Carlow Rugby Club secured a bright start to the 2022-23 season when the Junior 1 side achieved a 26-23 away win against Enniscorthy in the South East league, writes John Shirley.
The manner of the win will also have pleased management as it came with attractive rugby and honest endeavour. New club president Derek Cope said that up to 40 adult players have been training in Oakpark pre-season. The match was played in Enniscorthy mid-week to accommodate the supporters of Electric Picnic.
Within minutes of the kick-off Carlow were awarded a very kickable penalty but chose the kick to the corner. This backfired due to a crooked lineout throw. Another Carlow score was missed when centre Sean Quinlan crossed the Enniscorthy try-line but somehow the defence held him up.
See also: Fixtures released for the start of the Leinster League as Kilkenny, Carlow, Tullow return to action
Fourteen minutes into the game Enniscorthy were awarded a kickable penalty which they duly goaled for a 3-0 lead. Carlow came back on 20 minutes and scored a good winger’s try with Calum Murphy sprinting through traffic for the touchdown.
Next came another home penalty but straight from the restart, Calum Murphy grabbed his second try which was reminiscent of the try Mack Hansen scored for Ireland against France. Neither of the Murphy tries were converted but Carlow led 10-6. This was turned into an 11-10 deficit when Enniscorthy scored an unconverted try on the half hour.
The game continued to swing from end to end and in the final play of the first half, the young Carlow full-back Jody Doyle Hutton took over as kicker and put the visitors back into a 13 – 11 lead at the break.
Second half
The start of the second half saw Carlow camped in the Enniscorthy 22 for an extended spell. Eventually, number eight Paddy Mackey broke through to score 15 metres from the posts. Doyle Hutton added the conversion and widened the Carlow margin to 23-11 with another penalty 10 minutes later.
The gap narrowed to 23-18 with an Enniscorthy converted try. Another penalty kicked by Doyle Hutton pushed the visitor advantage to eight points at 26-18.
With about 10 minutes remaining Enniscorthy still needed two scores to win. They ran hard at Carlow time and again but the defensive tackling kept them out till the final play of the game. Even then it took two smart offloads to unlock the Carlow defence with a last gasp unconverted try in the corner.
For their part, Carlow should take a confidence boost from this match. New players such as Josh Cope at scrumhalf, Doyle Hutton at fullback and newcomer Kristan Kocher look every bit like firsts players, as did young prop Paddy Rogers. Carlow more than held their own in scrums and were at least 50-50 in lineouts. Enniscorthy must have thought there were two Paddy Mackeys on the field such was his tigerish tackling and carrying. Whyte and Quinlan were strong in the centre and Owens performed well at out-half. In the pack Lyons, Gordon, and Edgehill showed a high level of fitness for the 80 minutes.
The Carlow J1 side’s next out is against Cup holders Kilkenny on Saturday 10 September in Oakpark.
Carlow J1 team.
Jody Doyle Hutton, Kristian Kocher, Sean Quinlan, Richard Whyte, CalumMurphy, Alan Owens, Josh Cope, Owen Edgehill (Capt), Evan Gordon, Ross Byrne, John Lyons, Conor Moore, Steve Treacy, John Murphy, Paddy Mackey. Subs: Williams Ganley, Paddy Rogers, Neil Slater, Darragh Brennan, Sam Dunne.
