Clonmel 2nds through to Evans Cup Final

Clonmel 2nd XV went in to this Evans Cup semi final on the back of giving Waterpark a drubbing 62 – 13 the previous week. Clonmel always knew that this semi final wasn’t going to as easy, but they started the brighter against the wind and were making breaks at every opportunity. Only five minutes were gone and Thurles were pinned back in their own “22” defending their lines. From a lineout, Clonmel gathered and David Harney set up a crash ball for Aaron Curran to break the gain line, and the resulting pick and drive by big Michael Czuprynski crashed over the line to go in for the first score of the game. The resulting conversion was missed. Thurles restarted with the drop off and Clonmel again gathered and hit up field with a good break by Gav O Dea. This pack was focused on winning and retaining possession as much as possible. Clonmel came back down to the oppositions half and strung a couple of back moves together which brought full back David Lonergan in to the line who off loaded to Brenny Leo to set up a maul. The forwards were dominant and head strong Czuprynski was again in the right place at the right time to brush off a Thurles defender and go over for his second try of the day.

Thurles never took the foot off the pedal, and from the restart came back with all guns blazing. Clonmel were judged to be off side when defending and coughed up a penalty in front of the posts which Thurles duly converted. We kicked off again and soon found ourselves defending our line for the next five minutes. The referee blew for another penalty in front of the posts which was converted to make the score 10 – 6. Ray Fahy led the charge down field with support from Purcell and Normile working tirelessly all day. Just before the half time whistle, Clonmel were awarded a penalty in front of the posts which Paddy Long converted to leave the half time score 13 – 6 in Clonmel’s favour.

Clonmel started a fresh in the second half and were on top of the ruck and mauls straight away and were making ground with Curran and O Donnell crashing up the centre when the opportunities arose. Clonmel managed to spread the ball more widely now and had the Thurles defence in turmoil with the exhilarating kicking by outhalf Harney. Gerry Purcell had his forwards hitting everything and regaining possession after every hard yard. Only a few minutes later, and this pressure told when Lonergan was given the chance to run up the wing and score under the posts. Long converted to leave Clonmel 20 – 6 in front and everything was still to play for. Clonmel brought on Paul Walsh for Leo and made a good impact with some darting runs up the wing.

The lineouts were well contested between the two teams and the ref had to step in a number of times to intervene. After some fierce tackling by Clonmel, they managed to turnover the Thurles ball and kick up field. The Thurles full back gathered and gave a hospital pass out to his winger only to be intercepted by Paul Walsh and run in under the posts for the final score of the game. The resulting conversion was kicked to leave Clonmel 27 – 6 in front. Clonmel made a few changes, bringing on Dillon, Ryan and Cross for the last fifteen minutes. Tempers rose and big Polish Michael was given ten minutes to sit out in the sin bin. For the rest of the game both teams attacked to find another score but Clonmel ran out deserving winners of this semi final. They now await a final against Cashel or Scariff. Next week see’s Clonmel against Carrick in the Ballyrandle cup semi final.