Match Report: Connemara v Waterpark
Connemara 23 – Waterpark 11 17th November ‘07
We got our first win of the AIB AIL against Waterpark on Saturday in the Monastery Field. The pitch looked like a waterpark at 12.30 after the heavy rain we had since early morning but thankfully the rain stopped and John Joyce and his pitch committee got to work and had the pitch in great shape for kick off. We started well and good play by Martin O’Malley and Ollie DeLapp brought play up to the visitors 22 and we were awarded a penalty which Paddy O’Toole converted. We kept up the pressure on Waterpark and 16 minutes into the game Kevin Ward made one of his famous bursts and set up good ball for the backs, John O’Brien joined the line and split the defence before passing to Paddy Flanagan who crashed over in the corner. Paddy O’Toole kicked a great conversion from the touchline. Ten minutes later Paddy was unlucky when another penalty came off the upright. Mark Foyle and Michael Aspell were making fine breaks andwere just caught short of the line on a number of occasions. Waterpark’s first visit into our 22 came on 35min. and after several attacks our defence were sucked in and the winger Craig Doyle had an easy run in for their first score. On the 40th minute, after some good driving by Cormac McDonnell and Kevin Keogh Paddy O’Toole kicked a drop goal from the half way line to make it 13-5. Waterpark had the last say in the scoring when their out half Gary Jones kicked a penalty to leave it 13-8 at half time. Waterpark had the breeze in the second half and tried to keep us in the lake corner but Emmet Ferron and Aden Kelly made the hard yards and kept us away from our line. On eight minutes Ger Burke set up a quick ball and when Martin O’Malley passed to Paddy O’Toole we got to see the brilliance of the man. First he dummyed the pass then he sidestepped of the right then the the left and then ran around the full back to score under the posts. Paddy converted the try to make it 20-8. As expected Waterpark came back and only for a good tackle and clearance by Peter O’Toole this game could have been a lot closer. Although we struggled to get out of our own half our line was never under any real danger as our tackling was hard and committed. Waterpark kicked another penalty and missed an easier one which would have brought them back to score. In the last ten minutes our lads lifted their game and when Thomas king tackled their big number 8 and drove him back the meters we knew the lads were not going to let this game slip. Bernard Keaney who came on for Ollie was using his experience to keep the ball away from the visitors. With minutes to go a late tackle on John O’Brien resulted in a penalty which Paddy O’Toole tapped over to leave the final score 23-11. While Paddy O’Toole was outstanding all the lads around him from 1 to 15 were brilliant and if we can keep the lads injury free we might win a few more games before Christmas. A big thank you to our match sponsor Stephen Burke from IMS Labels. The atmosphere in EJ Kings after the match was a lot better this Saturday evening than two weeks ago when we came out second best to Old Wesley. ( P. Keane)
