Kilkenny 18,
Portlarlington 13
Kilkenny rugby club got off to a winning start in their Leinster League campaign beating Portlarlington on Sunday last.
Three valuable league points were amassed in a game which was always tense but never reached a high standard. The Kilkenny management team will be happy with the win but will know that an improved performance is needed if they expect to be challenging for promotion at the end of the season. Ball handling errors continued throughout the game and poor tackles were frequent and will cause heartache if they continue. Kilkenny got the ideal start when Alan Pembroke set up Podge Mahon for a try after five minutes. Shortly afterwards, Bob Fitzpatrick was on target for the home side with a penalty to make it 5 points to 3. Then in the 20th minute, Armin Smith, the Portlarlington centre, found a gap through Kilkenny’s defence and ran from the half way line to score under the posts and with Fitzpatrick adding the points, his team were in front 10 points to 5. Scrum half Ronan O’Driscoll converted two penalties in the 22nd and 35th minute to push Kilkenny back in front before the break came. Portlarlington were awarded a penalty close to the Kilkenny line and kicked to touch. At this stage Kilkenny were down to 14 players having had a player sin binned. The home side won the lineout and attempted to move the ball along the line and stretch the Kilkenny defence. It might have worked only for the interception of Killian Everard, who swiped possession from the opposition and raced all the way to the line to score a try close to the posts. With Ronan O’Driscoll adding the points, Kilkenny were in front 18 points to 10 at the interval. The second half saw only one score, a penalty from Bob Fitzpatrick in the 14th minute. The Kilkenny seconds lost to the same opposition by 9 points to 8 in a closely fought game. Kilkenny lost their kicker Tom Corrigan in the second half and it proved costly. The try was scored by Vinnie O’Shea and the penalty came from Corrigan.
