Clonmel Ignite in Second Half of Munster Challenge Cup

“I watched a cricket match for three hours waiting for it to start” – Groucho Marx. We know how you feel Groucho – Jimmy and Paddy had foregone lunch to be in Youghal for kick-off last Sunday but they would have been on dessert before anything of note happened. This Challenge Cup second round match flickered for some time without igniting into the cup tie it should have been. Youghal kicked off with both the breeze and the hill but even the initial exchanges indicated that the packs were ill-matched – Clonmel bossed this area of the game right from the start. After four minutes the home team had a good penalty chance but missed it and they would spend precious little time in Clonmel’s half thereafter despite having the elements in their favour.

The lineouts on both sides were quite ragged, often resulting in untidy scrabbling for the ball on the floor. Youghal were constantly under pressure on their own put-in to the scrum which meant they got very little go-forward ball and were unable to dent Clonmel’s defence. Clonmel, by contrast, had lots of the ball with John Long, John Kelly and Niall Mackey conspicuous in driving forward. The visitors also took several opportunities to spread it wide with Niall Grogan and David Harney causing lots of problems in midfield. But, amazingly, after 25 minutes the scoreboard remained blank. This was not due to Youghal’s defence, which looked quite fragile, but to Clonmel’s infuriating habit of dropping the crucial ball – on six occasions during this period, with Clonmel having the numbers and the line beckoning, the critical pass went astray. We felt like Northern Rock customers – were the doors ever going to open, and if they did, would we be able to cash in? We stood patiently in the queue – Clonmel were putting a lot of forwards / backs combinations together – it would come. Youghal meanwhile just could not get out of their own half and had all hands on deck trying to control the marauding Neville Melbourne who was having a stormer.

On 28 minutes Clonmel again pushed Youghal into their own “22” – scrumhalf John Long delivered the perfect pass and Morgan Lyons took one of his trade mark drop-goals. 3 – 0. At last! Within minutes Clonmel were again on the attack, David Harney split the Youghal defence and gave Brendan Leo the run-in over in the left corner. 8 – 0 to Clonmel. A careless drop-out by Youghal had Clonmel again on the front foot and a great run by right wing David Joyce was stopped just short of the line. The half-time whistle was greeted with relief by Youghal who knew that only dropped passes by Clonmel had spared their blushes.  

The second half commenced in similar pattern – a good lineout position for Youghal was robbed by Clonmel and the ball was soon deep in Youghal territory. A good drive by Melbourne took the action in front of the posts – quick ball from the ruck and a dummy by Morgan Lyons allowed him a free run-in. He converted his own try to bring the score to 15 – 0 for Clonmel. Youghal were becoming quite ragged by now but showed some defiance when a kick downfield by Clonmel was gathered by the Youghal full-back who went on a mazy run from his own “22” to go in under Clonmel’s posts. Now the 15 – 7 scoreline reminded Clonmel that complacency is a very dangerous drug. Clonmel now started to empty their bench, bringing on Gus Slattery, Ronan Crosse and new boy Richard Gorey and they immediately upped the tempo – on 20 minutes a Clonmel lineout in their own half saw the ball transferred to David Joyce who went on a great run through the heart of Youghal’s defence to score on the left. Lyons’ conversion brought the score to 22 – 7 in Clonmel’s favour. Lyons added a penalty on 25 minutes to make it 25 – 7.

Clonmel were now rampant and Youghal were in disarray – their woes were compounded when constant infringing earned them a yellow card. Another surge brought Clonmel close to the posts and man-of-the-match Neville Melbourne battled his way over to make it 32 – 7. This was followed by a terrific interchange down the left wing between Gus Slattery and Brendan Leo which put Slattery in to make it 39 – 7. On 37 minutes the ball was again swept wide to the left wing to let Leo in for his second try: 44 – 7. Youghal were probably praying for the final whistle but before it came another forwards move led by Ronan Crosse put Slattery in for his second try to bring the final tally to 51 – 7 for Clonmel. Clonmel would do well to keep this victory in perspective – this was a depleted Youghal side and the next step in this cup is an away trip to Cashel next Sunday – need I say any more?

Much heart-searching and wailing about our boys in Paris – what could possibly have gone wrong? Simple really – it’s the brown shoes! Any team who commits the sartorial gaffe of matching brown shoes with navy suits cannot be expected to win anything. Bon Chance!