22.02.2014 J4 XV v Monkstown (H)
| 22/02/2014 | 12:00pm | Metro Div 6 | St. Marys J4 XV | 19 – 15 | Monkstown | Home |
St Mary’s College RFC J4s V Monkstown J4s.
19 15
J4 Metro League 6
Templeville Road
Saturday 22nd February 2014.
St. Marys picked up where they left off from their recent victory over local rivals Terenure with a hard fought win over Monkstown.
The game began with a blistering pace with Monkstown receiving possession from the kickoff and coming close to scoring with their first attack but the Mary’s defence held firm to keep them out. After this early scare, St. Marys began to work their way up the field. The referee was very strict on policing the breakdown and Mary’s forwards found it tough to adapt to his interpretation of it. As the half progressed our backline began to repeatedly threaten the Monkstown defence and some good link up play between the forwards and backs allowed Peter Daly to cross over for the first score of the game. After this score, St. Mary’s spent the majority of the first half in their own half defending repeated attacks Monkstown. Some heroic defending repelled wave after wave of crash balls from Monkstown and put in some big tackles to keep Monkstown at bay. Monkstown eventually did receive the try that their first half dominance merited. The score came in unusual circumstances with a loose ball coming off the back of our scrum appeared to have been touched down by a Mary’s player but the referee awarded a try to Monkstown. The conversion was missed leaving the score at 5-5 at half time.
The second half began poorly with St. Mary’s struggling to defend against a strong Monkstown attack who kept up their momentum from the first half. Monkstown controlled possession and were soon in for their second try of the game after eventually breaking down the Mary’s the defence and the conversion was also successful leaving Mary’s 12-5 down. Soon after this Monkstown successfully kicked over a penalty leaving Mary’s 15-5 down with only fifteen minutes remaining. This spurred on the team to try and salvage the game and Mary’s finally sprang in to action, an excellent backline move ended with David Daly outrunning the Monkstown defence on the wing and touching down for a try. However the Monkstown touch judge ruled that Daly was in touch and the try was not given. The team battled on after this and from several phases of battering the Monkstown defence on their own line, Mark Byrne was in for his second try in as many games. David Daly got the conversion and with five minutes remaining Mary’s pushed on looking for the win. The lads pressed on again and with only a minute remaining Mary’s won a free kick off a scrum for repeated infringements from Monkstown. Several phases of attack play and Mary’s were on the Monkstown line and with an overlap on the wings Lee Kelly received a wide pass and was in the winning score. David Daly kicked the conversion and the game ended 19-15 to cap off an excellent comeback victory. Although the lads made life difficult at times during the second half the team rallied excellently in the final quarter and this performance will stand them in good stead for the cup. The final league game of the season takes place on the 5th of March versus Clontarf in Castle Avenue.
David Browne