Thurles RFC Vs. Ennis RFC – Munster Junior League

Thurles RFC 18 – 14 Ennis RFC

Thurles RFC First XV were on the road once again last Sunday as they were back in League action to face Ennis RFC at the Clare venue. Thurles were looking to build on a good Cup win over Castleisland the previous week. With heavy rain the night before and early Sunday morning, the underfoot conditions were not ideal for running rugby combined with a very strong wind, which Thurles played against in the first half of the game.

Thurles started brightest having received the kick-off, with the three Shane’s combining well out wide and unlucky not to touchdown early but for a last ditch saving tackle by the covering Ennis fullback and supporting winger. Thurles applied a lot of early pressure in the opening 20 minutes but were undone by the conditions, with penalties given for men not able to keep their feet on the soft ground and the occasional knock on with the slippery ball in hand.

Despite Thurles’ early pressure, it was the homeside who with the aid of the strong wind at their backs, made their way inside the Thurles 22 and were able to opening the scoring through the boot of their out-half from a penalty, ten minutes later he would repeat the act increasing the home sides lead to 6-0. Thurles applied some great pressure from the restart, with Phil Kelly winning a great ball to set up a platform for attack. After a number of phases, the ball made its way to out-half Aidan Dwyer who caught the Ennis defence napping with a kick in behind, Peter Coman chased excellently and to most, bar the referee, seemed to clearly touch down first but unfortunately for Thurles, the try was not given. Thurles were awarded a penalty shortly after this sequence of play, which Dwyer converted to reduce the deficit to 6-3.

Just before the break, Ennis increased their lead once again with another penalty from the boot of their out-half, Thurles were down 9-3 but would have been reasonably happy with this outcome considering the strength of the wind they were playing into and with the chances they were creating, those in attendance felt in was just a matter of time before Thurles crossed the white line.

Thurles kicked off the second and the travelling support from Tipperary didn’t have long to wait before they had something to cheer about, after some great work by the forwards, including Rory O’Dwyer & Ciaran Ryan and a superb break from scrum half Nicky Irwin, Tommy Connolly was on hand to touchdown in the corner for this second try in as many weeks, the conversion was unsuccessful but Thurles were now within a point of Ennis, 9-8.

From the restart, Thurles continued to turn the screw, with great work from Ger McCormack, Dave Kelly and half time substitute, Larry O’Gorman, the Tipp men made their way back up inside the Ennis 22 and with some great combinations between backs and forwards, the ball eventually reached winger Peter Coman, who handed off the attempted tackle from his opposite number and sped past the full back to touchdown out wide, Dwyer added the extra’s to tighten Thurles’ grip in the driving seat for the first time in the game.

With 20 minutes to go, Thurles didn’t seem to be under any pressure as they were happy to keep Ennis pinged back in their own half but to their credit, the Clare men didn’t give up the chase and managed a well worked try of their own, with their winger somehow finding room to touchdown in the corner, after some great play by the home team to bring them up the field, the conversion was missed, which ensured Thurles held their lead approaching the final ten minutes.

Thurles chased the kick off and were successful re-claiming possession with great rob by Paddy Phelan with the help of Joey Kelly and immediately went on the attack with Adrian Bourke, who was making his first appearance of the year from the bench on his return from injury, made some great go forward ball to set up another attack, Thurles made some good inroads in the Ennis 22 before being awarded a penalty for an Ennis player killing the ball on the left hand side. With just 7 minutes left on the clock, the temptation was there to go for the 5 pointer via a scrum or lineout, but the sensible option seemed to be taken in the end, which meant Ennis would have to score a try to win the game. Dwyer kicked this one through the posts to push out the score to 18-14, Ennis did have one more attack but the Thurles defence held tough once again and saw out the game by turning over possession and kicking the ball dead.

This was another great, hard fought win by Thurles, with the team starting to adjust following a number of injuries to key players. Numbers for both Firsts and Seconds have been excellent for the past number of weeks and we hope to see this continue in the build up to the Christmas break, the rewards of the high numbers training were evident last weekend, with both our First and Seconds XV recording excellent League wins.

Training continues for the First and Second XV on Wednesday and Friday Nights, on the field and ready to go for 7.30pm, New Players always welcome. The players and management would like to thank all those who made the long journey to Ennis to support the team, it was much appreciated and a big boost to the players.

Our next fixture is in the Munster Junior League at home (finally!!) to Waterford City this Sunday 14th November, all support would be greatly appreciated for this important home game.

Thurles Scorers: Tommy Connolly and Peter Coman (1 Try Each), Aidan Dwyer (1 Conversion, 2 Penalties).

Thurles Squad vs Ennis: 1. Ger McCormack 2. Rory O’Dwyer 3. Dave Kelly 4. Phil Kelly 5. Luke Kelly 6. Ciaran Ryan 7. Paddy Phelan (Capt.) 8. Joey Kelly 9. Nicky Irwin 10. Aidan Dwyer 11. Peter Coman 12. Shane Moloney (Killinan) 13. Shane Lanigan-Ryan 14. Tommy Connolly 15. Shane Moloney (Holycross) 16 Shane Nugent 17. Jason O’Mahony 18. Larry O’Gorman 19. Ross Crystal 20. Adrian Bourke