Clonmel 2nds get Evans League off to Flying Start

Clonmel 2nd XV travelled to Carrick on Suir on Sunday last for their first Evans League game of the new season with huge ambition of reclaiming this league cup. Following on from last weeks’ victory, Clonmel went all out with intention of nothing else but victory. Clonmel started this encounter playing downfield, and this was to be a huge advantage as they played everything in Carrick’s half for the full forty minutes. From the kick off, the Clonmel forwards collected and drove at Carrick with conviction. The ball was spread wide at every opportunity but with only five minutes gone, Greg Carroll was forced to retire with an injury but substitute Paddy O Donnell was to make a great impact. A Carrick lineout in their own “22” was robbed by Clonmel, and John Dillon got the pass away to fuel an executed backs move to put Paddy O Donnell over in the corner for the first score of the day. The resulting conversion was put over by Kevin Cooney who had just made an early return to action.

Carrick restarted with the kick-off but found themselves on the back foot again when Tommy Mee and Conal Crosse drove back at them with the rest of their pack in support. Kevin Cooney got the ball wide at every opportunity and some excellent darting runs from centres Aaron Curran and Morgan Lyons were slicing holes in the Carrick defence, eventually led to John McCarthy going in for the second try. Carrick eventually made an attack in to Clonmel’s half which resulted in a penalty on the “22”. They opted to go for the points, but the kick went wide and this was to be their only chance of a score. John Dillon kicked downfield from the “22” and was fortunate to reclaim possession after a lucky bounce off a Carrick forward. The backs passed quickly through the hands and Paddy O Donnell was at the receiving end to go in for his second try. Cooney added the additional two points. Clonmel led another attack shortly after this but were forced to make another substitute in the first half with David Lonergan going off with a hamstring injury. The forwards were always getting the better of the Carrick pack, both in the lineouts and scrums, and a link run between prop PJ Mulcahy and Gus Slattery down the wing got Slattery in for another Clonmel Score. The converted try put Clonmel in front 26 – 0 at the break but an injury to Curran ruled him out for the rest of the match.

The second half restarted with mixed field play both up and down the field, with the tackling count more than doubling in the second half. Some good surges by forwards Purcell and Cleary kept the Carrick defence on guard, but this was finally broken when Slattery lucking on the wing beat the Carrick winger to increase the score tally. There was only one flare up in this local derby but was quickly extinguished with the referee properly doing his job. Conor Morris then came on to replace injured Mulcahy as prop with fifteen minutes remaining. Carrick never gave up hope, but even a consolation score looked doubtful with some great tackling being made by the full team. Clonmel came back up field and some interchanging passes by the forwards and backs found a whole in Carrick’s defence which Slattery took advantage of to go over for his hat trick. The final converted kick by Kevin Cooney left Clonmel taking a 38 – nil win away from home to a depleted Carrick side. This was the perfect start Clonmel wanted for the Evans League but might be hampered by the amount of injuries picked up in just one match.