25.04.2009 J2 XV v Terenure (A)
| 25/04/2009 | 3:00p.m. | Cup | Terenure | 10 – 23 | St. Marys J2 XV | Away |
St. Mary’s College J2 V Terenue J2
23 10
We are the Champions! The J2’s secured the historic league and cup double last Saturday afternoon, beating our great rivals terenure and achieving un beaten season in the process. This was a huge occasion for the team and management, not only was it a cup final but it was against the team that we have been battling against for the last two seasons in both competitions and who knocked us out of the cup last year, all this resulted in a very intense and physical game.
Before kick off the point was made by the coaches that we needed to start well and get ourselves into the game early. This is exactly what happened, the pack went through the phases very well and with the wise head of Eoin McCormack guiding us at the base we controlled the first 10 minutes. After a sustained passage of play and some excellent hard yards gained by Graham Foran Joey Connolly got the ball in midfield just outside the terenure 22, there was a wall of defenders in front of him but somehow he managed to evade three tackles and with great acceleration he sprinted in under the posts for an excellent try which he converted. Alan Conboy from full back had a great day with his boot and certainly made the forwards happy with some Ronan O’Gara like touch finders, under this kind of pressure terenure gave away a penalty in front of the pasts which joey converted. Indeed had we been more accurate with other penalties the gap in the scoreline could have been wider. At 10-0 ahead we looked to be in control however terenure came back at us and in the final ten minutes of the first half we were camped on our line and it was only some heroic defence, especially from Robbie Hudson at first center, kept the line intact. They did manage a penalty to bring the scoreline at half time to 10-3.
The second began like the first had ended with terenure enjoying a lot of early possession and again our defence was strong, especially around the fringes with Paul Collins and Kevin Gallivan putting in some huge hits. Our next score came from Jack Buggy, Joey put a lovely chip into the terenure 22 and the ball bounced right into the hands of Buggy who got hit just as he caught it, but managed to pull himself up and crash over the line. This was a huge score and put daylight between us. Terenure came back very strongly again and were putting us under a lot of pressure in our 22, then one of their moves in midfield broke down and barry cahill latched onto the ball and it went through a couple of hands and reached buggy again who showed great pace to run in from the halfway for the most dramatic score of our season. We knew we had it won then but fair play to terenure they never gave up and scored a late consolation try in the last few minutes. There was great celebration when the final whistle went from the players and supporters alike, to go a season unbeaten and win two trophies is really a great achievement and all involved deserve great credit.
15.Alan Conboy, 14 Barry Cahill, 13 Jack Buggy, 12 Robbie Hudson, 11 Alan Harrison, 10 Joey Connolly, 9 Eoin McCormack, 8 Kevin Gallivan, 7 Killian Lannen, 6 Rob Ryan, 5 Greame McInerney, 4 Graham Foran, 3 Mikey Houlihan, 2 Brian Moran, 1 Paul Collins
Subs used: Kenny McInerney for Collins, Ollie McCormack for Moran, Gareth Austin for Ryan, Garry Roche for Buggy, Ritchie McDonald for Lannen