Tallaght women claim league crown
THE Tallaght women’s team took on second placed Ashbourne knowing a win would make them champions and win the first silverware in the history of the women’s team.
The Tallaght side put together a gritty performance to see off their closest rivals Ashbourne 17-0 at Milltown Road and claim the Leinster Division Five League.
The visitors started well and were camped in the Ashbourne twenty-two for the first ten minutes, however Ashbourne defended well and were able to keep Tallaght out.
The deadlock was broken when the ball went wide and number eight Louise Leonard showed good hands to put full back Doireann O’Byrne away for an excellent try.
Grainne Flood kicked a fine conversion to give Tallaght a 7-0 lead.
Then Ashbourne hit back and had Tallaght under pressure.
Tallaght Rugby team celebrate winning the Division Five title
They were camped on the Tallaght line through multiple phases.
But the Tallaght defence was immense with the likes of Samantha Ledden, Lisa O’Connell, Aisling Pyke and Nicole Fanning making dominant tackles as they kept Ashbourne out.
Eventually Ashbourne conceded a penalty at the breakdown and Tallaght celebrated as it felt like a key moment and they held their 7-0 lead at half-time.
In the second half, the Meath side came at Tallaght again but the massively experienced Martina Fitzpatrick won a couple of key jackal penalties at the breakdown to relieve the pressure.
Orlaith Plunkett and Lisa Connors were making large gains carrying the ball.
Tallaght were penalised for a couple of high tackles though and eventually the referee lost patience and right wing Sorcha Burns was shown a yellow card.
However Tallaght reacted well and left wing Ellen Crotty was put away near the halfway line and she showed her pace to race away and score a fine try in the corner to make it 12-0.
Ash Pyke was having a massive influence on the game with her physicality in defence and smart tactical kicking.
Then from deep in the Tallaght half Pyke made a break and left the defence for dead. Pyke probably could have scored herself but she unselfishly offloaded to Kim Littlefield who touched down for the try to make it 17-0.
To be fair to Ashbourne they kept coming, but the Tallaght defence was resolute and skipper Eileen Shanahan made a great run from the twenty-two to the halfway line to relieve the pressure.
Tallaght brought on most of their replacements but there was no drop in performance.
The referee blew the whistle to end the contest and there were wild celebrations on the Tallaght sideline as they were confirmed as champions with a match to spare.
Tallaght head coach Hayley White was proud of her team.
“I’m just delighted for the girls, the whole group has worked so hard this year and they deserve this. Ashbourne are a fine team and they tested us, but once again our defence was fantastic and it’s a testament to the quality of our work that we kept them scoreless in both of our games this season.”
“I want to thank our assistant coaches Andy Grace and Ciaran Rudd for their great contribution to the team and Director of Rugby Stephen Heaney and the committee for the support they’ve given us this season.
“I especially want to thank our wonderful sponsors Peachylean.
“I also want to thank the men’s squad who put together a lovely video with good luck messages and also came down in big numbers to support us today.
“We also had a massive number of friends, family and club members supporting us today and it actually felt like a home game.”
“We couldn’t pick a player of the match, because there were so many immense performances.
“So we gave it to the whole squad as all the girls who togged out today were superb.
“We’ll have a good night tonight, but we’ll also have a great night in two weeks when we get the trophy after the DLSP game.
“It will be a great honour to be the first Tallaght team to lift a trophy on their home pitch.
“Our season isn’t over though, we’ve still got cups to play in and the way this team is playing, we won’t fear anyone.”
