Edenderry Rugby Club

Edenderry seconds were at home against local rivals Tullamore in the league on Sunday last and despite poor conditions managed to rack up a decent score against a Tullamore team that pressurized but never really looked like beating the home side.

The game toed and frowed in the early stages and the away side did exert a lot of pressure up front and looked to have the Edenderry scrum under a lot of pressure but despite getting some decent ball out to their back line handling errors let them down and they couldnt really threaten the Derry line. The home side on the other hand took away three points from their first visit to the opposition half, from the boot of full back Stephen Cummins, who's kicking on the the day was second to none. From the kick off Edenderry attacked the Tullamore line again with some good running from Shane Melia, who is having a fine season for the seconds, and again it resulted in a penalty which Cummins seemed to slot with ease despite the distance and strong winds on the day. 6 - 0 to the home side but Tullamore reacted and dominated up front for a long period after that in the first half.

They won scrums against the head from Edenderry and they turned over a lot of possesion when given any opporunity and indeed their efforts lead to a well worked try outwide when two Edenderry players got sucked into the second center and the Tulamore winger had an easy run to the line. The conversion from out wide was missed but Tullamore were well and truly back in the game. Edenderry uedp the ante as they have done in a number of games after conceding and some good ball from the pack saw Ziggy Killaly pop the ball to Willie Crampton who threw a lovely little dummy and stepped through the line and with only the full back to beat Crampton backed himself and battered his way over the line for a great try which seemed to lift the whole home team. Cummins converted and added another penalty late in the half and Edenderry went into the break 16 - 5 ahead.

The second half saw the away side tire and Edenderry controlled the game for long periods without adding many scores. Clever play and some good kicking from Pauric Foy say them out of danger on the few occasions Tullamore threatened their half and Cummins added a further penalty to make it 19 - 5 about half way through the half. Derry made a number of changes and Keith O Neill who came on in the front row settled the scrum and Conor Moore came on in the backs.

Derry owned the ball for the last twenty minutes and it was only a matter of time before the next score would surely come. It eventually did after a number of further changes saw Cummins go to outhalf for the injured Killaly, Breen Walsh came on on the wing and Pat Gill who came into the front row made a great tackle on a Tullamore forward and when Keith O'Neill  drove over the breakdown, scrum half Pauric Foy was on hand to pop the ball to Colm Dunne who had moved to full back, he kicked in behind the Tullamore line and was first to the ball to chip it over the away sides line and dive on it for Edenderrys final score. It ended 21 - 5, a convincing win for the home side who still sit third in the league. On the day Pauric Foy was named man of the match and Shane Melia, Chris Furey, Ross Sullivan and Alan Donlan were the pick of the forwards. Stephen Cummins kicking both for touch and from penalties at goal was a huge asset on the day and all in all the home team put in a decent performance. Next up is home to Birr on the 20th of December.

Team: B Quinn, S Melia, W Quirke, A Donlan, C Daniels, C Carter, R Sullivan, C Furey, P Foy, Ziggy Killaly, W Crampton, C Dunne (capt.), D Hurst, J Moore, S Cummins. Subs: C Moore, B Walsh, K O'Neill, P Gill, C Henchie