Portlaoise squander opportunity to open their league campaign on a winning note
Michael Rigney in action for Portlaoise Photo: David Maher
PORTLAOISE would have travelled to Kilcock on Sunday with some degree of confidence that they might get their Division 2A campaign off to a winning start. And for quite a while it looked that the newly promoted team might just do that.
For 30 plus minutes they were the sharper looking outfit and were causing the home team plenty of headaches. But the concession of a soft try approaching took the wind out of their sales and gave North Kildare a confidence boost going into the new half.
The second half was a 40 minuter nightmare of the lads in navy blue. Indiscipline resulting in a string of penalties which the unerring boot of North Kildare centre Jack White punished, allied to some very poor work at the break-down and very poor decision making was to cost Portlaoise dearly.
Some of the conceded penalties were somewhat unlucky including one for a slap down of the ball in a tackle and another for crossing, but the majority were inexcusable. It has to be very frustrating for the coaching staff particularly when one penalty was advanced twice for mouthing at the referee.
Injuries too played a role in the loss. Portlaoise were without Niall Keenan and Joe McCormack coming into the game and then lost lock Sean Peters in the warm up. Out half Mathew Coonan had to leave the field after 15 minutes after picking up a leg injury while hooker Ryan McEvoy left shortly afterwards, but was to return late in the game.
The game got underway with North Kildare putting pressure on the Portlaoise line which they withstood and turned defence into attack. After driving down field Portlaoise went through the phases patiently ending with Harry Rignu crashing over. Coonan conversion gave the visitors an early boost.
Midway through the half North Kildare narrowed the gap after Portlaoise were pinged for not roll away and White landed his first penalty.
Just short of the half hour from a scrum Portlaoise got their hands on the ball. When out half Will Reilly received it he spotted a gap in the home defence and nipped through it to score.
While the score was not converted Portlaoise would have been happy enough to go into the break leading by nine points.
But that was all to change when North Kildare worked their way up field and had a line out on the Portlaoise five metre line. The ball was tapped back to Conor McCrossan and the scrumhalf waltzed through untouched to leave the score at half 10-12.
Within minutes of the restart Portlaosie had a glorious opportunity to extend their lead. From an attacking lineout five metres out from the home goal line, they somehow managed to lose possession and the home side made full use of that mistake.
They now had the opportunity to put pressure on Portlaoise and after a number of phase Ciaran Heneghan’s inch-perfect cross filed kick was gathered by Patrick Casey. White obliged with the extras and now the home side were five points in front.
Instead of reacting positively Portlaoise seemed to self-implode. Ten minutes into the new half Portlaoise were penalised for not releasing and Heneghan kicked to touch. In the interim a Portlaoise player decided to give the referee a ‘bit of advice’ resulting in the official awarding another penalty. The ‘advice’ continued resulting ion another 10-metre advancement.
Fortunately for Portlaoise, North Kildare elected to tap the penalty and ended knock the ball on in contact.
But the last quarter of the game was a pure nightmare for Portlaoise. The concession of a number of penalties on the trot, four of the kickable, saw the home side nine points to their tally, White actually missing one.
With time almost up Portlaoise began to play they way we knew they could. The forwards were getting more physical, the back stringing a few good passes together. After winning successive penalties number 8 Mike Russell caught the North Kildare defence napping and ran in for a try. Unfortunately not enough to earn his side a losing bonus point.
Portlaoise have a tough assignment ahead of them next Sunday when they play host to Roscrea in a repeat of last seasion’s Division 2B finale.
Amaru Castillo; Patrick Casey, Jack White, John O'Brien, Axel Bonde; Ciaran Heneghan, Conor McCrossan; Callum Wall, Luis Rodrigues, Gearoid Gibbons; William Tiller, Luke Dempsey; Dillon Grogan, Aidan Connaughton, Colm O'Searcaigh.
Replacements: Graham Loughran, Brendan Kennedy, James Phelan, Conor Byrne.
Oisin Bennett; Euan McCann, Cormac Rigney, Mathew Coonan, Jamie Holohan; Will Reilly, Jake Byrne; Aaron Coily, Ryan McEvoy, Harry Rigney; Michael Rigney, Darragh Phelan; Liam Doyle, Joe Carroll, Mike Russell.
Replacements: Conor Deegan, Shane Reilly, Mark Kelly, Cullan Kirwan.
