Man of the match award for conor

 

He may have been on the losing side but Mullingar born flanker, Conor Gilsenan claimed a deserved ‘Man of the Match’ award as London Irish went under to Leicster Tigers in their opening LV=Cup clash on Saturday.

A crowd of 5,000 spectators flocked to the Madejski Stadium where the Exiles came up just short, with the bare minimum separating the sides at the finish (16-17).

On home turf London Irish dominated both possession and territory for large parts of the game but found difficulty in unhinging the Tigers defence.

Myles Dorrian kicked 11 points for the Exiles to add to Guy Armitage’s late try that gave the Exiles hope of victory, but the final whistle came too quickly for the rallying home side.

Against the run of play Leicester ran in a converted try and an exchange of penalties left the game finally balanced at 3-10. A couple of Dorrian kicks closed the gap to the minimum but when Roberto Barbieri streaked in for another converted try ten minutes from time, the writing was on the wall.

Four minutes from the end. Connor Murphy came on at scrum half and forced the pace with two quick phases before Guy Armitage cut in to score to the right of the posts. Dorrian added the extras to make it a one point game at 16-17 with three minutes left to set up a tense finale.

Credit to Irish as they looked to claim the win by running the ball from well inside their own 22, however Leicester’s defence were able to suffocate Irish and won the turnover that ended the contest.

For his part in the Exiles battle for victory, flanker, Conor Gilsenan was named as ‘Man of the Match’ immediately after the full time whistle.

London Irish travel to Adams Park next Sunday for round two of the LV=Cup where they will take on Wasps in Wycombe for the last time before their move to Coventry.