1st XV v UCD (H) by D. O’Brien 19.03.2018

St Marys College RFC V UCD RFC

7 23

Templeville Road

Monday 19th March 2018.

AIL Division 1A

Overall

Trudging through snow drifts and involuntarily practising double flips, with pike; and backwards somersaults with roll, has been our lot as we awaited this truly vital AIL. There was a reasonably good support present on an icily cold day; maybe the claustrophobia overcame the agoraphobia and this with the innate club love, won out. The dynamic and daring display against Lansdowne last time out a month ago, engendered optimism and belief.

However, it would have to be agreed that this was not a memorable game, although the Six Nations Grand Slam game on Saturday last, spoiled the senses and made miracles mundane. That said, there was a lot of endeavour and genuine spirit from both sides, this was, however, liberally sprinkled with inaccuracies and errors. The balance eventually, fairly fell on the right side to the academics and they went “ad Astra” as the UCD motto advises its students to do.

Having mentioned the Grand Slam, at this stage on behalf of all the ordinary members of our club, the astonishing Joe Schmidt’s Irish team must be congratulated and particularly our four star players, Jonathan (Johno) Sexton, Jack McGrath, Jordan Larmour and Sean Cronin. It has been a phenomenal joy for all of us. We congratulate too, Paul Dean, our former outhalf, triple-crown winner and current Irish team manager; also IRFU video analyst. Vincent Hammond. Thank you all.

No one likes excuses or platitudes, but the difficulties faced by the home side should at least be realised. Besides the usual list of injured players out, and those that had prior holiday breaks planned, [it being a blank weekend for AIL], there were three late cry-offs by key players. Work took Cathal O’Flaherty away and, reliable and dedicated David O’Connor and Darren Moroney, had personal reasons. On a positive note, great credit must go to Conor Dean [son of Paul], who was involved in the U20 Six Nations on Friday and who, on rest for a week post tournament, came on for the second half to help his club. David Aspil was a welcome returnee from injury. Early the game, unfortunately, highly motivated Nick McCarthy, took a knock on his shoulder.

The long layoff without a game showed on both teams, especially in the first half when the ball was run wide, time after time, without line breaks or any great forward movement or thrust. The scrums were fairly even throughout the game and both sides had limited success at the lineout. In the first half two penalties from outhalf, Mathew Gilsenan, [son of our John], for UCD. The second half saw confidence grow in the UCD team, in fact this may have been the slight overall difference between the teams. This confidence translated into a more direct approach and three tries scored to one. The St Marys’ try, 53 minutes into the game, was scored in the well corner, by Craig Kennedy, after persistent attack. Fine Kicker that he is, Seanie Kearns converted from the touchline.

Marcus O’Driscoll, at 13, tried hard to marshal the defence and tackled bravely throughout. Tight head prop, Adam Coyle, who has been training with Leinster over the past number of weeks, put this experience to good effect as he sustained a high level of work in defence and attack for the entire game. He relished all the effort and made constant ground with the ball, then used it effectively. He was a worthy recipient of the SoftCo MoM award.

Scoring sequence:-

5 min, pen; UCD, 37 min, pen Half Time 0-3.
47 min converted try UCD, 0-13. 53 min try St Marys, 7-13, 72 min, try UCD 7-18, 79 min try UCD 7-23.

Final Score 7-23.

In only five days’ time, we visit intense rivals and neighbours, (and well rested) Terenure College RFC, who are currently sailing sublimely through the league campaign and are currently second on the table. We will need to play as we did against Lansdowne, with a bit extra, to get a result. Going back over 78 years, stories and memories of jousts from the past make up the heroic history of both our clubs; and the fact that the rivalry endures to this day is proof of the value of club rugby and all that goes with it. Games resounded like hard hammers bouncing on spark spewed anvils. The extreme rivalry on the field, ironically, has produced, fast-bound friendships going down the decades, unshakeable as the rivalry still reborn with each new match. Playing against Nure will indubitably, ensure frantic effort; we need that plus a lot more. One thing that this season has shown, that there are superb performances in Ciaran Ruddock’s side, we have to believe; Saturday will bring one of them.

D O’Brien

Team (Rolling Replacements X12)

15 M Timmons, 14 C Kennedy, 13 Marcus O’Driscoll, 12 M Carey, 11 R Glynn, 10 S Kearns, 9 P O’Driscoll, 8 N McCarthy, 7 R Watters, 6 D Aspil, 5 J Dilger, 4 C Ruddock (Capt), 3 A Coyle, 2 R Halpin, 1 T O’Reilly, H Kean, E Ferron, L Corcoran, C Dean, C Gilsenan,