Portlaoise come away from Westmanstown with a bonus point win

Garda Westmanstown 7 

Portlaoise 26 

WITH the first phase of Leinster League Division 2B/3 drawing to a close, Portlaoise came away from Westmanstown on Sunday with could prove to be a very valuable bonus point win. Mind you, might well have sat around After the game wondering how that had been achieved.

In very blustery conditions ,and poor underfoot conditions, the visitors played second fiddle to Garda for much of the opening half. For one the Portlaoise pack, which has always been considered one of its strengths, was in all sorts of problems.

Apart from the lineout misfiring, the set scrum was demolished. Over the curse of the game the penalties conceded at scrum time went into double figures. To their credit, forwards stuck to the task at hand and by the end were holding their own.

It was astounding that at the half time break, despite hardly getting their hands on the ball, they had a decent 7-21 point lead. Portlaoise were helped by the fact that Garda contributed to the visitors’ good fortune in the early moments of the game.

The game was only three minutes old when a attempted clearance by Garda was blocked down by Ronan Donlan. Winger Niall Keennan hacked on the loose back and won the race for the touch. With Oisin Hade converting Portlaoise were seven points to the good.

Just four minutes later that advantage was doubled. A clever kick from Bryan Croke deep in Garda territory was gathered by home side’s out half. However, his clearance flew skyward and almost back over his own line where Oisin Hade rose highest to win possession and touchdown for the try and then added the conversion for good measure.

But if Portlaoise thought this game was going to be a walk in the park they were in for a rude awakening. Garda began to find their feet and discovered the damage their set scrum could inflict on Portlaoise.

What turned out to be Garda’s only score of the game came following a penalty won at scrum-time. They elected to tap and go and after a few phases prop Mark McDonald crashed over with Michael Byrne adding the extras.

The home side sensed blood and went for the jugular and only the most sterling Portlaoise defence kept them at bay.

The visitors were under the cosh when prop Nathan Flanagan was yellow carded after another scrum, but Garda failed to capitalise when they failed to find touch and Hade cleared the danger.

Entering the final ten minutes of the half Portlaoise raised the siege to score a cracking good try. Scrumhalf Kelly fed Croke who chipped the onrushing defence and ran through to gather the ball. He linked up with Kelly, who spun it wide to Niall Keenan who was stopped just short of the line. The ball as won back by Portlaoise and Hade delivered a pin-pint cross field kick to Kevin Griffin who was left with a simple run in. Hade conversion made it 7-21 Garda had one last chance before the break to get a score, but once again failed to find touch from as penalty with a very poor attempt.

With the ground cutting up by the minute it was hardly surprising that the second half turned into something of a slug-fest. That said as the game wore on Portlaoise put together some lovely moves but most fell short of ending in scores.

For the last half hour Portlaoise pummelled the Garda defence, but at times had to be very alert themselves when the hosts would get into a bit of a rhythm.

The referee played his part to when he flashed a harsh yellow to Griffin for what he deemed a late tackle. Then midway through the half red was the colour shown to Portlaoise’s Joe McCormack and Garda’s Anthony Castillo. McCormack’s loss will be felt by Portlaoise who face two crucial games in the coming weeks against Portarlington, in the league and Town’s Cup.

From here to the end Portlaoise went all out in search of the bonus point try, but with the clock ticking down it looked like they would fall just short. The tapped a number of penalties but just could not get over the line. The closest was Aran Coiley who was stopped inches short and Mark Sherlock who was held up.

But they perseverance paid dividends in the 79th minute. From deep in their own territory they ran ball before reserve scrumhalf Jake Byrne made the decisive break and whipped the ball out to Euan McCann to score.

Minutes later the final whistle was blown and all Portlaoise breathed a sigh of relief.

GARDA: Ryan Treanor; David Dunne, Michael Byrne, Robert Kihls, Anthony Castillo; Robin Schiller, Stephen O’Neill; Mark McDonadl, Vincent Lyons, Ciaran Allen; Jonathan Jackson, Shane Deegan; Michael Russell, Paddy Nally, Michael Russell.

Replacements: Nein Costigan, Matthew O’Connell, Jack Bermingham, Paul Kelly, Eric Hunt, Alan Murphy, Senan Morris.

PORTLAOISE: Oisin Hade; Niall Keenan, Joe McCormack, Kevin Griffin, Jack Duffin, Bryan Croke, Mark Kelly; Joe Stevens, Eoin Keenan, Nathan Flanagan; Michael Rigney, Ronan Donlon; Glen Connolly, Cormac Rigney, Liam Doyle.

Replacements: Aran Coiley, Cian Coffey, Sean Peters, Mark Sherlock, Jake Byrne, Jamie Holihan, Euan McCann.