Forty scoreless minutes sums it up

Mullingar 16North Kildare 12At the end of eighty minutes the consensus was that the worst performance by the Mullingar 1st XV all season came a week before the long trek to New Ross for their last 16 Towns Cup encounter with a team one division their senior.Mullingar fielded almost the exact team that defeated Ashbourne in the Cup, drafting in Under 20s Adam Kerroum and Alan Brabazon for Aonghus Smyth and Mark Potter, and their superiority in the first 10 minutes made us foolishly dream of a 40 or 50 pointer.After gifting one try and not paying enough attention for a second, Mullingar had enough nous and guile to steal back the lead on the stroke of half time and extended this with the final score three minutes after the re-start. However, in the next fraught, tedious and scoreless 40 minutes, North Kildare had one try disallowed and missed out on a last minute winner with just the kiss of chalkdust.Colour clashFrom the off, Mullingar were so superior in the loose, the line-out and the scrum that Butler and Kelly had a sumptious supply to allow the gallopers their head. On seven minutes Stewie Flynn looked like the first to break through, but he was caught with men outside when the simplest thing was the offload.He made his amends five minutes later though, when he was second last hands in a textbook try from line-out to corner, with Niall Smyth doing the crossing honours, before kicking a peach of a conversion from the touchline.The front eight, bookended by the highly consistent Robbie Collentine and Ray Murphy, maintained the ascendency and began to get under the Kilcock boys' skin.Flynn was unlucky with a penalty after David Butler was caught by the opposing scrumhalf. Skipper Murphy had a trademark gallop for 30 or 40 metres before being hauled down. IWith some sensible, layered phases North Kildare engineered a simple overlap and took a score in the corner.Mullingar won a quick penalty which the efficient Flynn dispatched.With the clock up on the half and North Kildare back in the home side's 22 for only the second time, an opportunistic wing forward stepped through a hole in a ruck and picked up a nothing ball and walked under the posts. 10-12. With the last kick of the half the clinical Flynn restored a barely deserved lead to Mullingar, 13-12.The second half began like Mullingar meant to continue and an early exchange saw the evergreen Farlo complete the sweetest of sub-oxter passes with a deftness that Shane Williams would have envied. This Mullingar period of pressure was rewarded with a third minute penalty by Flynn after a great burst from Adam Kerroum up the middle.Halfway through the half, Mullingar finally gelled again, and a great back move through simple hands released the Deering into acres. Unfortunately the final pass didn't stick. A minute later though, after some top ferretting by Robbie Collentine, an over earnest visitor went over the top to give Stuart Flynn the chance to take to game to the insurance gap of seven. The referee called it wide after a split decision on the flags, and North Kildare were still in the game.For the last 15 minutes Mullingar began to self destruct. Line-outs were lost and penalties conceded. This paid off for the visitors who crossed the Mullingar line again on 66 minutes, only for the race winner to knock-on over the line. Mullingar emptying the bench and having to change a number of key places in midstream didn't help the cohesiveness. With two minutes of injury time played, Aonghus Smyth got beaten on the outside for pace and cover was thin. The Kildare winger kicked ahead to the corner and was odds-on to win the race when the ball fortuitiously grazed the touchline. It was to be the last kick of the gameTeam: Jamie O'Hara, Robbie Collentine, Adriel Farrell, Vinny Hewitt, Ollie Kirby, Adam Kerroum, Pete Gibson, Ray Murphy, David Butler, Alan Kelly, Alan Brabazon, Stuart Flynn, Niall Smyth, Shane Deering, Brian Murphy. Subs used: Aonghus Smyth, Declan Murphy, Mark Potter, Colin McCormack.Scorers: Tries: Niall Smyth, Pens: Stuart Flynn (3) Cons: Stuart FlynnTowns CupMullingar take on New Ross at their ground next Sunday, March 14, in the last 16 of the Towns Cup at 3pm.Tag rugbyAnybody who fancies a bit tag rugby as a great way to keep fit and meet new people should come to the clubhouse on the Castlepollard road on Monday evenings from now on at 7.30pm. Tag is the fastest growing game in Ireland over the last five years and is open to both men and women. It is played as seven-a-side, with all tackling outlawed. Players must tag opponents by grabbing velcro flags from their hips. And to make sure the big, ugly boys ddon't hog the game for themselves, the involvement of the women is simply incentivised by making their tries worth three of the chaps.Further details can be got from Audrey Mooty on 087-9162742.