division 2 league:Portarlington 17 Edenderry 15
Portarlington continued there fight to stay in the top four of the league yesterday when the hosted Edenderry in a very physical and entertaining local derby with a thrilling finish to leave the supporters on the edge in a gallant comeback which was full of heart.
Portarlington were trailing Edenderry 15-3 when entering the final five minutes of the game when the received a lifeline when padraig o dywer went over for a try which was converted and edenderry had barely time to catch there breath, when port straight from the kickoff went in search for that elusive try and when shane o keefe touched down right in the corner the supporters went wild with delight,this left the game all square and when paul madden stood up to take the conversion which looked like a lost cause kicked over an outstanding conversion to win the game by 2points.
Portarlington welcomed back the south american travelling party and this proved to be huge a plus as Paul mannion and Billy walsh were to the fore in everything that was good about portarlingtons comeback yesterday.Port wont be happy with there 1st half performance when the conceded two very soft tries for been very complacent and will have to work hard at putting a 80minute performance in next week when the travel to wicklow for the 1st rd of the towns cup,as Wicklow will be a step up from edenderry yesterday.
The game started at a frantic pace and with only a minute gone port were to lose their full back and kicker bobby fitzpatrick,so billy walsh enter the game and port had to do some reshuttling with billy going to scrum half and padraig dywer moving to full back.edenderry took the iniative and got the opening score when their outhalf converted a penalty,but the the game was all square a few minutes later when paul madden converted a penalty for port.Edenderry then pounced on two bad mistakes by port when from nowhere, scored two simple tries in a ten minute spell.Port were failing to win primary possession and edenderry were winning all the battles around the field and were much more aggressive in the rucks and scrums.Port couldnt wait for half time to arrive and not to concede any more points.
Whatever was said at half time seem to have the desired effect as port came out a much more organised team and began to dominate in the forwards with their linesouts and scrums.Port were attacking with more conviction and its was the final pass or wrong decision and some brilliant defending that was stopping port from scoring tries,but has the game was heading to the last ten minutes port began to put the ball through the hands and this proved to be the right decison as padraig dywer went under the posts for a very good team try involving both the forwards and the backs.Port continued with this game plan and with only a minute left went attacking from their own 22 and got that equalizing try when shane o keefe did brilliantly to squeeze into the corner for an excellent try and with the conversion to come it looked like the game would end in a draw,but paul madden stepped up from an almost impossible angle and sent the ball between the posts for a great win.
This will no doubt give port some renewed confidence going into next weeks towns cup opener and if the can take their second half performance and produce it for the whole 80minutes well im sure the can cause an upset and beat wicklow.
Port did have some good individual performances with mark petru and paul wallace the pick of the forwards and in the backs billy walsh,paul mannion,shane o keefe and padraig o dywer can be happy with their days work,but port will be hoping that as a team the can put in a complete performance next week.
team:cormac powell,trevor burns,padraig mahon,paul wallace,niall behan,hugh emerson,mark petru,stephen oakley,padraig o dywer,paul madden,padraig maree(paul mannion)armand smit,shane o keefe,barry walsh,bobby fitzpatrick(billy walsh)subs not used;ross doyle,adrian whelan,john carroll.
