J3 XV — Season 2011/12

The J3's concluded their 4 match run of friendly games with an away trip to Ardee. This was a big night for Ardee as it was their first game under their new lights, unfortunately the weather did not accommodate us with a dry night! The game itself was a good work out for the team and we ran out comfortable 38-0 winners, the tries came from Simon O'Donnell (2), Gavin Thornbury (2), Niall Flyn & Stephen Mullin, conversions were by Alan Dalton & Darragh Mullins.

The apres match soup & sausages was supplied by Ardee in the local pub which was great and much appreciated by all, I would like to thank Ronnie Kavanagh and Ardee RFC for their hospitality and generosity, we hope to keep this fixture as an annual friendly.

The serious business starts this Sunday away to Sutton in our first league match of the season.

Templeville Road

The J3's played their first local derby of the season in Templeville road on Friday night in what was a tough hard fought game, which was won in the end by St. Mary's. The first half saw Terenure take a 7 point lead through a well taken try off a line-out, after a period of pressure we let Terenure out of their half to score a penalty to make it 10 nil. It was at this point that we came back into the game with a well taken penalty by Darragh Fitzgerald that put us on the score board at last. Unfortunately we were determined to keep our opposition in the game by giving away two soft penalties to keep the difference at 13 points. Pressure applied from the kick off saw us grab a foot hold in their 22 and a try by David Kennedy and conversion by Fitzgerald saw the half time score 16-10 to Terenure. The second half saw the game and the lead change hands twice with Terenure scoring any easy try and conversion to put them 23-10 up. St .Mary's in true fashion came back at them and a never say die attitude meant we scored tries through John Andreucetti and Eoin Lynangh and conversions by Fitzgerald & Alan Dalton put us 24-23 ahead with 10 minutes to go. This was a frantic period of the game where the match was in the balance and two soft penalties given away by St.Mary's which could have cost us the game were missed and we held out for a well deserved win. Unfortunately it came at a cost with John Andreucetti dislocating his shoulder, Kevin Quinn popping a rib cartilages & Darragh Fitzgerald damaging his neck and back. We wish them all well and a note of thanks to the Terenure lads who helped with the first aid and getting John to hospital. Our next challenge is Lansdowne at home this Friday!

Ruaidhri Moran

Templeville Road

The J3's suffered their first defeat in the league last Friday night to Lansdowne. It was a big disappointment to all of us as it was a match we could and should have won, but errors & lack on concentration gave Lansdowne an easy victory. The game was only 15 minutes old and we were already 17-0 down, however when we did put pressure on Lansdowne we came back to 23-13 at half time with tries from Neal Flynn & Brian Donnelly and a penalty from Alan Dalton. Playing the second half with a strong wind and down the hill we expected to push on and take the game to Lansdowne but a penalty a piece was all that resulted. We were on the their line for the last 10 minutes trying to score a try that would have given us a losing bonus point but stout defending kept us out. However it is still within our control to win this league and we will do everything in our powers to ensure this happens, we look forward to travelling to Belvedere a week on Friday and in the mean time a lot hard work is required to get us back to winning ways.

Ruaidhri Moran

Ollie Campbell Park, Cabinteely

The J3 match Friday night last down in Belevdere can be best described in three words Good, Bad, Ugly. The good part this was the first 20 minutes of the game where we played some fantastic rugby and scored two converted tries and a penalty, by Simon O'Donnell, Niall Brew & kicks by Darragh Fitzgerald to put us 17-0 to the good. We were all over Belvedere and our pace and ball movement were good. The bad part was the next 20 minutes where we gifted two very soft tries to the opposition to leave us 17-12 up at the break, we were still in control and looked likely to win the game. The next 40 minutes was the ugly part with us loosing the half 24-3 to end up losing the game 20-36! The sense of shock at our 2nd half performance still lingers and we all need to take a long hard look at ourselves and put this right this was our first back to back defeats in the league in 4 years and is not acceptable. We will put this behind us and look forward to beating Greystones next Friday.

Team: Norton, Mullin, Nagle, Walsh, Fitzgerald, Flynn, O'Donnell, Brew, Short,Young,Thornbury, Devlin, Maher, Edgeworth, Murray.

Ruaidhri Moran

Donnybrook

The latest J3 match on Friday night ended in defeat for the third time this season, with a 24-16 loss to Old Wesley. It was a tale of two half's, the first where we played rugby for 25 minutes and took a 13-0 courtesy of two penalties and converted try from Ciaran Murphy. Then we gifted Wesley a try after we knocked on a quick trow on our own line! Wesley were now back in the game having been out of it up until that point. Another soft try just before half time left us 13-12. The second half saw Wesley take the lead with another try 17-13, we got back to within 1 point with another well taken penalty from Murphy 17-16, but from here on we conceded a converted try to Wesley and the game finished up 24-16. This leave us with a record of 3 wins and 3 losses, it will take a monumental effort by everyone involved with the J3's to win this league but nothing is impossible!

Ruaidhri Moran

Lakelands

The J3's suffered their 4th defeat of the league campaign which unfortunately ended our chances of winning it this year. On the positive side the lads played well and did themselves proud, we played some good rugby and scored two great tries, a fine individual effort from Darragh Mullins and a well worked backs try that was scored by Michael Craig and involved Graham Crawford and Mullins whose handling and support running helped Michael run 20 metres to score under the posts. Considering we were missing a number of players to exams and injury which left us short of a front row it was a fair result. A big thank you to the J5 boys (James, Anthony & Hugh) who stepped up and played two matches in two days, they did not look out place playing J3 rugby and are a credit to the J5's and the club. Our focus now turns to finishing the league campaign strongly and building towards the cup campaign.

Ruaidhri Moran

Lansdowne Road

The J3's went played their latest league match on the back pitch of the Aviva against Lansdowne and went down to their 5th defeat of the season. The game started with uncontested scrums as St.Mary's had no props to take the field. The game started well for us and we were putting Lansdowne under sever pressure but could not turn the pressure into points. Lansdowne took advantage of this and scored two unconverted tries to lead 10-0, a great intercept try by Graham Crawford saw us back in the game at 10-7. but Lansdowne scored 3 more tries before half time to lead 27-7 at the break. The second half was a much better for us as we scored 2 tries to finish the game 27-21. The second half was very encouraging as our performance showed great determination and skill to keep Lansdowne scoreless and two score two converted tries, we are now in the process of working towards the cup and putting a winning campaign together. A word of thanks to Michael Evans who stepped in as prop at the last minute and ended up on the wing and our president who talked me down off the roof of the Aviva over some of the decisions meted out by the referee!

Ruaidhri Moran

Templeville Road

The J3's got back to winning ways on Friday night with a 23-13 win over Belvedere, tries by Cathal Connolly (30 metre run!), Niall Brew and Darragh Devlin sealed a well deserved win. Considering we only had 15 men the win is all the sweeter. A thank you goes to Hugh Hogan and the U21 prop Ali who went straight from the training ground to playing 80 minutes and who played very well, a couple of mentions to Ciaran Murphy, Mark Browne, Cathal Connolly and Dave Kennedy who all stepped up to the mark at a couple of hours notice. The game itself was good in parts and we played some good rugby through both the backs and forwards and hopefully we can now work towards a good cup campaign. Finally a big thanks to the Shirley brothers for their invaluable help.

Ruaidhri Moran

Dr Hickey Park, Greystones

Suffice to say that the scoreline of 24-50 tells you all need to know about what occurred last Friday night in Greystones. This was the heaviest defeat suffered by the J3's in the last four years and probably the worst performance to match, we just gave up with 20 minutes to go and let a poor Greystones team put 50 points on us. That being said we could only muster 14 players and had to start with uncontested scrums as we only had 1 prop! If it had not been for Maurice Davin once again riding to the rescue with two players from his J5 squad we would have only had 12! well done to Andy Doran(scorer of 2 tries) and Tony Smith for agreeing to play in Greystones on a freezing Friday night, with players of this commitment St.Mary's College RFC will always be a great club.

The last 20 minutes apart the lads put in a phenomenal amount of work and played some good rugby in parts and we managed to gain a 4 try bonus point Brew, Crawford & Doran x2), but with the opposition using all of their 20 players it was a monumental task for the players to keep going for 80 minutes. On any other day we would have put Greystones to the sword but on this occasion circumstances did not allow this to happen.

We have put this behind us now and look towards our next two league matches with a view to winning both. A final note of thanks to Stephen & Alan Shirley who also tried to get players to play last Friday night, it's people like them and Mossy who make St.Mary's the club it is today.

Ruaidhri Moran

Templeville Road

The J3 restarted their season with a comprehensive 83-0 victory over CYM on Tuesday night last in Templeville. We scored 13 tries and played a good brand of rugby and kept playing for the entire match. CYM could not match our physicality or pace when we increased the tempo of the game and they visibly tired in the last 20 minutes of the game. We can only play what is on the pitch and the lads were clinical in all aspects of the game, all 19 players played their part and there is a confidence back that has been missing for a while and a belief that we can win the Moran Cup again. Thanks again to Mossy in supplying a player at short notice and to all the lads who put in a fine performance on the night, we are under no illusions that the task will be sterner once we come to play Trinity College in the next round.

Ruaidhri Moran

Templeville Road

The J3 2011/12 season drew to a close on Friday night with a 23-19 defeat to Lansdowne in the semi final of the Moran cup. The match itself was probably our best performance all season and we really could have given nothing more! playing for 20 minutes with 14 men also proved to be a handicap that we just couldn't over come. The lads played with purpose, intensity and desire to win this game but injuries to our captain Alex Mullin and Cathal Connolly did not help the cause, hard as it is to admit Lansdowne were the better team on the night and they withstood a mighty onslaught from the St.Mary's to keep us from getting the try needed to win the game. So ends a season that promised much at the beginning but was ultimately disappointing in its conclusion, I would like to thank those lads who trained all year in all weathers and just enjoy playing rugby for their club and to Alex the captain who was there hail, rain or injured through a trying season. Thanks To Des Jackson, Rachel Doolin,Richard Andreucetti & Donal Swift who put in some Trojan work throughout the year to train and condition the lads and try and make them better players,last but not least John Ayling who manages to be at every game no matter where on his bus pass!

This is my last report for the J3's as I have decided to take a break after four years at the helm and would like to firstly thank the 3 captains that I have worked with, Gavin Edgeworth, Brian Young & Alex Mullin, who were always pleasure to work with and whose company I enjoyed. The J2 boys Alan & Stephen Shirley, Maurice Davin (J5) & Hugh Hogan (U21) for all their support and players, junior rugby in the club would not function only for those boys, true club men one and all! To the directors of rugby who listened patiently as I ranted on about players etc. your support & patience was much appreciated. Dermot Ferris, Bobby O'Connor & Donal Joyce who were at the beginning of this epic adventure and finally to all the lads who played over the years and are the main reason why I did this job for so long their humour or lack of in some cases was infectious and the myriad of excuses for not training were never dull or straight forward, to all of you thanks.

The best moment? beating Terenure 10-0 to win the Moran Cup two years!!

Ruaidhri Moran

St. Mary's: 1 Shane O'Connell, 2 Brian Young, 3 Stephen Doyle, 4 Darragh Devlin, 5 Gavin Thornberry, 6 Simon Nagle, 7 David Flood, 8 Stephen Murray, 9 Simon O'Donnell, 10 Darragh Mullins, 11 Kevin Quinn, 12 Michael Craig, 13 Darragh Fitzgerald, 14 Alex Mullin, 15 Joe Norton.

Replacements: 16 Gavin Edgeworth, 17 Alan Dalton, 18 Alan McNamara, 19 Brian McNamara, 20 Brian Donnelly.

St. Mary's: 1 Shane O'Connell, 2 Gavin Edgeworth, 3 Stephen Doyle, 4 Darragh Devlin, 5 Gavin Thornberry, 6 Stephen Murray, 7 David Flood, 8 David Kennedy, 9 Simon O'Donnell, 10 Darragh Fitzgerald, 11 Niall Flynn, 12 Simon Nagle, 13 John Andreucetti, 14 Eoin Lynagh, 15 Joe Norton.

Replacements: 16 William Andreucetti, 17 Brian Donnelly, 18 Alan Dalton, 19 Darragh Mullins, 20 Kevin Quinn.

St. Mary's: 1 Shane O'Connell, 2 Brian Young, 3 Stephen Doyle, 4 Darragh Devlin, 5 Gavin Thornberry, 6 Stephen Murray, 7 Brian Donnelly, 8 Niall Brew, 9 Simon O'Donnell, 10 Alan Dalton, 11 Niall Flynn, 12 Michael Craig, 13 Simon Nagle, 14 Alex Mullin, 15 Joe Norton.

Replacements: 16 Gavin Edgeworth, 17 Brian Brophy, 18 Eoin Lynagh, 19 Darragh Mullins, 20 Adrian Byrne.

St. Mary's: 1 Jonathan Molloy, 2 Brian Young, 3 Robert Maher, 4 Darragh Devlin, 5 Gavin Thornberry, 6 Stephen Murray, 7 Brendan Shortt, 8 Niall Brew, 9 Simon O'Donnell, 10 Darragh Fitzgerald, 11 Niall Flynn, 12 Stephen Walsh, 13 Simon Nagle, 14 Alex Mullin, 15 Joe Norton.

Replacements: 16 Gavin Edgeworth, 17 Eoin Lynagh, 18 Darragh Mullins, 19 Adrian Byrne.

St. Mary's: 1 Stephen Doyle, 2 Brian Young, 3 Robert Maher, 4 Darragh Devlin, 5 Gavin Thornberry, 6 Rob Ryan, 7 Brian Donnelly, 8 Niall Brew, 9 Simon O'Donnell, 10 Darragh Fitzgerald, 11 Niall Flynn, 12 Michael Craig, 13 Simon Nagle, 14 Alex Mullin, 15 Darragh Mullins.

Replacements: 16 Stephen Murray, 17 Marc McKay, 18 Joe Norton, 19 Graham Crawford, 20 Eoin Lynagh.

St. Mary's: 1 Robert Maher, 2 Brian Young, 3 Stephen Doyle, 4 Brian Donnelly, 5 Darragh Devlin, 6 Simon Nagle, 7 Philip Conway, 8 David Kennedy, 9 Simon O'Donnell, 10 Ciarán Murphy, 11 Niall Flynn, 12 Michael Craig, 13 Graham Crawford, 14 Alex Mullin, 15 Joe Norton.

Replacements: 16 Gavin Edgeworth, 17 James McHale, 18 Stephen Murray, 19 Michael Evans.

St. Mary's: 1 Gavin Edgeworth, 2 Brian Young, 3 Stephen Doyle, 4 Darragh Devlin, 5 Stephen Murray, 6 David Kennedy, 7 Brian Brophy, 8 Graham Foran, 9 Simon O'Donnell, 10 Ciarán Murphy, 11 Alex Mullin, 12 Simon Nagle, 13 Graham Crawford, 14 Eoin Lynagh, 15 Joe Norton.

Replacements: 16 Darragh Mullins.

St. Mary's: 1 Marc McKay, 2 Brian Young, 3 Gareth Hennessy, 4 Darragh Devlin, 5 Gavin Thornberry, 6 Rob Ryan, 7 Brian Brophy, 8 David Kennedy, 9 Simon O'Donnell, 10 Ciarán Murphy, 11 Niall Flynn, 12 Simon Nagle, 13 Graham Crawford, 14 Cormac Treacy, 15 Joe Norton.

Replacements: 16 James Nolan, 17 Brian Donnelly, 18 Michael Craig, 19 Alan Dalton, 20 Darragh Mullins.

St. Mary's: 1 David Browne, 2 Brian Young, 3 Stephen Doyle, 4 Brian Donnelly, 5 Darragh Devlin, 6 Fionan Henry, 7 Brian Brophy, 8 Niall Brew, 9 Ciarán Murphy, 10 Darragh Mullins, 11 Mark Browne, 12 Simon Nagle, 13 Graham Crawford, 14 Alex Mullin, 15 Joe Norton.

Replacements: 16 James McHale, 17 Paul Goodall, 18 Anthony O'Hanlon, 19 Michael Craig, 20 James Nolan.

St. Mary's: 1 Stephen Doyle, 2 Brian Young, 3 Stephen Murray, 4 Brian Donnelly, 5 Darragh Devlin, 6 Niall Brew, 7 Brian Brophy, 8 Brendan Shortt, 9 Ciarán Murphy, 10 Darragh Mullins, 11 Niall Sheedy, 12 Michael Craig, 13 Graham Crawford, 14 Eoin Lynagh, 15 Alex Mullin.

Replacements: 16 Michael Evans, 17 Simon Nagle, 18 Peter Timmons.

St. Mary's: 1 Robert Maher, 2 Brian Young, 3 Robert Ferris, 4 Darragh Devlin, 5 Niall Brew, 6 Simon Nagle, 7 Killian Doyle, 8 Peter Timmons, 9 Simon O'Donnell, 10 Ciarán Murphy, 11 Cathal Connolly, 12 Michael Craig, 13 Graham Crawford, 14 Mark Browne, 15 Alex Mullin.

Replacements: 16 Adrian Byrne.

St. Mary's: 1 Robert Maher, 2 Brian Young, 3 Stephen Doyle, 4 Darragh Devlin, 5 Gavin Thornberry, 6 Peter Timmons, 7 Killian Doyle, 8 Niall Brew, 9 Michael Evans, 10 Darragh Mullins, 11 Mark Browne, 12 Simon Nagle, 13 Graham Crawford, 14 Alex Mullin, 15 Joe Norton.

St. Mary's: 1 Robert Ferris, 2 Brian Young, 3 Robert Maher, 4 Darragh Devlin, 5 Rodrigo Pucci, 6 Rob Ryan, 7 Brendan Shortt, 8 Niall Brew, 9 Ciarán Murphy, 10 Darragh Mullins, 11 Niall Sheedy, 12 Graham Crawford, 13 Jack Ardagh, 14 Alex Mullin, 15 Joe Norton.

Replacements: 16 Guillermo Neto, 17 Michael Craig.

St. Mary's: 1 Robert Ferris, 2 Brian Young, 3 Robert Maher, 4 Darragh Devlin, 5 Gavin Thornberry, 6 David Kennedy, 7 Killian Doyle, 8 Niall Brew, 9 Simon O'Donnell, 10 Darragh Mullins, 11 Niall Sheedy, 12 Mark Browne, 13 Simon Nagle, 14 Alex Mullin, 15 Joe Norton.

Replacements: 16 Cathal Connolly, 17 Fionan Henry, 18 Gareth Hennessy, 19 David Lyons.

St. Mary's: 1 Robert Ferris, 2 Brian Young, 3 Robert Maher, 4 Gavin Thornberry, 5 Darragh Devlin, 6 David Kennedy, 7 Killian Doyle, 8 Niall Brew, 9 Ciarán Murphy, 10 Darragh Mullins, 11 Richard Kilcoyne, 12 Mark Browne, 13 Simon Nagle, 14 Alex Mullin, 15 Joe Norton.

Replacements: 16 Zeeshan Ali, 17 Kevin Sheahan, 18 Brian Brophy, 19 David Lyons, 20 Cathal Connolly.

St. Mary's: 1 Robert Ferris, 2 Brian Young, 3 Tom Keogan, 4 Darragh Devlin, 5 Gavin Thornberry, 6 Rob Ryan, 7 Killian Doyle, 8 Niall Brew, 9 Simon O'Donnell, 10 Darragh Mullins, 11 Niall Sheedy, 12 Graham Crawford, 13 Mark Browne, 14 Alex Mullin, 15 Joe Norton.

Replacements: 16 Paul Goodall, 17 Zeeshan Ali, 18 David Kennedy, 19 Brian Brophy, 20 Cathal Connolly.