Portlaoise’s cup hopes dashed by Kilkenny
For Portlaoise 1sts whose season hadn’t been going too well up to this, last Sunday didnt offer any reprieve. In a game played in atrocious underfoot conditions Kilkenny ground out a 13-3 victory in a dour battle played at Foulkestown.
Kilkenny opened the scoring on eight minutes after an early period of dominance, the touchdown coming from full back Alan O’Donovan after the home side created a two on one overlap on the left wing. Joe Manuel was just short with his conversion effort.
Portlaoise responded well and on 13 minutes outhalf Dave McCarthy made a good break eventually been taken down. At the ensuing ruck Kilkenny back row Philip Ryan strayed offside and the visitors were awarded a penalty.Richie Gee made no mistake with the resulting kick to reduce the deficit.
Portlaoise continued to dominate the exchanges but when a pass between two forwards deep inside the Kilkenny half went to ground Ray Pembroke the Kilkenny flanker got his boot to it and drove it down the park.Veteran full back Mickey Fennelly did well to get back to the ball but with no support back Kilkenny robbed him of possession and Alan Pembroke touched down for a score very much against the run of play. Manuel saw his conversion come back off the post.
Portlaoise to their credit didnt throw in the towel after this hammer blow and played the remaining 15 minutes of the half inside the Kilkenny 22. Drive after drive was held up short feet from the Kilkenny try line and at one stage Mark Sherlock seemed to have got the touchdown however the referee on the blind side of the ruck couldnt see the grounding and didnt award what would have been a huge score in the context of this match. As is often the case in these situations Kilkenny broke down the field and scored a penalty on the stroke of halftime.This left the halftime score 13-3.
The second half was largely a stalemate played between thwe two 22 metre lines. Neither team ever looked like scoring a try the only point scoring opportunities came to Kilkenny centre Manuel who failed with two kickable penalties.
Portlaoise will be very disappointed with the result.They secured very little first phase possession with their line outs been a shambles winning only two of their own ball and not competing with any purpose on the opposition ball.Attendance at training had been poor in recent months and this performance had all the signs of that. On the positive side Dave McCarthy had a fine game at out half. The forwards too looked good driving when in possession however their opportunities on Sunday to show this were few and far between.
PORTLAOISE: M Fennelly, S Scully, C O Connor, G Cooper, M Kerry, D McCarthy, R Gee, K Griffin, N Hyland, M Sherlock, M Bourke, W Sherlock, E Delaney, S Smith, S Reilly. Subs: T McDonald, J Dowling, H Lalor
KILKENNY: A O’Donovan, A Pembroke, P Walsh, J Manuel, K Everard, D Hogan, R Walsh, P Ryan, A McIntyre, R Pembroke, B McIntyre, G Clarke, G McCarthy, B Nolan, M Hannigan
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Weather for Portlaoise
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: South
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