23.10.2010 J4 XV v Clontarf (H)

23/10/20103:00pmLeagueSt. Marys J4 XV6 – 3ClontarfHome



The J4’s played Clontarf in Templeville Road on Saturday and eked out a win in our second league match of the season.

Clontarf started strongly with their line-out maul proving an effective tool that kept them deep in the Mary’s half for much of the opening 25 minutes. They were unable to convert this territory and possession into points however, with the Mary’s on top in the scrums and some fantastic defence to hold up Clontarf men over the line on two occasions. All Clontarf had to show for the early pressure was a missed penalty.

Mary’s fought their way back into the game towards the end of the half and looked threatening every time the ball went wide but the last pass just wouldn’t go to hand. Clontarf kicked a penalty on 33 minutes and Mary’s were firmly back in the game with Teddy narrowly missing a penalty to level things. Clontarf went in to the break 3-0 up.

Mary’s started the second half strongly and earned another shot at goal which again was narrowly missed, but Teddy made no mistake from just inside the 10 metre line ten minutes into the second half to level the scores at 3-3.

Mary’s enjoyed a healthy amount of possession in the second half with the referee beginning to penalise the Clontarf side for persistent offside and infringing at the breakdown – offences which had remained unpunished in the first half. Teddy kicked another penalty to make it 6-3 to Mary’s but we were unable to convert our try-scoring chances with too many final passes being forced. A little more composure and the score would have been more in the blues favour, but the lads were happy to take the win.

Final score 6-3 to Mary’s.

15. P. Whyte 14. N. Cunningham 13. D. Carpenter 12. P. Moran 11. C. Hui 10. B. Moran 9. R. Wynne 8. P. Nestor 7. T. Henderson 6. P. Conway (c) 5. N. Conway 4. J. Twomey 3. A. Godfrey 2. E. Moran 1. R. Kelly