It was League champions Richmond who got an early Christmas present; as they won out in a tough battle at the grounds of Thomond rugby club. The ‘Well, with the advantage of a strong wind in the first-half; worked their way into a 17-0 lead just after the break courtesy of a James Mulcahy try. However; once persistent pressure saw Keith McCarthy open the scoring for Richmond; they grew in confidence to seal the comeback victory.
The 17 point lead wasn’t a fair reflection of the game; as the ‘Well were pinned in their Twenty-Two for long stretches of the opening hour. The defence battled hard to keep Richmond at bay and expended a lot of energy. Fabien Loughrey and the industrious Ryan O’Donoghue-Kelleher led the defensive effort; with O’Donoghue-Kelleher switching in between his normal role at centre as well as flanker.
In offence; the ‘Well got off to a great start with a great dazzling run by Logan Henry; showing his nippy feet seeing him dance past several Richmond defenders to race in under the posts. Logan converted the score and later had a penalty to increase the gap to 10 points.
Richmond though spent most of the latter part of the half hitting away at the ‘Well defence; who never looked like being breached at that stage, but with penalties persistently called on defence – it was hard to get out. Eventually the ‘Well made a great turnover, with Kieran Stokes passing the ball out to Logan who made a fantastic kick from inside his own goal line; that went all the way down the under end of the pitch to lift the siege.
It gave the ‘Well an opportunity to attack but they couldn’t take advantage of the position.
The fleet of foot by Logan again set up an early chance for the ‘Well. While the original attack was thwarted, a Richmond scrum was put under pressure and Conor O’Brien made a great block-down of an attempted clearance behind the goal-line to win a scrum for the ‘Well. After several phases, James Mulcahy crashed over with Logan stretching the lead to 17 points in the early stages of the second half.
Once, Richmond were able to gain territorial position in the Twenty-Two, the ‘Well couldn’t escape. They hammered away in defence and with some marginal calls against them and a couple of sin-binnings; Richmond finally broke through when they spread the ball out to MCcarthy for a try.
Ronan Kelleher then fielded a kick on the touch-line and managed to find himself in oceans of space to race down the left-wing. With two tries; Richmond were fired up and Jason Murray effectively sealed the winning score.
While a tough defeat to take; the ‘Well know they can bounce back and have two massive games against the two unbeaten sides in the New Year; at home to Thomond and Mallow.
Richmond Scorers: Ronan Kelleher, Keith McCarthy, Jason Murray tries; Sean Considine 2 cons, pen.
Sunday’s Well Scorers: Logan Henry try, 2 cons, pen; James Mulcahy try.
Richmond: Shane Halpin; Ronan Kelleher, Keith McCarthy, Craig Carew, Sean Considine; Jack O’Hanlon, Josh Maloney; Nigel Clancy, Adam Somers, James Reeves; Jordan Dillon, Cian O’Reilly; Ross Walsh, Graham Kirwan, Dillon Cotter. Replacements: Jason Murray, James Mason, Evan Gallagher, Barry Laffan, Denis Bermingham, Colin Kelly, Jeffrey McNamara.
Sunday’s Well: Gary Downey (c); Kieran Maye, Alex Guerin, Ryan O’Donoghue-Kelleher, Emeka Asiegbo; Logan Henry, Fabien Loughrey; Kieran Stokes, Adam Browne, Mike McCarthy; Kevin Holland, Shane Desmond; James Muclahy, Finn MacFhlannchadha, Conor O’Brien. Replacements: Eoin Ahearne, Evan O’Mahony, Andrew Mintern, Mark Kelly, Damian Kozik, Peter Arigho, Eric Kingston, Conor McCarthy.
