All Ireland Club Championship 1975
St.Mary’s College RFC
Reeling in the years
1975
Saturday, May 3rd
Sunday, May 4th.
An historical report by Michael Glynn
Their Finest Hour
Fifty years ago, on the first weekend in May, our 1st XV won the All Ireland Club Championship
The year was 1975, the Centenary of the IRFU and each of the four Provinces were asked to contribute to the celebrations. The Munster Branch decided to revive the All Ireland Club Championships. De facto this was a revival of the Bateman Cup which was last played for in 1939 and won by Blackrock College. That tournament was originally introduced in the 1921/1922 season and named in memory of Major Reginald John Godfrey Bateman and Captain Arthur Cyril Bateman who lost their lives during WW1.
The weekend brought together the four leading clubs from the Provinces that season; Garryowen from Munster, Galwegians from Connaught, Bangor from Ulster and St. Mary’s College from Leinster. All four had come out on top in their respective Provinces.
The St. Mary’s team qualified by winning the Leinster Senior Cup. We played Old Wesley on Saturday, 26th of April and drew. This meant that we had a replay on Thursday , May 1st. We duly won that match and had a day to recover before the semi-finals of the Centenary Club Championship in Thomond Park. Naturally the Cup win was well celebrated so there was little rest for the wicked.
We travelled to Limerick on the Saturday morning, mostly by train but I went by car with Johnny Moloney and Miriam. Our Captain, Terry Young was unable to travel due to army commitments so Johnny deputised. We checked in to the Glentworth Hotel which was our base for the weekend. After a light lunch a coach collected us to bring us to Thomond Park. Bangor were on the same bus and there was some lively banter between Sean Lynch and Billy McCombe, two fellow Internationals.
The match went well for us and we won comfortably. Garryowen won the other semi-final so it was all set up for an epic final with Garryowen, firm favourites with the home crowd. There were two renowned past pupils of the College on the Garryowen team sheet; namely Séamus Deering and Tony Ward. Both would have been classmates of some of our team and great friends with others. However close association and deep friendships cannot be allowed to surface in such a competitive environment.
That Saturday evening a few of us visited a local hostelry to help us relax before the big day; we were greeted by the local coalman who thought some of us ‘looked like rugby players’ and wanted to know why we were in town; when we explained he exclaimed “ Oh, the Bateman Cup; I was on the Young Munster team that won that in 1928” ; he took a photo from his wallet and pointed to his picture. That was the day when Young Munster, against all the odds, beat a star-studded Lansdowne team led by the great Ernie Crawford. And we thought we were going out for a quiet drink, incognito.
When we returned to the Hotel we found Liam Hall, the Garryowen scrumhalf, waiting for us; he was on crutches and he was on a mission to keep as many of us up as late as he possibly could; none of the players took the bait and we got a good night’s sleep, the first since Wednesday.
Match Report
The match was highly competitive as was to be expected and it didn’t take long for the intimidation to start. Henry Murphy was tackled legally but their winger decided to add his boot to the proceedings so all hell broke loose. I think they realised then that that type of intimidation was not going to work. Shortly after that we had a scrum and Johnny Moloney was accused of not putting the ball in straight. That would be laughable in today’s game but then it was taken quite seriously. Tony Ward kicked the penalty and shortly afterwards a similar situation occurred. The referee was Paddy Darcy, an International referee but from Limerick; again it was a penalty for not putting the ball in straight and Darcy said to Johnny; “you know Mr. Moloney continuous infringement is a sending off offence “. So not alone were we being intimidated by the opposition but the referee was also lending a hand.
We were getting on top and a dynamic ruck, left of their posts, produced a ball which was moved quickly to the right wing and Tom Grace scored in the corner; he converted himself and we were leading, 9-6; they converted another penalty which left the score 9-9 at half time.
A brass band came on to entertain the crowd and played the Garryowen Marching Song for the home team; for us they played ‘Way down upon the Swanee River’; you wouldn’t want to be too sensitive.
We were in a huddle on the pitch during the break and discussing the situation; it was mentioned that as things stood we were winning the game, which was news to some; the rules of the competition stated that in the event of a draw, the team with the most tries wins. Tom Grace wasn’t happy with hearsay so he went to the half way line and approached the VIP box; he put the question to them; there was some disagreement, with Garryowen officials claiming that that rule only applied to the semi-finals, but they were overruled and, yes, the team with the most tries would win.
We started the second half at a high tempo and crossed their line only to be denied a try by a knock-on; the game continued at the same high tempo, both sides having their moments and the play going from end to end; there was one more flare-up, as I remember it, and they didn’t come out on top of that one either; neither side scored so the game ended 9-9 and we won.
After the Presentation there was little time to celebrate as we had to catch the 6.30pm train back to Dublin. In retrospect we should have stayed the Sunday night but unlike this weekend, fifty years later on, there was no Labour Day holiday then on the Monday so all had to get back for work.
When we got back to the club, expecting a crowd to celebrate with, there was hardly anyone and we were informed that this was the final night at the clubhouse as we were moving to Templeville Road.
Those of us who did arrive had a few drinks, took a souvenir or two and congratulated each other on a job well done.
There was a Dinner held in the College on the 19th of May to acknowledge and celebrate the winning of both the Leinster Senior Cup and the Club Championship of Ireland.
A prominent rugby scribe of the day used the phrase ‘ Their Finest Hour’ and went on to say that ‘St. Mary’s College emerged victorious, claiming the laurels of the Centenary Club Championship. Their triumph was a testament to their skill, determination and teamwork and added a new chapter to the history of that great club’.
Mick Glynn.
