endured a sustained period of pressure in their 22 as they held off wave after wave of Killarney attacks from their heavy pack. To a man Charleville threw their bodies on the line, with none more defining the “never say die” attitude than Jack Foley, who has continued his outstanding defence over a number of matches with stand out tackles all day. This energy sapping resistance yielded an opportunity for Charleville on 15mins as a ball broke out to Alan Krause, who running onto it seared through the shell-shocked Killarney defence to go the length of the field to put the ball under the posts. The converted score by Muiris O’Riordan had Charleville 17-0 ahead.
With the final minute in the first third, Charleville were under pressure once again and withstanding another wave of attacks on their line. A sequence of fortunate decisions for Killarney at the breakdown eventually allowed the Charleville line to be breached to leave the score at 17-5 at the break.
The Charleville hard charging start to the match was vital, as the now warmed up Killarney attack was going to come out of the blocks again in the second third. Charleville started the second quarter looking to recapture the dominance that they had showed at the start of the match. This they duly did, when within the first minute of the second quarter, Luke Hodgens called for, and got, a cross field kick served up on a plate to ghost in at full pelt to score in the corner to make it 22-5. As has been the case in the past two matches, this Charleville score so soon after the break was crucial.
Although the score line didn’t suggest it, physically the match was becoming a much more even contest. Charleville had to make substitutions and shuffle positions. The disruption meant Charleville took some time to adjust. Time they didn’t have. Killarney went back to their hard carrying forwards to punch holes. As Charleville concentration and intensity dropped off Killarney managed to break through to score under the posts for a converted try to give them some hope of getting back into it at 22-12.
Charleville summoned up another sequence of more direct carries themselves. The cross field kick tactic was called for once more as Charleville were deep in Killarney 22 mid way through the 2nd third. Although it looked like the opportunity was lost the ball broke backwards on the ground for Muiris O’Riordan to pick it up and strike from short distance to dive over for a try to make it 27-12.
The clock was against Killarney, but they still believed that they could get a result from their hard carrying pack. The physical effort Charleville had put in up to this point was taking its tole and although they didn’t get the turnover calls at the breakdown, they fought hard to keep in front. In a long final two minutes, Charleville conceded two more converted scores. The commitment shown across the park to each other was everything and all that anyone could ask. This Charleville group continue to grow and edged out a well-deserved win at 27-26 that keeps momentum going so that they are ready to pounce on any slip ups from those around them in the league.
The final third was the opportunity for the full squad to take the chance to get stuck in and relieve some of their team mates against a big Killarney team who had some fresh legs of their own. The cold on the sideline supporting their team made for a tough start as they conceded an early unconverted try. But they kept the chin up and battled excellently to keep the opposition from scoring again for almost the full 17 minutes.
U14 march on again at home next weekend in the league as they take on Inveragh. Look out for details later in the week.
