See-saw Tullamore follow victory with decisive defeat

The expectations raised by last week"s win in Seapoint were well and truly lowered by the time Cill Dara walked off the pitch in Spollenstown on Sunday. The competitive nature of this league results in Tullamore dropping to eighth in the table although a clear eight points clear of ninth placed Portlaoise. The game started at a terrific pace with both sides negating each other in the first quarter. Cill Dara started to dominate particularly in the scrums and was awarded three penalties between the 20-minute mark and the 28-minute. Luckily for the home side they were only successful with one kick. Cill Dara also missed two try opportunities due to poor handling and some good tackling near the line. On the stroke of half time Gearoid O" Grady kicked a long-range penalty to level the scores at half time. There was little between the sides in the first 20 minutes of the second half and the home side possibly shaded it but got no points on the board. When the visitor"s Tongan centre broke the line after 20 minutes there was no stopping him scoring in the corner. Tullamore fought back and only but for a dropped pass would have scored in the corner. The referee had blown for an offside under the posts and Gearoid"s penalty was some consolation. The decisive score came seven minutes from time when the Cill Dara No 8 intercepted from a clear offside position to run 50 metres to score a try, which was converted from wide out. Gearoid replied with a penalty to leave six points between the sides but it was Cill Dara that scored the last try on fulltime, which they converted. Area league action resumes next week and there are two more Leinster League matches in the following two weeks. Tullamore: Ti Walsh, Paul O"Grady, Ivor Scully, Aaron Deverell, Colin Hughes, Gearoid O" Grady (Capt), Richie Hughes, Ronan Glennon, Cian Glennon, Steve McQuaid, Dave Hanlon, Ivor Deverell, Colin Finnerty, Rob Connor, Donal Milne. Replacements used: Aidan O" Reilly, Andy Melville and Adam Hughes. Fixtures 1st team away to Longford on Sunday at 2.30pm; 2nd team away to Longford on Sunday at 1.00pm; U-18 team away to Longford on Sunday at 11.30am Presidents and Captains Dinner Dinner is on Friday 7pm in Clubhouse. Tickets costing €30 from Roy Cobbe, Gearoid O"Grady, Chris Glennon or Sean Joyce at his Auctioneers office in High St. Provincial SecondsLeague Division One Tullamore 38, Cill Dara 7 Tullamore are now eight points clear at the top of the table following this comprehensive win on Sunday in Spollenstown. This is the best 2nds team in years and they are now unbeaten in nine competitive fixtures this season. Following a minute"s silence in memory of the late Shane Geoghegan from Garryowen R.F.C the home side settled down to their task and Adam Hughes kicked them into the lead within 10 minutes. Better was to follow when Mark Whelan made a break, chipped ahead and caught the ball on the bounce to score the opening try converted by Adam. Some minutes later Jimmy O" Connell on the opposite wing made an excellent line break from half way to score under the posts and make the conversion a formality for Adam. The half time score was 17-0 with Tullamore playing a superior brand of rugby. The second half continued in the same vein as the first and it was not long before Ivan Dunne scored a try following a break by Polonga Pedro. Adam again converted. Tullamore were given a wake up call following some poor defending as Cill Dara scored a converted try. The fourth and bonus point try soon followed from Mick Fox and Derek Farrell converted from the touchline. Mark Whelan finished of proceedings with his second try when he outpaced three defenders to score and again Derek converted. The Old Harbour Bar Man of the Match was Eddie Connors. Tullamore: Derek Farrell, Mark Whelan, Cyril Cornally, Ivan Dunne, Jimmy B O" Connell, Paul White, Adam Hughes, Darragh Lowrey (Capt), Eddie Connors, Alvin Bracken, Nigel Ravenhill, Ciaran McNeill, Mick Harte, Aidan O" Reilly, Polonga Pedro. Replacements used: Mick Fox, Niall Moran, Brian Coughlan.