J2 XV · Season archive
J2 XV — Season 2011/12
Runners-up in both league and cup to Lansdowne.
Runners-up in both league and cup to Lansdowne.
No team photo from 2011/12 has been found yet. If you have one, please send it to archives@smcrfc.com.
St. Mary's score shown first. H = home, A = away, N = neutral venue.
| Date | Competition | Opponent | H/A | Score | Result | Venue and notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 03/09/2011 | Friendly | Wicklow | A | 24–20 | W | |
| 10/09/2011 | Friendly | UCD | A | 45–0 | W | |
| 17/09/2011 | Friendly | Lansdowne | A | 60–17 | W | |
| 28/09/2011 | League, Pool 1 | CYM | H | 57–0 | W | Switched to Templeville Road |
| 08/10/2011 | League, Pool 1 | Lansdowne | H | 22–22 | D | Templeville Road |
| 15/10/2011 | League, Pool 1 | UCD | H | 50–8 | W | Templeville Road |
| 22/10/2011 | League, Pool 1 | Old Belvedere | A | 10–3 | W | Anglesea Road |
| 03/11/2011 | Friendly | Coolmine | H | 36–12 | W | Templeville Road |
| 19/11/2011 | League, Section A | Stillorgan-Rathfarnham | A | 27–15 | W | Clonskeagh |
| 26/11/2011 | League, Section A | Clontarf | H | 36–12 | W | Templeville Road |
| 03/12/2011 | League, Section A | Old Wesley | H | w/o | W | Conceded by Old Wesley |
| 07/01/2012 | League, Section A | Lansdowne | A | 8–22 | L | Lansdowne Road |
| 14/01/2012 | League, Section A | Stillorgan-Rathfarnham | H | 27–12 | W | Templeville Road |
| 28/01/2012 | League, Section A | Old Belvedere | H | 16–7 | W | Templeville Road |
| 04/02/2012 | League, Section A | Clontarf | A | w/o | W | Conceded by Clontarf |
| 03/03/2012 | O'Connell Cup, 1st round | Clontarf | H | 34–12 | W | Templeville Road |
| 08/03/2012 | O'Connell Cup, 2nd round | Wanderers | H | 46–24 | W | Templeville Road |
| 24/03/2012 | O'Connell Cup, 3rd round | Old Wesley | H | 52–3 | W | Templeville Road |
| 31/03/2012 | O'Connell Cup, semi-final | Old Belvedere | N | 10–17 | L | Kirwan Park. St. Mary's went through: Old Belvedere were removed for playing an illegal player |
| 14/04/2012 | O'Connell Cup, final | Lansdowne | N | 16–20 | L | Donnybrook |
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | Diff | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lansdowne | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 194 | 43 | +151 | 16 |
| 2 | St. Mary's College | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 139 | 33 | +106 | 16 |
| 3 | Old Belvedere | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 64 | 46 | +18 | 10 |
| 4 | UCD | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 65 | 171 | −106 | 5 |
| 5 | CYM | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 176 | −169 | 0 |
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | Diff | BP | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lansdowne | 9 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 302 | 105 | +197 | 5 | 39 |
| 2 | St. Mary's College | 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 146 | 93 | +53 | 3 | 33 |
| 3 | Clontarf | 9 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 126 | 152 | −26 | 3 | 15 |
| 4 | Stillorgan-Rathfarnham | 9 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 188 | 267 | −79 | 3 | 15 |
| 5 | Old Belvedere | 9 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 183 | 175 | +8 | 2 | 10 |
| 6 | Old Wesley | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 19 | 172 | −153 | 0 | 0 |
Old Belvedere were deducted four points for playing an illegal player against Clontarf.
League and cup results are as recorded in the Leinster Rugby results archive; the friendlies are from the club's results list. The Leinster record settles the cup question: the semi-final was lost 10–17 on the field, but Old Belvedere were withdrawn for playing an illegal player, and St. Mary's went on to lose the final 16–20 to Lansdowne. It dates the CYM game Wednesday 28 September (the club's list says 1 October) and gives the Clontarf home win as 36–12 (the club's list says 36–10). The Pool 1 draw with Lansdowne and the win at Old Belvedere were carried forward into Section A.
The 33 names below come from the match-report line-ups.
8 reports from the season, as written at the time. Click any match to open the report and line-up.
3 Sep 2011 Wicklow 20 St. Mary's 24 Won Friendly
The J2s opened their season with an excellent run-out away against Wicklow's first team. In an open game of four quarters each team scored four tries and there were some excellent performances given it was our first pre-season game. Colm Barry, Rob Ryan, Paul Foran and Marc McKay scored the tries and each man did well for us. We play UCD next Saturday in Belfield as a curtain-raiser to our senior team's game against the same opposition.
Stephen Shirley
1 Oct 2011 St. Mary's 57 CYM 0 Won J2 League
The J2s won their first league game against CYM, scoring nine tries. Baz Cahill, George McKay (try-scoring prop machine) and Jay Verdon each got two tries apiece. We played some good stuff but will need to lift it for our next game against Lansdowne. Our rucking wasn't great.
Stephen Shirley
St. Mary's: 15 B. Cahill; 14 J. Buggy, 13 D. O'Kelly, 12 J. Verdon, 11 R. Kilcoyne; 10 A. Shirley, 9 C. Murphy; 1 G. McKay, 2 P. Barrett, 3 J. Molloy, 4 R. Lennon, 5 G. McInerney (Capt), 6 R. Ryan, 7 L. Burke, 8 B. Short. Subs (all used): N. Sheedy, M. Browne, N. Cowhey, P. Foran, D. Callanan.
8 Oct 2011 St. Mary's 22 Lansdowne 22 Draw J2 League
We got off to a bad start playing into a very strong wind, allowing Lansdowne to score a soft early try under the posts. Thereafter we did very well into the wind, with the forwards controlling the ball. Ciarán Murphy kicked an excellent penalty to make it 3–10 at half time. Crisis point was reached soon after kick-off of the second half when we conceded another try. The realisation that we were in danger of getting a heavy beating seemed to wake us up, as for the next 30 minutes we played superbly, dominating territory and possession and driving Lansdowne backwards at every opportunity. Our reward was four penalty kicks by Neil Cowhey to make it 15 all. Further pressure yielded a converted try for Alan Shirley, and with five minutes remaining it looked like we were heading for a memorable win. However with the last play of the game Lansdowne ran the pitch to score and leave the scores level.
Stephen Shirley
St. Mary's: 15 Neil Cowhey; 14 B. Cahill, 13 J. Buggy, 12 J. Verdon, 11 R. Kilcoyne; 10 A. Shirley, 9 C. Murphy; 1 G. McKay, 2 P. Barrett, 3 J. Molloy, 4 R. Lennon, 5 G. McInerney (Capt), 6 P. Foran, 7 L. Burke, 8 B. Short. Subs: M. Aboud, M. Browne, B. Moran, R. Ryan, E. McCormack.
22 Oct 2011 Old Belvedere 3 St. Mary's 10 Won J2 League
A very tough game against strong opponents. Playing with the wind in the first half we dominated but failed to score a point. Alan Shirley and Richard Kilcoyne had to come off early due to injury, but Ciarán Murphy and Dara O'Kelly did a great job when they came on. At half time we knew we had to raise the intensity of our play to keep the ball into the wind. We did just that and played very well, using pick-and-goes and close-in runners. The decisive score came when O'Kelly timed his pass perfectly to Barry Cahill, who made yards into the Belvo half. He then off-loaded to Mucker, who spun the ball wide to Louis Burke at first receiver. Louis dummied and stepped and made it over the line from 30 metres out. A class try and enough to get us a vital win.
Stephen Shirley
St. Mary's: 15 B. Cahill; 14 R. Kilcoyne, 13 J. Buggy, 12 S. Walsh, 11 N. Sheedy; 10 A. Shirley, 9 E. McCormack; 1 G. McKay, 2 P. Barrett, 3 J. Molloy, 4 G. McInerney (C), 5 R. Lennon, 6 P. Foran, 7 C. Barry, 8 Louis Burke. Subs: D. O'Kelly, C. Murphy, D. Callanan, B. Moran, B. Short.
14 Jan 2012 St. Mary's 27 Stillorgan 12 Won J2 League
A good five tries to two win for the J2s. Jack Buggy and Neil Cowhey got the pick of the tries with great play from the backline. Sean O'Carroll and David Callanan had very good games in a strong pack performance. Next up is Old Belvedere.
St. Mary's: 15 Cowhey; 14 Browne, 13 O'Kelly, 12 Verdon, 11 Buggy; 10 J. Connolly, 9 E. McCormack; 1 Callanan, 2 Moran, 3 O'Carroll, 4 Keane, 5 McInerney (Capt), 6 Foran, 7 Ryan, 8 Burke. Subs: Shirley, McKay, Foran, C. Barry, Walsh.
3 Mar 2012 St. Mary's 34 Clontarf 12 Won Albert O'Connell Cup
The J2s had a hard-fought cup win over Clontarf on Saturday. Up against it, losing 7–12 with twenty minutes to go, we really had to dig deep to win this. Excellent place-kicking by Ciarán Murphy and a game-turning solo try from Neil Murphy were vital in breaking Clontarf resistance and allowing the backs to score further good tries out wide. Thanks to Younger for helping us out.
St. Mary's: 15 B. Cahill; 14 J. Buggy, 13 A. Shirley, 12 J. Verdon, 11 C. Murphy; 10 J. Connolly, 9 C. Murphy; 1 G. McKay, 2 B. Moran, 3 N. Murphy, 4 R. Lennon, 5 G. McInerney (Capt), 6 R. Ryan, 7 P. Foran, 8 B. Short. Subs (all used): N. Sheedy, M. Browne, Colm Barry, B. Young, R. Kilcoyne.
8 Mar 2012 St. Mary's 46 Wanderers 24 Won Albert O'Connell Cup
An exciting game under lights on Thursday saw the J2s progress to the quarters of the cup. There were tries galore in this one and we will have to look at our defence, as we conceded a few soft ones. Enough with the negativity, I hear you say! We scored seven tries of our own, with super winger Buggy getting a hat-trick. No. 8 Short also ran amok in the open spaces. Tight head Ferris had a great game and it was good to see old stagers Keaner and Louis back in the saddle. Mystery man Cowhey also made another comeback.
St. Mary's: 15 B. Cahill; 14 J. Buggy, 13 A. Shirley, 12 J. Verdon, 11 C. Murphy; 10 J. Connolly, 9 E. McCormack; 1 G. McKay, 2 B. Moran, 3 R. Ferris, 4 R. Lennon, 5 G. McInerney (Capt), 6 R. Ryan, 7 P. Foran, 8 B. Short. Subs (all used): N. Sheedy, E. Keane, L. Burke, N. Cowhey, R. Kilcoyne.
24 Mar 2012 St. Mary's 52 Old Wesley 3 Won Albert O'Connell Cup quarter-final
The J2s made it into the semi-finals of the cup with a big win over Old Wesley, the current cup holders. An excellent performance of big ball carries, fast rucking and fast hands saw us dominate the match, running in tries from all angles. Prop Neil Murphy continued his try-scoring exploits and Jack Buggy got a hat-trick but was controversially beaten to the man of the match award by Brendan Short, who is now in top form and excelling on the hard grounds.
St. Mary's: 15 Cowhey; 14 Buggy, 13 Shirley, 12 Verdon, 11 Cahill; 10 Connolly, 9 E. McCormack; 1 McKay, 2 Moran, 3 Murphy, 4 McInerney (C), 5 Keane, 6 Foran, 7 Burke, 8 Short. Subs (all used): C. Murphy, Browne, Lennon, Callanan, Sheedy.