Metro League Division 5
12th October 2018
St. Mary’s College R.F.C. 17 Wanderers F.C. 22
A spirited display from St. Mary’s unfortunately wasn’t enough for them to overcome a strong Wanderers side in damp conditions at Templeville Road. Both sides had faced each other previously last April in the Winters Cup Quarter Final, with Wanderers winning 24-0 on that occasion. This was a much closer affair. St. Mary’s started strongly right from the kick off making good ground through hard carrying and backline play leaving Wanderer’s on the back foot. Their efforts were rewarded with two well taken penalties from outhalf Andrew Manning. After converting the second penalty, Mary’s earned a penalty inside their own half right from the Wanderers kick-off. Up stepped full back Niall Donovan to excellently kick the penalty from a huge distance to give Mary’s a 9-0 lead. See it for yourself HERE
Against the run of play Wanderers scored a try from a very well taken backline move off a lineout to score close to the posts to bring the score to 9-7. Still at this time Mary’s looked threatening and were unlucky not to score a try with a number of breaks from captain Richard Pyne, Richard Fagan, and no 8 Killian. Also despite the strong winds, Mary’s showed great composure under the high ball with great catches off the Wanderer’s restarts from Liam Kennelly and Padraig Nestor. Excellent defending from Dillon Zaidel created an attacking opportunity for Mary’s that generated a penalty that was well taken by Andrew Manning to bring the score to 12-7. Wanderer’s remained threatening throughout the first half and off the back of a penalty and lineout they ran in for a very similar try to their first, a well worked backline move to put them ahead 12-14 at the break.
Wanderers had the perfect start to the second half with an attack very early into the half culminating in a try in the corner. The conversion was missed leaving the score at 12-19. The second half was a fairly scrappy affair with the majority of play being spent in the middle of the park with neither team able to setup many attacking platforms and both defences having the upper hand. As the half progressed, Wanderers further extended their lead with a penalty moving the score onto 12-22 with not long to go. This score seemed to spur on Mary’s who finally began to get traction in their attacks with a large number of pick and go’s getting them territory in the Wanderers half. As Mary’s got further and further up the field, Niall Donovan took a penalty advantage as his opportunity to storm past several despairing Wanderers players to score in the corner to give Mary’s a lifeline in this game at 17-22 with 5 minutes remaining. Unfortunately there would be no further score in the game and Wanderers were able to wind the clock down to secure victory. Mary’s can take credit with the fightback to secure a bonus point and some excellent phases of play at times during the game. They travel to Stradbrook this Friday 19th to take on Blackrock College R.F.C.