Suttonians Stand Strong Against Chasing Kilkenny
Suttonians welcomed back a few players from injury for the visit of Kilkenny on Saturday and duly secured a bonus point win. With the help of the wind in the opening half they were on the scoresheet early, a fine break from inside his own half by centre Mikey McGiff, putting wing Niall Connolly over and Conor Jennings added the conversion. It was all Suttonians for the next while but the Kilkenny defence held firm for the next 20 minutes. Between then and half time it was the Darragh Henry show.
First off a fine individual try beating numerous defenders to touch down under the posts. He then ran in an interception from 30 metres out and completed his hat trick just before half time after a fine carry by the returning Rory Litchfield. Niall Connolly added 2 excellent touchline conversions and a 28nil scoreline that should have been that.
However came back very strongly in the second half. With the home side’s lineout creaking Kilkenny came right back into the game, scoring 3 converted tries that saw them chasing a draw with just 5 minutes left. Suttonians at this stage were down to 14 men, Will Arkell seeing red for a mistimed tackle for which there was no argument. However they rode out the last 5 minutes and gratefully put the ball out of play to secure a 28-21 bonus point victory.
With the top 2 teams losing, the table has now compressed somewhat. The 2nds had earlier beaten their Kilkenny counterparts for a much needed win, Tadgh Cleary, Oisín Heaney and the Buckley brothers, Cian and Cormac standing out.
Later that day the women went down 43-3 to a star studded UL Bohemians side containing a number of current internationals but the Suttonians girls never gave up and showed great heart and fighting spirit throughout. They have had a strong first half of the season though and will fancy their chances in the New Year when the league gets split into 2 conferences, fixtures should be available later this week.
Next up for the men is the visit of Bective on the 8th of January after a well deserved Christmas break for all
Will keep you posted @ JustLocal.ie
