J4 - 2013/14

11/01/2014

2:30pm

Metro Div 6

Guinness

15 - 23

St. Marys J4 XV

Away

J4 XV 23-15 Guinness

The J4’s played their first game of 2014 on Saturday in the Iveagh Grounds against Guinness. The previous meeting of the two sides in Templeville was a tight game with the J4’s getting the win. Just like the J5’s the night before, the J4’s were also wearing their brand new jerseys!!

The opening exchanges of the game were tight. The St Mary’s team working hard in attack. Their hard work paid off after 11 minutes with a penalty which Dave Daly converted. 3-0. On 17 minutes they got another penalty which Daly again converted. 6-0. 21 minutes in after some great attacking play prop Jamie MacRae took on the ball in the Guinness 22. He handed off a few tacklers and went over for the try. Some great play. Daly got the conversion. 13-0. As the half wore on it continued to be a tough battle. Both teams defending hard. With 4 minutes to go before half time, Caolan Smith got the ball on his wing inside the Guinness half. He made a great break up the line and his pace got him over the line for the try. Daly converted. 20-0. The last 3 minutes of the half were spent inside our 22. Guinness attacking our line. Eventually just on the stroke of half time they got through our line. Half time score was 20-5.

The second half was a lot tighter affair. Guinness trying to play their way back into the game. With 18 minutes to go we got a penalty which Daly got. It put the scores 23-5 to us. For the rest of the half Guinness came back at us with prolonged spells in attacked. They went over for a try with around 10 minutes to go. 23-10. In the last play of the game Guinness went over in the corner. Final score 23-15.

Next up, like the J5’s, is the D6W Derby game on Saturday in Templeville against Terenure.

22/02/2014

12:00pm

Metro Div 6

St. Marys J4 XV

19 - 15

Monkstown

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St Mary’s College RFC J4s V Monkstown J4s.

19 15

J4 Metro League 6

Templeville Road

Saturday 22^nd February 2014.

St. Marys picked up where they left off from their recent victory over local rivals Terenure with a hard fought win over Monkstown.

The game began with a blistering pace with Monkstown receiving possession from the kickoff and coming close to scoring with their first attack but the Mary’s defence held firm to keep them out. After this early scare, St. Marys began to work their way up the field. The referee was very strict on policing the breakdown and Mary’s forwards found it tough to adapt to his interpretation of it. As the half progressed our backline began to repeatedly threaten the Monkstown defence and some good link up play between the forwards and backs allowed Peter Daly to cross over for the first score of the game. After this score, St. Mary’s spent the majority of the first half in their own half defending repeated attacks Monkstown. Some heroic defending repelled wave after wave of crash balls from Monkstown and put in some big tackles to keep Monkstown at bay. Monkstown eventually did receive the try that their first half dominance merited. The score came in unusual circumstances with a loose ball coming off the back of our scrum appeared to have been touched down by a Mary’s player but the referee awarded a try to Monkstown. The conversion was missed leaving the score at 5-5 at half time.

The second half began poorly with St. Mary’s struggling to defend against a strong Monkstown attack who kept up their momentum from the first half. Monkstown controlled possession and were soon in for their second try of the game after eventually breaking down the Mary’s the defence and the conversion was also successful leaving Mary’s 12-5 down. Soon after this Monkstown successfully kicked over a penalty leaving Mary’s 15-5 down with only fifteen minutes remaining. This spurred on the team to try and salvage the game and Mary’s finally sprang in to action, an excellent backline move ended with David Daly outrunning the Monkstown defence on the wing and touching down for a try. However the Monkstown touch judge ruled that Daly was in touch and the try was not given. The team battled on after this and from several phases of battering the Monkstown defence on their own line, Mark Byrne was in for his second try in as many games. David Daly got the conversion and with five minutes remaining Mary’s pushed on looking for the win. The lads pressed on again and with only a minute remaining Mary’s won a free kick off a scrum for repeated infringements from Monkstown. Several phases of attack play and Mary’s were on the Monkstown line and with an overlap on the wings Lee Kelly received a wide pass and was in the winning score. David Daly kicked the conversion and the game ended 19-15 to cap off an excellent comeback victory. Although the lads made life difficult at times during the second half the team rallied excellently in the final quarter and this performance will stand them in good stead for the cup. The final league game of the season takes place on the 5^th of March versus Clontarf in Castle Avenue.

David Browne

05/03/2014

8:00pm

Metro Div 6

Clontarf

12 - 0

St. Marys J4 XV

Away

J4 XV 0-12 Clontarf

Last night the J4’s played their final Metro League Division 6 game last night away to Clontarf in Castle Avenue. Unfortunately due to a result that went again us the last weekend our playoff chances were gone.

This was a very tight game the whole way through. Clontarf got the better of the breaks earlier on but our defence stood strong and we held them out. Unfortunately we missed a penalty to take the lead. Midway through the half Clontarf got over for a try. 0-5. That is the way it stayed for the rest of the half with both sides having changes. Our pack standing strong to the Tarf driving maul.

Clontarf get an earlier try in the 2nd half which they converted. 0-12. We had another missed penalty soon after. As the half wore on we became stronger. The majority of the last 20 minutes were spent inside the Clontarf half. We were unlucky that the scoring changes didn’t come. 12-0 to Clontarf is the way it finished.

Despite the result, it was a great effort all round from the St Mary’s men, particular the pack. The result see us finish 4th in the table. A great achievement from a team that was in a rebuilding phase at the start of the season. The performance last night will help get the lads ready for the cup campaign.

21/03/2014

8:00pm

F

St. Marys J4 XV

3 - 7

CYM

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St Mary’s College RFC V CYM.

3 7

Friendly

Friday 21^st March 2014.

It wasn’t an evening for beautiful rugby as CYM ground out a close victory over St. Marys in a challenge match on Friday night in Templeville. The game wasn’t helped by a heavy rain shower before the game which rendered the pitch more like a swimming pool in parts. Both teams were using the game as experimentation for their upcoming cup matches, CYM started the stronger with a strong attack that St. Marys struggled to get to grips with. In the early stages of the game a few missed tackles allowed a mazy run for CYM forward to get in for the game’s only try. St. Marys did start to play to the conditions and began a spell of dominance in the first half with some solid forward running which allowed us to spend the majority of the half in the CYM end but unfortunately couldn’t capitalise on their dominance. The second half was much of the same with St. Marys controlling the play in the opening stages and scoring a penalty for their efforts. CYM did get back into the half but were unable to extend their lead and the game ended 7-3. Despite the result St. Marys will benefit from the experience against opposition that are in a higher league and they demonstrated one of their best scrummaging performances of the season and the lineoutswere solid. We had a large squad out and everyone got someone gametime to keep them sharp for the cup. Also special thanks to Flats who had the unenviable task of the refereeing the game and stepped in at very short notice.

The J4s take on Tallaght away in Tymon Park in the Winters Cup this Saturday and hope everyone can come out and cheer on the lads.