Portarlington just miss the ‘ton’ in demolition of the Lions
Jack Hennessy was in the thick of the action for Portarlington in the defeat of West Offaly Lions Photo: David Maher
Leinster League Division 2B Rd 2
West Offaly Lions 0
Portarlington 99
PORTARLINGTON laid down a real marker for their season ahead with a victory over new boys West Offaly Lions on Sunday afternoon on a remarkable scoreline of 99-0.
There were 15 tries in all for Portarlington, with Toby Neilson-Dry, Dylan Stronge, Eoin Worrell and Adam Lambkin all bagging themselves a hat-trick. Lambkin also had an incredible day off the tee, landing 12 of his 15 conversions to finish on a personal tally of 39 points.
This was a de facto league opener for Portarlington who were given a walkover on the first weekend of the season when Birr were unable to field a team last week.
West Offaly Lions received a baptism of fire in the Leinster League that same day, going down 64-5 away to Garda Westmanstown.
They lined out in Ferbane for this their first home game of the Leinster League. but it was a catastrophic home debut as Portarlington produced an 80-minute masterclass.
The visitors set their stall out early when Neilson-Dry went in for his first try after just five minutes.
Lambkin barely had the tee picked up after kicking his first conversion before Port were back up for a second try thanks to Anavil Storey. Gavin Crampton crossed next with the conversion leaving the score at 19-0 after only ten minutes.
Worrell's first try came after quarter of an hour and Portarlington were over the 30-point mark midway through the half when Lambkin converted Neilson-Dry second try.
Lambkin then touched down for the first of his three tries before Stronge crossed the whitewash twice in quick succession to bring Portarlington up to half a century with the first half still underway.
Lambkin then converted his second try to send Port into the dressing rooms at half time with the scoreboard reading 57-0.
The West Offaly Lions were chasing shadows in that first period, and there was more to come after the restart as the Ferbane-based club coughed up another try almost immediately after the whistle.
That try belonged to Worrell who was then joined on the score-sheet by Cuan Culliton, becoming Portarlington's seventh different try-scorer in the process.
Worrell and Neilson-Dry each completed their hat-tricks midway through the half as the visitors now had 87 points to show for their efforts.
There was one small sore point for Portarlington however, as despite both Stronge and Lambkin also completing their hat-tricks late on, the Laois club were not quite able to reach the rarefied air of a 100-point performance. Lambkin slotted his final conversion of the day as Portarlington declared for 99.
Their next game will be their first of the league at Lea Road and is in two weeks’ time against Arklow.
Scorers:
Portarlington: Adam Lambkin (3 tries, 12 cons), Toby Neilson-Dry, Dylan Stronge and Eoin Worrell (3 tries each), Anavil Storey, Gavin Crampton and Cuan Culliton (1 try each).
West Offaly Lions: Adam Coffey; Jack Mc Evoy, Mark Coughlan, Dylan McCormack, Nathan Dunican; Nathan McIntyre, Connor Reams; Ciaran Lally, Fionn Moran, Sean Buckley; Cormac Corrigan, Samuel Slevin; Aaron Looney, Eoghan Greene, James Buckley.
Replacements: Shane Berry, Simon Green, James McEvoy, Adam Fletcher.
Portarlington: Eoin Worrell; Dylan Stronge, Denville Maya, Jack Hynes, Anavil Storey; Adam Lambkin, Jason Keogh; Daragh Jewell, Jack Hennessy, Devlin McLaughlin; Aaron Costello, Jack McCann; Warren Murray, Gavin Crampton, Toby Neilson-Dry.
Replacements: Jason Yellop, Aaron Costello, Fintan Murphy, Cuan Culliton, Peter Dunne, Theo McGrath.
Referee: Nicholas Haupt
