J1 XV v Terenure (H) 10.04.2017 by D. O’Brien
St Mary’s College RFC J1 V Terenure College RFC J1
36 8
Semi Final Metro 1 Plate
Monday 10th April 2017.
Templeville Road
Overall
It has been a weekend to remember, after a bad start on Friday, it was a pleasure on Saturday in the sun, to watch a top class J4 team beat Belvedere in a scintillating game final. Then on Sunday at Merrion Road it was a joy to see a group of young Marys U20 lads give of their ultimate and produce a remarkable and memorable performance to win another cup, The Purcell Cup.
Tonight, on a cool bright night, the local rivalry was played out once again at J1 level and as is usually the case with Marys V Nure, it was a highly paced and highly entertaining game. It was played in a sporting manner throughout. The big difference between the sides was the handling; as Nure made far too many handling errors, often when in most advantageous positions.
This was a superb reward for the work of the team, Steve Bradshaw, Gareth, John, Ger and Mick, to reach the final of the Plate.
Both sides had a useful maul, in the lineouts and scrums, fortunes swayed, although at the breakdown Marys had an advantage, with our backrow in top form. It was intriguing to watch Darragh, Ethan and Mark working the breakdowns and their cover was excellent. Having both, Mark Fallon and Darragh Keller back from prolonged injury absences was encouraging. However, Darragh received a red card in the second half which seemed severe. It will now be a nerve wracking wait to see if he is available for Saturday. Mark is coming back to his best and was prominent throughout, his ball carrying was most impressive and for his overall contribution He was my MoM.
Other particularly good performances in the pack came from, Stephen O’Brien, Colm McDonnell, Neilo who also scored a try and the great warrior and captain, Peter Starrett, who had a productive day in the lineout, was prominent in the open and also scored a nice try.
The half backs too, were composed and accurate and both made significant contributions. Matt kicked well, ran the line with calm and scored the first try of the night. Ben, passed well, varied his game and weaved in from outside the 22, to score the brightest of tries. The backline handled better than they had been up to recently, and all acquitted themselves with élan.
The fitness was commendable and the hunger was there to be seen to the end. As would be always expected, Terenure ensured that to the end we had to fight and play to our best.
Now Steve and his colleagues have to prepare their charges for the final and they can face it with a fair degree of confidence.
Scoring
The game was only six minutes underway when Matt scored in the carpark corner and converted meant we led by 7 – 0. It was 18 minutes and the score was 7 – 3. And on 4 minutes, and after17 phases, Mark Fallon ran hard from ten metres to score a neat try, 14 – 3. This was the half time score.
On 57minutes, from a post lineout maul in Carvill Corner, the most popular Neilo, broke from the maul to score; it was 19 – 3. Ben Hoey got his fine try on 64 minutes, it was 26 minutes and Mark Fallon repeated Neilo’s feat for his second try on 69 minutes, it was 31 – 3. Then Terenure scored a good try in the Cabbage Patch end, 31 – 8 and finally Captain, Pater got over to make the final score 36 – 8.
D O’Brien
Team (Rolling replacements)
15 D Bowe, 14 Z O’Hagan, 13 M Joyce, 12 C Gilsenan, 11C J Kennedy, 10 M Tymmons , 9 B Hoey 8 M Fallon, 7 E Conroy, 6 D Keller, 5 C Mc Donnell, 4 P Starrett (Capt), 3 C Ryan, 2 S O’Brien, 1 N Murphy, L Moran, R Gillen, R McPhillips.