26.03.2011 J2 XV v Lansdowne (H)
| 26/03/2011 | 6:30pm | League | St. Marys J2 XV | 23 – 16 | Lansdowne | Home |
St. Mary’s J2 23 Lansdowne J2 16 – CHAMPIONS!
A great end to a great league campaign. It was brilliant to have such huge numbers supporting us and it made the difference in the end. Captain Mikey Houlihan led his team to their fourth trophy in three years, a fitting end to a hard won league. All the lads have put in so much hard work that it is great to get the reward. We were also delighted to win it for our President Ronnie McBrien, Dave Donohoe and his Rugby Council who have given us such strong support all year.
Awesome forward play led to our first score with Peter Barrett crashing over early. Penalties were keeping this skilful and dogged Lansdowne team in it but we scored a super try with Joey Connolly finding Eoin Keane on the wing with a long looping pass and Big Keaner did the rest running in like a winger. The decisive score came from a class bit of play from Kevin Gallivan. Mucker tapped a free kick outside their 22 and gave it to Kev who made an incredible run to score in the corner – Gallivan is quality and he has won many a game for us on his own. The fact that he came off the bench shows how lucky we are to have such great players. Charlo Connolly’s kicking did the rest and we endured a nervous end before closing out the win.
The coaching/management team of Derek Gately, Colm Barry, Alan Shirley and Mick O’Connor deserve great credit for all the hard work during the year. We now play Lansdowne again in the cup next Saturday – can’t wait! Thanks to Tony for looking after us after the game. A couple of quiet pints were had…..
Stephen Shirley.
15. J Kennedy 14. J Buggy 13. J Verdon 12. C Connolly 11. B Cahill 10. J Connolly 9. E Mucker 1. M Houlihan (C) 2. P Barrett 3. R Goode 4. G McInerney 5. E Keane 6. P Foran 7. B Brophy 8. Louis Burke.
Subs: K Gallivan, J Dunne , D Drumm, G Foran, K Lannon.