Match Report: Men V Portarlington 10th Feb

Were memories of last year still lingering in the teams mind or where they arriving in Portarlington with a clear vision?  That was the question.  On their last encounter, Balbriggan had been 24 – 5 up just before halftime had ended up losing  39 – 24.  Certainly Balbriggan started well and Portarlington were the more nervy team giving away a number of penalties in the first few minutes.   Good carrying from Caldwell and Reilly set Balbriggan up, and with a penalty being kicked into the 22, a penalty on the next play allowed Conor Colman open the account. Balbriggan gifted the 3 straight back when Reilly was adjudged to have made a hight tackle, in fairness it is very difficult for a big forward to make a standard smother tackle!   Balbriggan then lost Adam O’Connor to a head injury and was replaced by Stephen Dowling.

Balbriggan were doing most of the carrying and Port were still giving away the penalties, and this allowed Balbriggan to stretch out the lead to 9-3 with Colman slotting over two more penalties.   A good carry by Caldwell set up Tomas Murphy who made good ground and was well supported by scrum half Kinners who put Eoin Hannigan in fir the opening try.

Balbriggan’s weakness appears to be in defending re-starts!   Within a couple of minutes Portarlington were celebrating a try in the corner when their back line caught Balbriggan very tight and flashed the ball across the line.  Their out half slotted over the conversion form the touchline. 

Again, Balbriggan got up to the Port line only to be penalised, it wasn’t all lost as Hannigan stole the line out and a mazy run by Staunton into the middle of the red zone before he off loaded to Caldwell who finished the job.  Colman converted.  Half time 23 – 10.

Eight minutes into the second half Port’s pressure told and a breakthrough from their backs cleaved the Balbriggan defence and let them in under the posts.  Suddenly, 23 – 17.   Balbriggan did get back on the attack and worked yet another penalty which they put to the corner.  Port stole the line out but had to touch down over their own line and while the ref initially gave a goal line drop out he agreed that it should have been a 5 metre scrum.  Balbriggan drove forward and when the easiest thing was to score it ended up in touch!  From this Port ended up with a break and were just stopped in the Balbriggan 22 but they recycled and added another 5.   A further two penalties had Balbriggan on the ropes and a terrible sense of déjà vu.  A clever line out with the two Graham’s at the front of the line out led to Balbriggan making ground and Port were pinged in mid field.   Balbriggan were sensible and took their three points to trail by two.

Balbriggan looked to get the winning score and after a good attack that brought them on the line, Colman was adjudged to have dropped the ball as he went over the line.   Port then were penalised and Colman didn’t miss from just inside the half.   There was still time to restart and while Balbriggan retained the ball instead of hanging on they kicked it back to Port who’s backs were ready for one final fling.  Some missed tackles didn’t ease tension but luckily for the away team, Port fumbled and Balbriggan were victors by 1 point.  This was enough to put them on top of the table on score difference form Portlaoise.   Roscrea lost to Portlaoise to put them back to third and Portarlington remain in fourth.   With only a couple of points between the top four everything could still be there to be played for when these two meet again in the last match of the season on 24th March.  

Callum Breeds and his back row comrades had a great game and the future of the back row looks good.  The two old guys in the second row are the heart of the team.   Stephen Dowling had a good game against a heavy back and Graham Reynolds and Kieran O’Donoghue had their usual strong games.   Kinners and Mike Walls swap around at half back which allows a variation in play but maybe too much kicking.   Conor Colman was magnificent with the boot but won’t want to see the video of some of his tackle attempts.   Paul O’Connor did not get as many opportunities as one would like to see but he gives some strong running options.   The back three Dylo, Gibbsy and Tomas all had good games.  Dylo had some great follow ups and hindered the ball gatherer on a number of occasions.    

A win but Balbriggan know there is still a lot of work to be done.  There were too many missed tackles, particularly in the centre of the field.  Box kicks caused difficulties and in fact two of the Port tries came from Balbriggan kicking the ball away. Game management needs some work, and it was the old head of Conor Caldwell who was there at times to take the right options. 

However when you compare this to the first game of the season against Portlaoise, this team have moved on tremendously and the fixes should also be minor.   With the likes of Brain Mollahan, Jack Scannell and  Mark Fay also to come back there is plenty of strength for this team.

Next week, can they do what no other Balbriggan team has done: get a win in Roscrea?

As always, all support welcome.

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