Clonmel Up To The Challenge

France v Scotland, 1910. Gaston Vareilles is selected to make his debut for France. The train carrying the team stops at Lyons – Gaston jumps off to get a sandwich. He returns a little later to see the train speeding out of the station. He was never picked for France again. The moral? – when you get your chance you must grab it. So it is with cup rugby – you get one chance in each round – no mercy. When Clonmel lined out against Kanturk in Fermoy last Sunday in the Munster Challenge Cup semi-final, they were ready to grab it while Kanturk seemed surprised to have reached that stage. When the official decided there was a “clash of colours” (I would strongly advise a visit to SpecSavers),  Clonmel lost the toss and changed to red jerseys – they immediately had a “Munster” look about them and there were surely moments in this mismatch when Kanturk felt they were up against the hallowed province.

Clonmel kicked off on a day of showers and with a wind blowing across the pitch. Kanturk got an immediate penalty and kicked for territory only to have Clonmel steal their lineout – shades of things to come. Clonmel now drove into Kanturk’s left corner and only a knock-on saved Kanturk. But the pressure remained on Kanturk’s lighter pack and they duly coughed up a penalty just inside their own half – Daniel Lyons stepped up to put a huge kick through the posts. 3 – 0 to Clonmel after 6 minutes. The Clonmel pack now went through their paces with Brendan Mullan and Niall Mackey getting through some great work. A charge by Ronan Crosse had Kanturk back-pedalling and then a great combination by Tommy Barry and David Joyce almost opened their left side, but they held out. Not for long – the play came centre–field, scrum half John Long gathered, teased the Kanturk defence and then scampered over for the opening try on 17 minutes. Lyons added the conversion – 10-0 to Clonmel.

Kanturk made their first visit to Clonmel’s half on 18 minutes but they were living in hope rather than having a game plan – a breakdown by them soon had Clonmel sweeping upfield again and a great drive by the pack brought Paudge Leahy over for the try. 15-0 to Clonmel on 22 minutes. At this point an injured Brendan Leo was replaced by Conor Cooney on the left wing. The game by now had a definite pattern – Kanturk were no match for Clonmel up front and their backline were living off scraps. The pressure was relentless and Kanturk spent a lot of time in their own “22” – it had to tell – on 29 minutes Daniel Lyons stroked over another penalty to put Clonmel 18-0 ahead. Clonmel’s backs, in particular Tommy Barry and Niall Grogan, were causing all sorts of problems for Kanturk and it was only some overly-ambitious play that kept the scoreline static until half-time. As the whistle blew, it was obvious to the very good attendance that this was over as a contest.

The second half opened with a great break down Clonmel’s left side by John Long and David Joyce which was stopped just short of the line – we endured the lashing rain in the expectation of a try-fest, but Clonmel had taken their foot off the gas and the game ping-ponged around midfield for a while and became a bit messy. Clonmel roused themselves in fits and bursts, with the backrow ruling the breakdowns, while a born-again John Stokes is obviously canvassing for a place on the wing. The messy confrontations resulted in a rather harsh sin-bin for Crosse on 17 minutes but the seven-man Clonmel pack never lost control. Clonmel now freshened up with the introduction of Paul McCarthy and Mike Sheehan for Mullan and Mackey.

Whenever Clonmel upped the tempo the play inevitably moved into Kanturk’s half and such a bout resulted in another penalty on 21 minutes which Lyons converted to put his team 21-0 ahead. Mark Normile now came on for Philly Corby but the game had really lost its edge – however it ignited again on 28 minutes when both Lyons brothers combined to put Neville Melbourne (we left Trevor on the bench this week!) over on the left. Daniel Lyons obliged to put Clonmel 28-0 ahead. Shortly after a great break down the right put Joyce in the clear but he opted to step inside when a straight run would have yielded a certain try. The game had now fizzled out as a contest, the only concern being a late injury to Ronan Crosse and Clonmel finished for the second week without conceding a score. They now face Crosshaven in the final (venue TBA) on December 30th and can expect a much stiffer examination.

It’s back to the league next Sunday when we face Richmond at Ardgeeha – the league is now a long haul - winning it will require resources and continued focus – again, one game at a time.