'More' woe for depleted Dundalk
Player/coach Ene Fa'atau's squad has been ravaged by departures and injuries.
WHAT a difference a year makes! This time last season Dundalk were riding high in the Division 1A of the Leinster League and despite missing out on the title to local rivals Boyne, the campaign ended in glory with a brilliant Towns Cup final victory over Tullamore.
Less than 12 months later the same opposition eased to a comfortable 32-5 win in Spollenstown, leaving Ene Fa'atau's severely depleted side facing a new year relegation battle.
A festive friendly win over Ashbourne left the Mill Road ourfit in good spirits, but an already injury-hit squad made the trip to the midlands without influential prop Kenny Dorian - who was on AIL duty with Clontarf - and then lost young wing forward, James Mcconnon in the pre-match warm-up.
Nevertheless the visitors made a bright start as both teams tried to implement their running games in a very even opening half hour.
However, the breakthrough score went the home side's way, when their strong pack pushed the Dundalk scrum back over their own try line for Adrian Hanley to score.
There was more injury woe for Dundalk as they lost Declan Mccabe in the build-up to the scrum and the hosts forged further ahead five minutes later when winger David Clavin worked a neat one-two with his full back to plunder try number two.
That effort was converted to leave Tullamore 12-0 up at halftime.
A concerted effort to win more first-up tackles and gain more possession paid off for Dundalk early in the second period as winger Errol Boyle cut trough three tackles and to make it five metres from the Tullamore line, only to see his final pass intercepted by an alert Tullamore player.
Fellow winger Stephen Murphy did likewise on the opposite side flank soon afterwards and with no reward for some bright play, Dundalk fell further behind.
Tullamore added three points from a penalty before forcing their way inside the Dundalk 22, where the worked a strong maul off an ensuing lineout to cross in the corner.
To their credit, Dundalk bounced back and after working the ball from one side of the pitch to the other, through seven phases, they crossed for a deserved and well-worked try from playercoach Ene Fa'atau.
Trevor Marema was unable to convert and with the visitors chasing the game, David Hallon teed up Paul Mceniff to make it 25-5 to the hosts. Aaron Deverill added try number five in the closing stages. - Dundalk take on bottom of the table Monkstown at Mill Road on Saturday, hoping to put some daylight between themselves and the south Dublin outfit, who are only a point behind Ene Fa'atau's side.
Kick-off is at 2.30pm, with the seconds entertaining the same opposition at 1pm.
