North Meath clinch league crown in style
RUGBY
North Meath25
Portarlington 17
North Meath's seconds travelled down to familiar territory in Laois for the Metro 9 League final and emerged victorious against the hosts Portarlington on Saturday.
Having faced each other only a few weeks earlier in the Anderson Cup, the Meath men knew this would be a tough task. The visitors were playing against a strong wind in the first half and they had to deal with big pressure from the Laois men in the early stages.
After resisting early attacks, North Meath ran through multiple phases and earned a penalty which was converted by Conor Grey.
Portarlington came back strong and worked through the phases to score in the left corner to take the lead 5-3.
After attacks from both sides, North Meath took control and set up multiple phases for coach Simon Deevy to eventually score and put the visitors back in front 8-5.
From the restart North Meath controlled the ball and tempo and went back down the pitch for Michael O'Byrne to score the second try.
With the bit really between the teeth North Meath attacked the line again and earned a penalty try for a cynical high tackle on Simon Deevy as he was just a metre away from scoring. This put the Meath men 20-5 up.
Portarlington were not done though as their defensive pressure was rewarded with an intercept try for their centre which was converted to leave the score 20-12 at half time.
The second half began with Portarlington taking the game to North Meath through big carries from their forwards and centres.
This pressure eventually got too much and they crossed to leave the score 20-17 with 28 minutes left to play.
This gave Portarlington a huge sense of hope and they applied massive pressure but they were met with great defence from North Meath.
Late into the game and with a scrum inside their own half, Deevy broke from the back and kicked a 50/22 to give North Meath a great line out opportunity.
Ball secured and let out to the backs, the team went through the phases before the ball came back to where the line out came from and ended up in Eric Szymanski's hands to score the crucial try in the corner and seal the win for North Meath.
North Meath - Jordan Herring, Turlough Carry, Pauric Flanagan, Conor Grey, Michael O'Byrne, Graham Brennan, Ciaran Dowds, Keith O'Neill, Sammy Rogers, Theo Chamberlayne Daye, Andrew Monaghan, Eric Szymanski, Ciaran Cullen, Daniel Adekunle, Henry Armstrong. Replacements - Simon Deevy, Killian Flanagan, Graham Boland, David Lynch, Eanna Finn, Niall McDonnell, Denis Cannon.