Portarlington 16 – Carlow 8.


Again on Sunday Carlow firsts took the field in their away Plate match against Portarlington minus several regulars.  Blink and you would have missed the first two scores. First Barcoe scored a penalty almost straight from the kick-off. Carlow then failed to deal with the subsequent Portarlington kick-off, and allowed the home team for an almost unopposed try, which was not converted. For the remainder of the half Carlow looked the stronger team, especially in the scrums. However Carlow missed a couple of penalties whilst Portarlington converted one to give them an 8 – 3 pts half time lead.
With a strong second half diagonal wind in their favour, Carlow were expected to kick on to victory but Portarlington are not Leinster League Division 2A without having their resources.  A substitute prop came on and steadied the Port scrum. They kept most of the possession. Another penalty gave them an 11 – 3 pts lead. As on many occasions this year, Carlow failed to exploit the wind but eventually a good passing movement from deep saw newcomer Tom Turner scoring a try in the corner. This wasn’t converted but it brought Carlow to within three points of the home team. A penalty or drop kick
would have brought Carlow to parity, but it was Portarlington that grew stronger, getting a final unconverted try to close out the game at 16 points to 8.
All that is left of Carlow’s season is two Leinster League games against Ashbourne at home and Cill Dara away.

Team
Stuart O Malley, Alan Dunphy, Steve Smyth, Tom Turner, John Clare, Paddy Barcoe, Mark Elmes, Peter Cassidy, Joe Gorman, Chris Byrne, Barry Waddock, Wes Shirley, Tommy Ratihi, Damien Murphy, Joe Bulmer.
Subs used, John Farrell, Ed Keating, Barry Purcell, JJ Waddock, Mark Slye.

Upcoming Fixtures

next Club Events

May 19 2012, 12:00am
Heineken Cup Final
Jun 15 2012, 6:00pm
Play Tag Festival