10.04.2010 J4 XV v DLSP (A)

10/04/20101:00pmWinter’s CupDe La Salle Palmerstown8 – 18St. Marys J4 XVAway

The J4’s continued their defence of the Col. Winters Cup against DLSP in Kirwan Park on Saturday, in a game played in glorious sunshine.

Mary’s started well and should have had a try early on but for a knock-on by wing Paul Whyte while trying to touch down. In fairness to him, he later made a try-saving tackle in our own in-goal area, wrapping up a DLSP player and preventing the touchdown.

Mary’s soon had a numerical advantage after the referee brandished the yellow card for a dangerous tackle, but Teddy was unable to convert the penalty into points.

Mary’s were winning some good lineout ball on the DLSP throw and after a lineout was mauled up to the line out wide, Marc McKay crashed over for the opening score and gave Mary’s a 5-0 lead.

DLSP soon cut the lead to 5-3 however, converting a penalty in front of the posts.

After conceding a penalty in midfield, some dissent from DLSP gave Teddy a chance to extend the lead with the boot, and he duly did so. 8-3 to Mary’s

DLSP discipline was an issue throughout the match and they were down to 14 again when one of their players was binned for elbowing terrier-like centre Paul Moran as he was attempting to tackle the DLSP player.

From a subsequent penalty, taken quickly by scrum-half Ross Wynne, DLSP conceded a further 10 metres for not retreating and Teddy extended the lead to 11-3 at half time.

The heat was taking its toll on the energy levels of both sides and the second half began slowly but on the hour Mary’s pack mauled a lineout into the DLSP half, won the penalty and kicked down the line. The subsequent lineout maul was stopped short but when the ball was flashed out, full-back Darragh O’Neill took a great line to score under the posts. Ted added the extras to make it 18-3.

DLSP managed to crash over for a consolation try before the end to make it 18-8. Despite being down to 14 men for the last 10 minutes after No. 8 Padraig Nestor saw yellow after the referee had warned Mary’s for infringing at the breakdown, Mary’s played out the remaining time to secure a quarter final with local rivals Terenure next Saturday.

Gavin Rafferty

15. D. O’Neill 14. P. Whyte 13. D. Carpenter 12. P. Moran 11. C. Hui 10. B. Moran 9. R. Wynne 8. P. Nestor 7. B. Campbell 6. M. McKay 5. A. O’Hanlon 4. K. McArdle 3. J. Nolan 2. E. Moran 1. A. Godfrey