Enniscorthy 36 Ashbourne 5

by Liam Spratt at Cill Dara

Enniscorthy produced their best performance of the season on Sunday last in Cill Dara Rugby Club when they qualified for the Bank of Ireland Provincial Towns Cup final with a comprehensive 36-5 win over Ashbourne.

They breezed past the Division 1 League winners, scoring 5 tries in a performance of power, precision and pace.

Playing with a strong wind in the opening-half, Enniscorthy took the game to Ashbourne right from the kick-off.

Out-half and captain Ivan Poole had early penalty opportunities, which both drifted wide.

Both sides had a player sin-binned, with Ashbourne lock forward Seán Kent getting a yellow-card on 10 minutes, followed two minutes later by Enniscorthy’s Angelo Todisco, who went off his feet in a ruck.

Enniscorthy started to dominate upfront and were rewarded when, after several pick and drives, Tom Ryan crossed the ‘line for the first touchdown, with Poole adding the conversion for a 7-0 lead.

Although enjoying most of the possession, ‘Scorthy were over anxious at times with the ball in hand which resulted in a few stray passes. Midway through that first-half they replaced Hughie O’Neill with Killian Lett, and also brought Joe Bulmer in for John Daly.

And the vital second try came just shy of the half-time whistle, when they were awarded a penalty-try after Ashbourne collapsed the scrum once too often for referee Colm Roche’s liking, and this score sent Enniscorthy to the dressing-room with a 14-0 lead.

‘Scorthy faced the elements in the second-half, but that didn’t deter them as they continued to move the ball through the hands, and Ashbourne’s defence strayed off-side to hand Ivan Poole an easy penalty in front of the post to extend the lead to 17-0 just five minutes after the resumption.

Ashbourne did eventually apply some pressure inside Enniscorthy’s ’22. But Timmy Morrissey turned over the ball for Ivan Poole to find touch and relieve the pressure.

Enniscorthy almost scored again after some superb handling saw full-back Richard Dunne break through the cover only to be stopped just short of the ‘line.

With 60 minutes on the clock, a loose clearance by Ashbourne’s Joey Szpara handed Enniscorthy a line-out just outside the ’22. Hooker Davy Murphy found his jumper, Nick Doyle, who won the line-out and fed Timmy Morrissey. He broke through the cover and moved the ball at pace out to right-wing Ivan Jacob, who skinned his opposite number to score the third try. Poole shaved the post with the conversion attempt.

It was all Enniscorthy now as Ashbourne visibly tired following their excursions in recent round-robin qualifying for the All-Ireland League. To be fair to Ashbourne though, they weren’t prepared to lie down and they camped inside Enniscorthy’s ’22 for the next five minutes. But the Cathedral-town side’s defence was superb.

In the 73rd-minute Tomas Stamp made a break and recycled the ball to Killian Lett, who freed Daniel Pim, and his well-timed pass put left-wing David O’Dwyer in for the fourth try to remove any doubts about the result. Indeed, Pool added the conversion for a 29-0 lead.

Ashbourne did force themselves over the ‘line for a consolation try through Simon Deevy.

But Enniscorthy had the last say when they broke from halfway for Killian Lett to send Ivan Jacob at pace in under the post, with Lett adding the conversion to complete a superb victory.

It would be hard to pick a ‘man of the match’ out of this brilliant team performance in which every man on the field made their contribution to Enniscorthy making the Provincial Towns Cup final for the first time since 2016, when Wicklow denied them.

Captain Ivan Poole said: “I am thrilled that at last we hit form on the day that we wanted to. We have been disappointed with our inconsistency this year, but we were determined to win this one.

“Ashbourne won the Leinster League, and credit it to them. But we felt we blew it (the league) this season.

“We play Tullow now in the (‘Towns Cup) final and that won’t be a forgone conclusion as they have beaten Division 1 teams Gorey and Wicklow to get to the final, and they are also the current Cup-holders”.

Enniscorthy and Tullow square up in the final in Wicklow RFC on April 29th at 3.30p.m.

Tullow beat Wicklow in their semi-final 14-5 after Wicklow had failed to score with wind advantage in the second-half.

Enniscorthy and Tullow last met in the ‘Towns Cup final in 2012, and that day the ‘Scorthy boys came out on top. They again won the Cup in 2015 (against Kilkenny) before the 2016 heartbreak against Wicklow.

Enniscorthy – Angelo Todisco, Davy Murphy (Tom Farrar, 73), Paddy Waters (Tony White, 65), Tomas Stamp, John Daly (Joe Bulmer, 25), Timmy Morrissey-Ryan (John Daly, 73), Arthur Dunne, Ivan Poole (Ross Barbour, 73), David O’Dwyer (Hughie O’Neill, 70), Hughie O’Neill (Killian Lett 25), Daniel Pim, Ivan Jacob, Richard Dunne.