Athy bridge 41 year gap to lift Towns Cup
Athy RFC are Bank of Ireland 2025 Provincial Towns Cup champions
One of the great Provincial Towns Cup finals. A decider which had supporters on the edge from start to finish at Forenaughts in Naas on Sunday. At the end the pre-match favourites emerged triumphant. It was well-deserved. Over the coming days, Carlow may reflect on might have been and where the game was won and lost. There is no need to do so. This was knife-edge stuff. Ground gained, ground lost. Trench warfare but moments of exuberance and some outrageous feats in a team game by individual players.
Then again, here were two clubs focussed on ending a famine. Ultimately Athy bridged the gap to their last victory in 1984 when they beat Portlaoise. Carlow last lifted one of rugby’s oldest cups in 1997. The indications are that they are set to end the wait.
The eventual winners played into a stiff breeze in the opening half. Carlow needed to pin their rivals back inside the 22. They were unable to do so. They did threaten but Athy looked comfortable. A moment of inspiration paved the way for Carlow’s first try. Outside the Athy 22, Carlow looked set to go right from a ruck but a clever reverse pass opened up the Athy defence and Jonathan Crossley ran 22 metres to touch down under the posts. Ben Crotty converted.
Minutes later came a major turning point. Carlow supporters celebrated as Wes Shirley’s reverse pass put in Sean Quinlan. To their horror, the pass was adjudged to have been forward and the score was ruled out.
From the resultant scrum, Athy went from left to right. Space opened out and as the Carlow defence was caught flat-footed, the ball was carried through the hands and David Downey touched down in the far-right corner. It was at least a ten-point turnaround.
So much was happening all over the pitch. Carlow erred when kicking dead from inside their own half. Athy would do the same after half-time. The hits were ferocious. Athy had an overlap on the left but failed to capitalise.
The Carlow scrum was pinged when they had set up field position inside the Athy half. Gone are the days when front row forwards enjoyed their own little war. Now scrum domination is all but decided by the man in the middle. The Tullow based referee, Ian Thompson, had a good game but like every referee all over the world, it is the match officials interpretation of the set-piece which continues to baffle.
In any case, Athy’s next two tries had nothing to do with the scrum. Seven minutes before the break, the County Kildare side went right and then left. On hand was Jack Henry who galloped from inside his own half and touched down once more. Again, into the wind, the conversion was missed.
Carlow were then the authors of their own misfortune when poor tackling and a defence who seemed to go asleep were caught dead and Cathal Fennessy dotted down in the left corner. Against the wind it was a mighty blow that Athy had inflicted on Carlow.
The Oak Park side lived on their opponents line in the final minutes of the half. Athy creaked and a mighty defensive effort deprived Carlow of what could have been a crucial score. At the interval, Athy looked pretty when leading 15-7 with the aid of the wind to come in the second half.
And so a mighty battle ensued. Three minutes in, a fortuitous bounce on the left saw Ben Crotty breach the Athy cover for a second Carlow try. Seven minutes in, they almost struck again as the black and ambers continued to play all the rugby. On 58 minutes, Carlow attacked from deep and were rewarded when Rhys Edghill touched down.
Athy dug deep and while the Carlow defence denied them, Athy forced an off-side penalty. With 15 minutes to go, Darragh Farrell must have known what was at stake. He held his composure, kept his head down and stroked the ball over the bar. Athy were back in front.
Carlow fought to the end. A cross-kick almost put in left-winger, Jamie McCabe but Athy held out. It was nail-biting. Supporters were put through the wringer in the closing stages.
In the final play, Athy were penalised on their own 45 metre mark. Carlow could have gone for the penalty line-out but it would have been still a long way to the line. Ben Crotty decided to take his chance. His kick looked good for a long time as the ball curled from right to left. To his utter disappointment, the wind took over and the ball dropped short.
The Athy defence made no mistake and taking possession, the ball was duly dispatched over the end-line. Joy unconfined as the blue and white army invaded the pitch. A wonderful victory which will be celebrated for a long time to come.
Tries - D Downey (1), C Fennessy (1), J Henry (1). Pen - Darragh Farrell (1).
Carlow: Tries- J Crossley (1), B Crotty (1), R Edghill (1). Con- Ben Crotty (1).
Aidan Henry, David Downey, Tom Sheedy, Darragh Farrell, Cathal Fennessy, Craig Miller, Culann Carbery; Karol Donohue, Niall O’Hanlon, Teodor Ciobanu, Kevin Downey, Niall Dunne, Jack Henry, James Sheedy, Tadgh Foley. Subs: Eoin Farrell for Fennessy (35), Aaron Rowan for Ciobanu (52), Shane Horgan, John Sheedy, James Harris.
Ben Crotty, Jonathan Crossley, David McDermott, Sean Quinlan, Brian Broderick, Dan Crotty; Paddy Rodgers, Scott Neale, Tadgh Ronan, Wes Shirley, John Lyons, Cormac McElligott, Joel Brown, Conor Treacy. Subs: Johnny Murphy for Brown (35), Evan Gordon for Neale (50), Caolan Fitzhenry for Ronan (53), Rhys Edghill for Treacy (53), Treacy for McElligott (62), Josh Cope for D Crotty (74), Brown for Shirley (78), Shirley for Lyons (78).
Ian Thompson (LAR)
