J4 XV — Season 2019/20

J4 XV v Malahide (A) -26.10.2019

St. Mary’s College R.F.C. 18 – Malahide R.F.C. 17 Metro League Division 9 Estuary Road 26th October 2019

St. Mary’s J4s registered a victory in their opening game of Metro Division 9 in a tough encounter against Malahide.

The game began with St. Mary’s on the attack with the wind at their backs. Unfortunately the game was stopped due to a serious injury to Mary’s lock David Dixon. Thankfully he is on the mend and we hope to see him lining out for us again soon. The game resumed on the upper pitch and Mary’s continued pressing hard against Malahide making some good inroads through our backline. Sustained pressure lead to a Mary’s penalty which was well taken by Harry Fanning to give Mary’s a 3-0 lead. St. Mary’s continued strongly after earning several penalties in the Malahide 22, kept it in the forwards to earn a try from Richard Fagan with the conversion added on by Harry Fanning.

After getting a 10-0, St. Mary’s found themselves foul of several penalty calls and found themselves camped in their own 22. For a fairly experienced team like Malahide they were only delighted to get such great field position and with some powerful ball carriers they went over for a try under the posts for make it 10-7. St. Mary’s however quickly made amends right from the kick off with some excellent pressure defence in particular from Gavin Potts and Jack Cosgrave causing Malahide to lose possession and Conor Quinn to reward the defensive efforts with a try giving Mary’s a 15-7 lead at the break.

The second half had Mary’s facing into a strong breeze and Malahide adopted a kicking game to keep Mary’s pinned back. St. Mary’s started cutting through the Malahide defence with a strong backline making ground with Cian Dalton, Cian McBrien amongst others doing very well. Malahide began to lose their discipline and ended up with 2 yellow cards for persistent cynical play. Disappointingly Mary’s then had their own spell of indiscipline and failed to take any advantage in their numerical advantage. Malahide benefited from numerous Mary’s penalties to score a try to bring the score to 15-12. Malahide dominated the next phases of play and through some simple rugby and a combination of penalties and missed tackles they again ran in for another try to take a 2 point lead with minutes remaining.

With not long left on the clock, St. Mary’s kept the pressure on putting in some huge hits on a veteran opposition who were determined to keep their lead. St. Mary’s kept their cool and were rewarded with a penalty which was calmly dispatched by Harry Fanning to win the game on the last play. Overall St. Mary’s deserved the win and can be happy with a victory against a difficult opposition. In particular it was encouraging to see many players just recently part of the U-20s setup to play a key part in earning the win for the team in very challenging circumstances. Next week the team travel to Lakelands to take on local rivals Parkmore.

posted on the club website by Maurice

J4 XV v Monkstown (H) – 09.11.2019

St. Mary’s College R.F.C. 43 – Monkstown F.C. 14

Metro League Division 9

9th November 2019, Templeville Road

The last time these sides faced was in the Metro League Division 10 final last season with Monkstown getting the win on that occasion. With many of the team having played last year’s final it was very much a catalyst for their emphatic 7 try win against Monkstown.

St. Mary’s started the half on the main pitch with a strong wind at their backs. Monkstown began the game at a frantic pace, employing an offloading game which spread the Mary’s defence and Monkstown exploited gaps across the park but were unable to execute their opportunities fully. Mary’s began to adjust to the Monkstown gameplan and our mobile backline took advantage of Monkstown’s offloading with Jack McSharry making an intercept on the half way line and running all the way in for the first try.

St. Mary’s followed up with another score very soon after with some excellent work between the forwards and backline for Jonathan Kennedy to score under the posts to give Mary’s a 14-0 lead. Monkstown responded with a try of their own with their centre breaking several tackles to dot down under the posts. However Mary’s did not let this break their stride and were a constant attacking threat from all positions. Tom Parker, in particular a thorn in the Monkstown side he shipped several tackles to give Mary’s a 21-7 lead at half time.

With St. Mary’s facing a very strong wind they focused more on possession based rugby rather than kicking and this seemed to reap dividends with almost every carry and pass leading to attacking chances. With some changes made at half time it did nothing to stop Mary’s momentum and tries from Rory Litton and a hat trick of superb scores from prop Colin Smyth was a just reward for Mary’s who never let up in the game and ran out 43-14 winners. Overall this was an excellent team performance where Mary’s were clinical in taking their chances and stopping the threat of an experienced Monkstown side.

St. Mary’s lie joint first in Division 9 and in 2 weeks are away to Dublin University.

Squad: 1. Gary Masterson, 2. Aaron Doherty, 3. David Browne, 4. Elliot Chambers, 5. David Kennedy 6. Jack Cosgrove, 7. James Collery, 8. Tom Parker, 9. Conor Quinn, 10. Harry Fanning, 11. Dylan Croke, 12. Eric Dunne, 13. Jonathan Kennedy, 14. Cian McBrien, 15. Jack McSharry, 16. Rory Litton, 17. Paul Brittain, 18. Caglar Tuc, 19. Colin Smyth, 20. Adam Martin.

posted on the club website by Maurice

J4 XV v Dublin University (A) – 23.11.2019

St. Mary’s College R.F.C. 0 Dublin University 25

23/11/2019 Metro League Div 9

Trinity Sports Grounds, Santry

St. Mary’s J4’s struggled against a more nimble Trinity side in atrocious conditions. With some terrible recent weather the pitch was very soft underfoot in parts prior to the game. Mary’s boasted a much larger pack than their counterparts but this was probably more a disadvantage as they found themselves struggling to gain forward momentum on a pitch that slowly began to resemble a mixture between a bog and a paddy field.

Trinity got a very early try after some missed tackles and Mary’s were slower to come into the game. Due to the conditions there were close to 30 scrums and the game was very stop start with so many handling errors related to the conditions. Mary’s did have phases of dominance but failed to convert their chances unfortunately with our back line unable to get clean ball or wade through the Trinity defence the team were less of an attacking threat as they had been in previous games. The game itself was tight up until the final 15 minutes when the Trinity side began to exploit fatigue on the Mary’s side and ran in for two late tries to add some gloss to the score. Trinity were deserving winners overall and had to deal with the same conditions as Mary’s but were quicker around the park and took their chances. Next Saturday St. Mary’s are at home to Newbridge in their last game before Christmas. Both teams are up near the top of the league so it is a crucial game for the team to bounce back from this defeat.

posted on the club website by Maurice

St. Mary's: 1 Gary Masterson, 2 Aaron Doherty, 3 David Browne, 4 Elliot Chambers, 5 David Dixon, 6 Gavin Potts, 7 James McHugh, 8 Jack Cosgrove, 9 Cian Dalton, 10 Harry Fanning, 11 Cian McBrien, 12 Dillon Zaidel, 13 Eric Dunne, 14 Conor Quinn, 15 Dylan Croke.

Replacements: 16 Darragh Gibson, 17 Richard Fagan, 18 Noel Kelly, 19 Robert Dunleavy, 20 Ryan Barnes.

Scorers. Tries: Richard Fagan, Conor Quinn. Conversions: Harry Fanning. Penalties: Harry Fanning (2) (per match report).

From the club weekly team-selection sheet (Junior Rugby Selection Season 2019-2020, J4 XV column, selected team).

St. Mary's: 1 David McGill, 2 Aaron Doherty, 3 Conor Whelan, 4 Elliot Chambers, 5 Padraig Fox, 6 Jack Cosgrove, 7 James Collery, 8 James Casey, 9 Conor Quinn, 10 Cian Dalton, 11 Cian McBrien, 12 Michael O'Malley, 13 Aidan Boyle, 14 Finn Connolly, 15 Eric Dunne.

Replacements: 16 Daniel Hegarty, 17 David Kennedy, 18 Cal Gray, 19 Paul Brittain, 20 Caglar Tuc.

From the club weekly team-selection sheet (Junior Rugby Selection Season 2019-2020, J4 XV column, selected team).

St. Mary's: 1 Gary Masterson, 2 Aaron Doherty, 3 David Browne, 4 Elliot Chambers, 5 David Kennedy, 6 Jack Cosgrove, 7 James Collery, 8 Tom Parker, 9 Conor Quinn, 10 Harry Fanning, 11 Dylan Croke, 12 Eric Dunne, 13 Jonathan Kennedy, 14 Cian McBrien, 15 Jack McSharry.

Replacements: 16 Rory Litton, 17 Paul Brittain, 18 Caglar Tuc, 19 Colin Smyth, 20 Adam Martin.

Scorers. Tries: Jack McSharry, Jonathan Kennedy, Tom Parker, Rory Litton, Colin Smyth (3). Conversions: 4 (kicker not named) (per match report).

From the match report.

St. Mary's: 1 Conor Whelan, 2 Aaron Doherty, 3 David Browne, 4 Rory Litton, 5 Elliot Chambers, 6 James Collery, 7 James Casey, 8 Gary Masterson, 9 Conor Quinn, 10 Harry Fanning, 11 Cian McBrien, 12 James O'Reilly, 13 Aidan Boyle, 14 Caglar Tuc, 15 Paul Opperman.

Replacements: 16 David Kennedy, 17 James McHugh.

From the club weekly team-selection sheet (Junior Rugby Selection Season 2019-2020, J4 XV column, selected team).