Match Report Vs Kinsale
Thurles RFC vs. Kinsale RFC – Munster Junior League

Kinsale RFC 7 – 10 Thurles RFC

Following on from their excellent away win against Newcastle West in the Munster Junior Cup last the previous week, the Thurles First XV were on the road again, this time turning their attention back to League action against a Kinsale side who prior to kick off were 4 points ahead of the Loughtagalla men in 3rd place.

As a spectacle, this game was never going to be a classic, with the weather conditions creating a mud bath to play on and the strong cold wind ensuring that any passes or kicking would be a lottery throughout the 80 minutes ahead. Thurles received the ball from the off and took the game to Kinsale as they faced the wind in the first half. As expected, the opening quarter was dominated by handling errors and slips by both sides and by this time the Jerseys of both sides were almost unrecognisable.

Thurles were on top during a lot of the early play and had a number of opportunities from placed balls to open the scoring but both the underfoot conditions and the wind were proving to be the enemy of the kickers on both sides as the attempts went just shy of the post each time.

This wasn’t a game for any fancy moves or creativity, it was simply a battle of possession & territory, Kinsale were able to take advantage of the strong wind to bring play inside the Thurles 22. The Tipp men battled bravely as Ciaran Ryan, Larry O’Gorman & Dave Kelly to name a few, were putting their bodies on the line in defence as Kinsale looked to open the scoring, the home side did excellently to hang onto the ball as they went through the phases and despite the best efforts of the Thurles defence, Kinsale snuck in just to the right of the posts with the conversion being added for the maximum, 7-0.

The remainder of the half passed with no real incident only that Shane Lanigan-Ryan, who had started brightly in the centre on his return from injury suffered a reoccurrence and was replaced by John Lillis before the interval.

Thurles kicked off the Second Half and from the off Kinsale failed to deal with Dwyer’s restart which gave early positional advantage to the Tipp men. Thurles’ lineout was operating excellently despite the conditions with Paddy Phelan & Phil Kelly overseeing proceedings in the pack. As the game grew older, Thurles also started putting serious pressure on their opponents during scrum time, with the front row combo of McCormack, Kelly & Skehan continuing their great form this season.

Thurles were making better use of the wind in the second half than Kinsale had in the first, as John Lillis and Aidan Dwyer pinged the home side back down the field at every opportunity. Thurles were putting a lot of pressure on the home side and you felt that a try wasn’t too far away. The forwards secured another lineout as Joey Kelly, supported by name sake Luke who was introduced in place of O’Gorman, made great ground through the Kinsale red zone before the backs got their hands on it and found winger Peter Coman looking for work, he battled hard to pierce through the defence and eventually get the touchdown after freeing himself from a few would be tacklers, Lillis added the extras to bring the sides level, 7-7.

Thurles secured the restart through the hands of Colm Skehan who found a gap in the Kinsale defence and powered his way up the field, as the support arrived, Thurles continued their way through the opposition 22 with both backs and forwards weighing in for ruck duties, as they pressed forward Kinsale gifted Thurles a penalty under the posts, as an over anxious home defender came in from the side to try and disrupt the Thurles momentum. With under 10 minutes left on the clock, Thurles pointed to the posts and Lillis did the honours to put the Thurles into a deserved lead, 7-10.

For the remaining mintues Kinsale threw the kitchen sink at the Thurles defence, with the back three of Coman, Moloney (B) and Bourke coming under a lot of pressure but managing to tidy up anything that was put in behind the front line of defence. Shane Moloney (K) put in a number of big hits throughout the game and didn’t let up late on as this impressive Thurles defence drove the home side back down the field. With their last attempt of the day, Kinsale Number 8 attempted to attempt to pierce through the backs but came unstuck as a combination of Aidan Dwyer, John Lillis & Ciaran Ryan held the Corkman up in the tackle and forced the turnover which brought an end to the game and increased Thurles’ win streak in all competitions to 9 games on the trot and keeps the pressure on the teams at the top of the League table.

This was another excellent win for this Thurles side who now find themselves well in contention for a promotion push with 5 games remaining in the League. Next up for Thurles is a tricky home tie against Dungarvan, we hope that we will see a big crowd in attendance at Loughtagalla to support the team this coming Sunday at 2.30pm as they go for their 10th victory in a row.

The Players & Management would like to extend its thanks to the usual band of supporters, despite the horrible weather, made the journey to Kinsale and kept the encouragement coming in from the side lines as the players battled the conditions to earn this valuable victory, your support is much appreciated by all.

Thurles Scorers: Peter Coman (1 Try), John Lillis (1 Conversion & 1 Penalty).

Thurles Squad vs Kinsale: 1. Ger McCormack 2. Dave Kelly 3. Colm Skehan (Capt.) 4. Phil Kelly 5. Larry O’Gorman 6. Ciaran Ryan 7. Paddy Phelan 8. Joey Kelly 9. Nicky Irwin 10. Aidan Dwyer 11. Peter Coman 12. Shane Moloney (Killinan) 13. Shane Lanigan-Ryan 14. Adrian Bourke 15. Shane Moloney (Ballycahill) 16. Shane Nugent 17. Rory O’Dwyer 18. Dwayne Stanley 19. Luke Kelly 20. John Lillis.