Tullamore seconds lose out to Dundalk

Dundalk 14 Tullamore 9 This was a disappointing end to a good season for Tullamore"s second team. Their display on Saturday fell well short of the standard they played at all season particularly in the semi-final two weeks ago. Dundalk created more scoring chances than Tullamore who had the greater share of possession, and it"s scores that wins matches. The game opened brightly and there was nothing to choose between the sides until the 22nd minute when Dundalk converted a penalty to take the lead. Tullamore came under more pressure on the half hour mark when a forward was sin binned by the referee. Luckily, Dundalk missed the penalty attempt but were awarded another direct from the dropout and again did not capitalize on it. Tullamore then took the game to Dundalk for the remainder of the half and some good attacks were stopped by a resolute defence. Paul White dropped an opportunist goal to get some reward for the efforts of the pack. Seven minutes into injury-time, Dundalk regained the lead with a penalty for crossing by the backs. Dundalk lead 6-3 at half-time. A penalty from Derek Farrell 2 minutes into the second half tied up the scores but disaster struck when Dundalk broke clear to score the only try of the game and shortly afterwards a second Tullamore player was sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes in what was a harsh decision. In this period Tullamore were lucky not to concede a couple of tries as Dundalk were pulled back by the referee for a forward pass and crossing on another occasion. When back to full strength Tullamore took the game to their opponents and this pressure yielded a penalty again converted by Derek Farrell. Creating chances was not a problem but getting the ball away to a man in space was more difficult. In a rare attack Dundalk managed to create a chance to kick a successful drop goal to widen the gap to 5 points. A great 40-metre run by replacement Andy Melville was stopped and so went with Tullamore"s last attack. A third player in the sin bin killed the game for Tullamore. Their were few displays that matched the abilities of these players but Captain Darragh Lowry never stopped giving it everything and he is the Old Harbour Bar man of the match. Others who deserve mention are Ciaran McNeill, Philip Gardiner and Dermot Galvin. Well done to managers Gavin McDermott and Mark Lumley and to club coach Andy Melville and to David Deering. Team: 15. Dermot Galvin, 14. Adrian Dalton, 13. Philip Gardiner, 12. David Deering, 11. Gary O"Dea, 10. Paul White, 9. Derek Farrell, 1. Darragh Lowry, 2. Eddie Connor, 3. Ronan Scally, 4. Nigel Ravenhill, 5. Ciaran McNeill, 6. Cyril Cornally, 7. Aidan O"Reilly 8. Mick Harte. Replacements used; Paul Deering, Ivan Dunne and Andy Melville.