Port rescue late bonus point

Portarlington managed to rescue a bonus point but it was Mullingar who took the spoils as they hit the top of the table in Division 2A last weekend at Lea Road.

The game started slowly with the teams sharing possession during the opening 15 minutes which yielded only one scoring opportunity, a penalty which Mullingar failed to convert.

However on 18 minutes, Mullingar turned over possession from a ruck on the Port 22 metre line and they put the ball through hands to score in the corner. From the resulting restart, the visitors made the most of some poor Port defending to get the ball out wide and score again. With both tries converted, the Westmeath side led 14-0.

Five minutes later the home side managed to turn some good possession into points when Ross Doyle powered over the line off the back of a scrum deep inside the Mullingar 22. It began to look like a good contest was about to spark into life until Port centre Stephen Mulhall was shown yellow and Mullingar made the most of the extra man and scored two more poorly defended tries leaving them 24-7 ahead at the break.

Port started well in the second half with their outstanding scrum half Paul Mannion taking a well executed wrap around pass and feeding his centres who put Doyle in for his second. Mullingar scored a penalty at their next visit into Port territory.

Portarlington again responded well and piled pressure on the Mullingar defence who eventually lost their discipline and saw their blind side flanker sin binned. The Laois outfit didn’t manage to capitalise on that and it was Mullingar who scored next with a breakaway try from a messy scrum.

But Port showed some real resilience and they earned an unlikely try bonus point with late tries from the influential Joander Brazon and a third from Doyle.

Earlier on Port had a comfortable bonus point win in the seconds match as they scored five tries through Pat Cooper, Peter O Leary (2), Stephen Oakley and Fintan Murphy. That win will encourage the coaching team in Portarlington and they seem to be building some real strength in depth with their second team and their exciting Under 19s.

There was also a strong victory for their U-18s girls side who brushed their Mullingar counterparts aside with a 41-27 win.

Next week sees Portarlington take on local rivals Portlaoise in what will be a hugely significant contest as both Laois sides look to give their seasons some momentum. The games in Portlaoise will take place at 1.30 and 3pm.