04.10.2014 1st XV v Cork Con (H)

St Mary’s College RFC V Cork Constitution FC

15 26

Templeville Road

AIL Division 1 A

Saturday 4^th October 2014.

Overall

A chill wind blew across Templeville Road heralding an autumnal change and a difficult day for us. After last week’s performance great hope prevailed. The hope proved unfounded, for we were out powered by Cork Con. Yes, it was power and penetration that brought about our demise. As we always expect from Con, they had a well-drilled team that rucked hard. They had a pack that was direct and more powerful than we were. We were anything but pusillanimous, but on the day, our pack could not match the power. Once again our lineouts did not work. And although our scrum was in control early on, that dominance waned and so we were starved of possession for long periods and therefore could not bring our backs, which looked potent, into play.

Now, I am not going to be sententious or make inane excuses, however, there are reasons to be positive. We have our captain, Kevin Sheahan, who was a big loss today, to return. Darragh Frawley shall be back too for the next game, adding power and an outstanding lineout target. We will also see the return from Leinster A duty, of Cathal Marsh and Sean Mc Carthy and from injury, Brian Mc Govern, Steve Toal-Lennon, Mark Sexton and Darragh Keller. All of these factors should make a substantial difference and with three weeks to work on our lineouts and power game, we can have optimism. It is sad to relate that Robbie Hudson who has been a dedicated and valuable 12 over the past number of seasons is leaving to take up a post in London, he will be very much missed in all respects and we will all wish him the very best. The entire Hudson family have been valuable assets to St Marys.

There were too, some promising performances today, the backrow worked hard and once again Nick Timoney had a signal performance and never stopped probing and covering and he was my Marys’ man of the match. The three quarter line, although starved of possession, generally defended well and looked sharp with whatever ball they got, Marcus O’Driscoll was particularly dangerous and active and David Fanagan looked dazzling on occasions and demonstrated his potential; he also scored a brilliant individual try.

In fact, Marys scored two tries as did Con. Both our tries were excellent individual efforts, the first came at the end of the first half when we were awarded a penalty in front to the posts outside the 22 and Robbie Glynn alertly tapped and when the move was halted deep into the 22, Con were penalised and Robbie audaciously tapped and went again, slipped the ball to Richie Sweeney who had the determined strength to plunge and stretch over, Gavin Dunne converted. At the end of the second half, when attacking deep into the Con half, a ruck formed and David Fanagan, then at scrumhalf, broke from the back, skipped around an array of defenders then arced around the last line to score.

A long-time loyal member, who now lives in Australia, Paddy Drennan, had come up with old friends Jim Murray and Steve Treacy Snr (with son Glenn). It was good to see Paddy, although no doubt he was disappointed with the result.

Our next game is away, against Ballynahinch on 1^st November and it is hoped that there will be a good response from supporters, with a big number heading north.

Scoring sequence:

3 min try M Keyes, con D Lyons, 0 – 7.

7 min pen G Dunne, 3 – 7.

17 min try R Jermyn; con D Lyons, 3 – 14.

21 min pen D Lyons 3 – 17.

42 min try Richie Sweeney; con G Dunne 10 – 17.

49 min pen D Lyons 10 – 20.

66 min pen D Lyons 10 – 23.

71 min pen D Lyons 10 – 26.

83 min try D Fanagan 15 – 26.

D O’Brien

The Team (Rollingsubstitutions)

15 D Fanagan, 14 C Toolan, 13 R O’Loughlin, 12 Rob Hudson, 11 M O’Driscoll, 10 G Dunne, 9 R Glynn 8 N Timoney, 7 B O’Flanagan, 6 Richard Sweeney, 5 C Ruddock, 4 K McKenna, 3 Robert Sweeney, 2 R O’Donovan, 1 T O’Reilly,

R Allen, N Murphy, M Fallon, M Donnellan, H Mc Donnell.