J3 XV — Season 2018/19

Three Rock Rovers, Rathfarnham

The J3’s took on Stillorgan on Sunday on the back pitch in Three Rock Rovers. The conditions were great but Stillorgan made use of the smaller than usual pitch and stuck over 2 early penalties from just inside the Mary’s half to put the 6-0 ahead.

But Mary’s kept attacking the Stillorgan line and eventually a David Wilson half break and offload to John Andreucetti who shipped it onto Tom Daly who’d come off his left wing to create the overlap and managed to score his first try in 15 years, having just returned to rugby after giving it up after school.

The try was converted to make the score 6-7 to St. Mary’s at half time.

Another well kicked penalty for Stillorgan in the second half saw them take the lead again 9-7, and despite some mistakes, Mary’s always looked in control of their own fate. Patience and some deft passing between McGov, Killing Doyle to Captain John Andreucetti saw him burst through the defence along the touchline and score just to the right of the posts for an easy kick…which was then missed *

And that’s how the game finished up 9-12 to St.Mary’s, who now lie top of the League after 2 games.

The team is building nicely with a lot of new players and having gone up a league this year we’re in for many more tough games like this one.

Special mention to the U20’s players who came up this week and really got stuck in and played very well.

Thanks lads.

Templeville Road

The J3’s were back at home on Friday night looking to make it 3 wins from 3 in Division 4. But they had a big challenge in front of them in the shape of their adversaries from last year, Naas (also promoted this year after winning Div 5). The sides met three times last season with Naas edging each fixture with only a score between them on each occasion, so Mary’s were looking to put a stop to their run.

It was a tight affair from the off and after good pressure in the 22 St. Mary’s got the first points on the board with a penalty after 15 mins.

But Naas struck back straight away with a penalty of their own. 3-3.

Naas had a yellow card against them but St. Mary’s were unable to capitalise on the numbers advantage.

Naas scored a try around 30 minutes in but were unable to convert leaving the score 3-8.

St.Mary’s spent much of the remaining minutes of the half putting pressure on Naas and should have had scores but it remained 3-8 at the half way mark.

The second half was much of the same… very tight and not many opportunities. Both sides probably felt they should have scored more.

St.Mary’s got another penalty to make it 6-8 and tried again to take the lead towards the end with a kick from just inside the half, however it wasn’t to be and that’s how the game finished up 6-8 to Naas.

Lots of learning points to take forward from a team and individual point of view.

Four wins on the trot against St.Mary’s for Naas now but to coin a phrase from Vitas Gerilaitis… Nobody beats the St.Mary’s J3’s five times in a row!!!

St. Mary's: 1 Peter Barrett, 2 Colm Smith, 3 Christopher Kane, 4 Brendan Shortt, 5 Mark Donnellan, 6 Killian Doyle, 7 Craig Byrne, 8 Brian McGovern, 9 Brendan Flood, 10 David Lyons, 11 Darren Keane, 12 David Wilson, 13 Stephen Muldowney, 14 Paul Oppermann, 15 Shane Cunningham.

Replacements: 16 Sasha Gibson, 17 Zeeshan Ali, 18 Graham Crawford, 19 John Andreucetti, 20 Stephen Walsh.

St. Mary's: 1 Fionn Donnelly, 2 Colm Smith, 3 Kenny McInerney, 4 Eoin Byrne, 5 Sean Heeran, 6 David Wilson, 7 Killian Doyle, 8 Brian McGovern, 9 Darren Keane, 10 Brian Devitt, 11 Tom Daly, 12 Graham Crawford, 13 John Andreucetti, 14 Stephen Muldowney, 15 David Lyons.

Replacements: 16 Karl O'Brien, 17 Sasha Gibson, 18 Daniel Delaney, 19 Jack Grant, 20 Paul Oppermann.

St. Mary's: 1 Darran Kennedy, 2 Peter Barrett, 3 Christopher Kane, 4 Robert Beverland, 5 Mark Donnellan, 6 Killian Doyle, 7 Brendan Shortt, 8 Brian McGovern, 9 Alan McPhillips, 10 James Bourke, 11 Ciaran Deegan/David Lyons, 12 David Wilson, 13 Brian O'Shea, 14 Michael O'Connor, 15 Ciaran Deegan/David Lyons.

Replacements: 16 Kealan Quinn, 17 Karl O'Brien, 18 Shane Fanning, 19 Brendan Flood, 20 Darren Keane.

St. Mary's: 1 Killian Walsh, 2 Colm Smith, 3 Christopher Kane, 4 David Balfour, 5 Ger Prunty, 6 Killian Doyle, 7 Brendan Shortt, 8 Brian McGovern, 9 Brendan Flood, 10 James Bourke, 11 Darren Keane, 12 Graham Crawford, 13 John Andreucetti, 14 Paul Oppermann, 15 Conor Hogan.

Replacements: 17 Karl O'Brien, 18 Robbie Hudson, 19 David Callaghan.

St. Mary's: 1 Killian Walsh, 2 Colm Smith, 3 Christopher Kane, 4 David Balfour, 5 Shane Fanning, 6 Ger Prunty, 7 Johnny Crowley, 8 Karl O'Brien, 9 Alan McPhillips, 10 David Lyons, 11 Tom Daly, 12 David Wilson, 13 Graham Crawford, 14 Robert Trew, 15 Michael O'Connor.

Replacements: 16 Kealan Quinn, 17 Higelin Mulema, 18 Morgan Mooney, 19 David Callaghan.

St. Mary's: 1 Kealan Quinn, 2 Colm Smith, 3 Christopher Kane, 4 David Balfour, 5 Ger Prunty, 6 Gareth Lloyd, 7 Brendan Shortt, 8 Brian McGovern, 9 Brendan Flood, 10 David Lyons, 11 Tom Daly, 12 David Wilson, 13 Graham Crawford, 14 Robert Trew, 15 John Andreucetti.

Replacements: 17 Jonathan Allison, 18 James Shaw, 19 Darren Keane, 20 Shane Cunningham.

St. Mary's: 1 James Curley, 2 Colm Smith, 3 Christopher Kane, 4 Ciaran Lennon, 5 Ger Prunty, 6 Killian Doyle, 7 Brendan Shortt, 8 Brian McGovern, 9 Brendan Flood, 10 Alan McPhillips, 11 Milo O'Sullivan, 12 David Wilson, 13 John Andreucetti, 14 Stephen Muldowney, 15 Conor Hogan.

Replacements: 16 Colin Smyth, 17 Jonathan Allison, 18 Sean Daly, 19 Graham Crawford.

From the Leinster Rugby team sheet.

St. Mary's: 1 Killian Walsh, 2 Colm Smith, 3 Christopher Kane, 4 David Balfour, 5 Ger Prunty, 6 Killian Doyle, 7 Brendan Shortt, 8 Karl O'Brien, 9 Brendan Flood, 10 Cal Gray, 11 Shane Cunningham, 12 David Wilson, 13 Conor Hogan, 14 John Andreucetti, 15 Brian Devitt.

Replacements: 16 Marc McKay, 17 Kealan Quinn, 18 James Shaw, 19 Dylan Croke, 20 Tom Daly.

From the Leinster Rugby team sheet.

St. Mary's: 1 Aaron Doherty, 2 Matthew Fagan, 3 Christopher Kane, 4 Ger Prunty, 5 Shane Fanning, 6 Killian Doyle, 7 Craig Byrne, 8 David Balfour, 9 Brendan Flood, 10 David Daly, 11 Shane Cunningham, 12 Brian Devitt, 13 John Andreucetti, 14 Robert Trew, 15 Alan McPhillips.

Replacements: 16 Jonathan Allison, 17 Karl O'Brien, 18 Ciarán Murphy, 19 David Wilson.

From the Leinster Rugby team sheet.

St. Mary's: 1 Taine Roelofsz, 2 Tom Daly, 3 Marc McKay, 4 Ger Prunty, 5 David Balfour, 6 Killian Doyle, 7 Brendan Shortt, 8 Brian McGovern, 9 Brendan Flood, 10 John Andreucetti, 11 Alan Gould, 12 Karl O'Brien, 13 David Wilson, 14 Robert Trew, 15 Darren Keane.

Replacements: 16 Aaron Doherty, 17 Ciaran O'Meara, 18 Kealan Quinn, 19 Matthew Fagan, 20 Liam Kennelly.

From the Leinster Rugby team sheet.

St. Mary's: 1 Andrew Hayden, 2 Colm Smith, 3 Marc McKay, 4 Ger Prunty, 5 Niall Brew, 6 Killian Doyle, 7 Brendan Shortt, 8 Brian McGovern, 9 Darren Keane, 10 John Andreucetti, 11 David Lyons, 12 Graham Crawford, 13 David Wilson, 14 David Daly, 15 Brian Devitt.

Replacements: 16 Conor Quinn, 17 John Cosgrove, 18 Rory Wilde.

From the Leinster Rugby team sheet.

St. Mary's: 1 Andrew Hayden, 2 Colm Smith, 3 Marc McKay, 4 Ger Prunty, 5 Brendan Shortt, 6 Killian Doyle, 7 Craig Byrne, 8 Brian McGovern, 9 Brendan Flood, 10 David Lyons, 11 Tom Daly, 12 Karl O'Brien, 13 David Wilson, 14 John Andreucetti, 15 Niall Brew.

Replacements: 16 Killian Walsh, 18 Dillon Zaidel, 19 James Walsh, 20 Matthew Kennedy.

From the Leinster Rugby team sheet.

From the club's Season Review 2018-2019.

The J3s went up a league this year and the standard of rugby in the league naturally went up with it.

Whilst last year the team managed to put up big scores on the opposition, this year we started off having to work much harder for our victories.

The season started well with some good wins against some very good opposition and losses to old rivals Naas and eventual winners Malahide still left us in the top 2 at Christmas.

Unfortunately injuries coupled with a smaller player panel this year meant inconsistent team availability and forwards got to fulfill their lifelong wish of playing in the backline to varying results. Who'd have thought that Brian McGovern had the same silky handling skills as Jonathan Sexton in at outhalf or Colm Smith could almost get the ball off the ground from the kicking tee?

However, there was great spirits in the team - injured players always supporting the team from the sidelines and the playing support from J2, J4, J5 players and especially the U20s who came up to get a taste of what junior rugby is all about.

Whilst most of the results post Christmas didn't go our way, the manner of our defeats was something to be proud off. We always gave a good account of ourselves and the team always felt the games were there for the taking.

Off pitch the craic was too notch as always in the clubhouse. Gerbo's operatic singers voice was discovered and the club cards discount was used to maximum effectiveness. We even had a battle of the local publicans as the owners of Elanoras in Drimnagh and The Two Sisters laced up the boots for us this year - the offer on hand for the team was 15 of the finest pints in Ellie's vs 15 of the finest ham and cheese toasties in The Two Sisters. The outcome of who was best has yet to be decided as the team unanimously decided that they need to go back to both to confirm their decision. Bribes welcomed ;) - Watch this space.

Having lost a few faces from last year, we were delighted to welcome new faces and some old returning ones and we look forward to welcoming more next season (especially the U20s!) as some of us are getting old and need younger lads to cover for our mistakes ;)

Finally a massive thank to Johnny Ellis, Dave Lyons and Brian McGovern for the huge workload they put into and on behalf of the team. We wouldn't be half the team (onfield and off) without them.

Fidelitas in arduis,

Cetts