J5 XV — Season 2018/19

J5 XV v Ratoath (H) 10.11.2018

St. Mary’s College RFC J5 vs Ratoath At Templeville Road Saturday 10th November 2018 2.30pm Kick Off

It was a tense morning watching the rain come and go and, after the deluge of the day before, it was looking touch and go as to whether the St. Mary’s J5s would be able to take to the pitch to build on the good results from the opening games of the season. With the rain still spitting down, we got the call to say the pitches were good and we were all systems go. As a forward, this writer was relishing the prospect of a close, ‘up-the-jumper’ affair, with plenty of carries and battles close to the line.

This did not quite come to pass. The weather had begun to clear when Andrew Manning got the game underway with a mid-range kick, with the pack chasing hard to put pressure on Ratoath right from the off. Following a few scrappy encounters at the breakdown St. Mary’s saw a period of pressure reap rewards with Alan McPhilips and Colin Foley expertly marshalling the backs and forwards, before Alan sliced through the defence to dot down for the opening score. Conversion from Manning followed.

After some minor confusion at the restart, St. Mary’s started applying the pressure again, with some thundering carries from front rows Andy Balfour and Gary Masterson. Unable to capitalise this time around, Ratoath gained possession and started their counter attack, resulting in a well worked backs try, although without a conversion.

Play proceeded with some huge efforts in defence. Colin Foley, Rory Litton and James Collery leading with quick reflexes, lightning line speed and crunching tackles. The defensive efforts paid dividends with St. Mary’s turning the ball over and mounting the next attacking sequence, culminating in a crash ball to centre Rob Dunleavy who dragged three defenders with him over the line to score. Again, Manning added the extras.

This time, Dan Hegarty (a GAA aficionado, I’m told), expertly fielded the high ball and got the forwards rumbling up the field again with some stand out carries from hooker Aaron Doherty. What happened next doesn’t happen all that often, so you’ll have to indulge me. St. Mary’s applied huge pressure on the Ratoath line. McPhilips, keeping his head on the swivel to spot the best opportunities, found this writer with one defender to beat and plenty of grass outside him. Try St. Mary’s. No big deal. With such precision ball placement right beside the corner flag, the angle proved too difficult for the conversion.

Ratoath kept themselves within 9 points on the half with another backs led try, despite the brave efforts of backs Caglar Tuc and Patrick Butler.

Ryan Barnes rang in the changes at half time with Elliot Chambers coming into the second row alongside Andrew Perkins and Idriss Mulenga and Shane Rylands coming into the back line. Elliot was on the pitch for no more than three minutes before going off for a blood substitution after an innocuous knock caused a nose bleed. We agreed it must have been the altitude.

At this stage, the weather had improved so much that some of us wished we had packed the Factor 50. With Chambers back on the pitch and carrying well, St. Mary’s built the phases, gaining territory steadily until McPhilips hit Manning, who in turn spotted a gap and booted the ball high. Eric Dunne, with speed and sublime skill, plucked the ball out of the air, landed, jinked behind the last defender and scored what some are calling the try of the season. Again Andrew Manning slotted the conversion.

Then things started to unravel dramatically. Fatigue or a momentary lapse in concentration resulted in Ratoath getting a foot hold in the game, sending wave after wave of runners at our line. Defensive slips, high tackles and knock-ons cost us dearly as Ratoath ran in three unanswered tries converting two, giving them the lead for the first time in the game with seven minutes to play. Standing under the posts watching the last conversion sail over the bar, Dan Hegarty reminded us that we weren’t playing Tiddlywinks and we re-focussed.

The closing minutes of the game were played at a high tempo, with the ball changing possession again and again through handling errors. Finally, with St. Mary’s in possession, inching closer to the Ratoath line and the clock in the red, Masterson carrying like a man possessed willed St. Mary’s on. McPhilips spotted a weakness and floated a skip pass to a waiting pod who crashed up to the line, with James Collery identifying a gap and masterfully placing the ball for the winning try. All that was left was for Manning to convert, the game ending St. Mary’s 33 – 29 Ratoath.

This win means that St. Mary’s J5s remain unbeaten in the league so far. The closing minutes of the match really showed what this squad is made of and, while there are multiple things to work on at training moving forward, we can come away feeling proud, knowing each and every player gave everything they had.

Maurice (website post author; written by an unnamed forward who scored a try)

Guilfoyle-James Cup Metro J6 Final: St. Mary’s College R.F.C. 13 Stillorgan-Rathfarnham R.F.C. 33 (Energia Park, Donnybrook Stadium – Wednesday 17th April 2019)

On a lovely evening for rugby a good crowd assembled from both St. Mary’s and Stillorgan to cheer on their respective sides. Family and friends joined past and current players from our junior rugby sides to cheer on the J5s as they took on Stillorgan-Rathfarnham. Unfortunately, on the night it wasn’t to be for St. Mary’s and Stillorgan came out on top that for the majority of the game, was very evenly contested.

Earlier that week at training we had received words of encouragement from Club President Jack Ebbs along with Flats and Pat Crawford. The day of the game, the team WhatsApp buzzed with messages of support from fellow players in the J4/J5 squad. The players were aiming for the first cup win this team had had since the 2012 O’Connor Cup victory.

The game began very tentatively, with both sides focusing on their defences. Attacking breaks came with hard carries some from Rob Dunleavy and Cian Cahill that moved the focus towards the Stillorgan end of the field. Some good work in the breakdown led to a penalty for St. Mary’s well taken by full back Dan Hurley to bring the score to 3-0.

Stillorgan posed a constant threat when they had the ball with a number of loop moves from their backline and their out half possessing an excellent boot which constantly kept us pinned back. Despite receiving a yellow card, Stillorgan had a period of dominance for which they got their first try with their number eight picking off the back of a scrum and running towards the wing to pass to their winger who scored. The try was unconverted but some minutes later, Stillorgan added a further 3 points from a penalty to bring them 3-8 ahead. For the remainder of the half Stillorgan held most of the ball, however some excellent defensive work from our team lead to their fullback being caught over their own line giving Mary’s a 5 metre scrum which captain James Casey later turned into a try which was converted by Dan Hurley to bring Mary’s 10-8 ahead at half time.

The second half began in a similar fashion to the first with the majority of play happening in the centre of the park. The Stillorgan 10 placing multiple high kicks and crossfield kicks into the Mary’s backline that kept us pinned back and opportunities to get forward were limited. Many players including, Jack Cosgrove and James Collery putting in great tackles to stop Stillorgan gaining momentum. An infringement in our defence gave Stillorgan the lead with a penalty 10-11. The team were able to rise once more and push forward with good link up play between our forwards and backs rewarding us with a penalty again converted by Dan Hurley to bring us back ahead 13-11 with 20 minutes remaining.

Unfortunately, this would be the last time St. Marys would be in the lead, soon after this, Stillorgan broke through our defence for a try and followed up with a penalty to bring them 13-19 ahead with ten minutes to go. St. Mary’s pushed forward and didn’t give up but tired legs after such an effort became a factor and while chasing to overcome the deficit Stillorgan were able to add two further tries including one impressive breakaway try from their own 22.

In the end it wasn’t to be and the squad gave everything but just were unable to gain a foothold against a very strong and well drilled Stillorgan team who were able to control the game at key periods. Although we were unable to get the victory today, the players and coaches put in a great effort to get us this far in a season, they can be proud of their achievements and hope to build on this for next season and take home the cup.

1. Donagh Ryan 2. Aaron Doherty 3. Gary Masterson 4. Jack Cosgrave 5. Padraig Fox 6. James Hynes 7. James Collery 8. James Casey (Captain) 9. Conor Quinn 10. Colin Foley 11. Eric Dunne 12. Robert Dunleavy 13. Cian Cahill 14. Cian McBrien 15. Daniel Hurley 16. David Browne 17. David Dixon 18. Elliot Chambers 19. Caglar Tuc 20. Ryan Barnes

David Browne

St. Mary's: 1 Niall O'Faolain, 2 Matthew Fagan, 3 David Browne, 4 Rory Litton, 5 David Dixon, 6 Elliot Chambers, 7 Tom Craig, 8 James Casey, 9 Fernando Vadillo, 10 Donal McCaulford, 11 Eric Dunne, 12 Robert Dunleavy, 13 Colin Foley, 14 John Healy, 15 Daniel Hurley.

Replacements: 16 Dean Hayes, 17 James Curley, 18 Andrew Hayden, 19 Andy Balfour, 20 Barry Norman, 21 Christopher Fisher, 22 James Collery, 23 Jamie Thompson, 24 Padraig Fox, 25 Ryan Barnes, 26 Stephen Conboy, 27 Idriss Mulenga.

From the Leinster team sheet.

St. Mary's: 1 Rory Litton, 2 Aaron Doherty, 3 James Hynes, 4 James Shaw, 5 Daniel Jennings, 6 Andy Balfour, 7 James Collery, 8 Matthew Kennedy, 9 Fernando Vadillo, 10 Donal McAuliffe, 11 Caglar Tuc, 12 Robert Dunleavy, 13 Colin Foley, 14 Eric Dunne, 15 John Healy.

Replacements: 16 Christopher Fisher, 17 David Dixon, 18 Ryan Barnes, 19 Gerald Pelosi, 20 Padraig Fox, 21 James Curley, 22 Seamus O'Brian.

From the Leinster team sheet.

St. Mary's: 1 Niall O'Faolain, 2 Aaron Doherty, 3 Rory Litton, 4 Elliot Chambers, 5 Padraig Fox, 6 Dean Hayes, 7 Gavin Potts, 8 James Casey, 9 Fernando Vadillo, 10 Colin Foley, 11 Shane Rylands, 12 Robert Dunleavy, 13 James McHugh, 14 Eric Dunne, 15 Jamie Kennedy.

Replacements: 16 Idriss Mulenga, 17 Harry Ebbs, 18 Ryan Barnes, 19 Caglar Tuc, 20 James Hynes, 21 Donagh Ryan, 22 Barry Norman, 23 Daniel Hegarty, 24 Lorcan Byrne.

From the Leinster team sheet.

St. Mary's: 1 Andy Balfour, 2 Aaron Doherty, 3 Andrew Perkins, 4 David Dixon, 5 Rory Litton, 6 Daniel Hegarty, 7 James Collery, 8 James Casey, 9 Alan McPhillips, 10 Colin Foley, 11 Idriss Mulenga, 12 Eric Dunne, 13 James McHugh, 14 Shane Rylands, 15 Patrick Butler.

Replacements: 16 Barry Norman, 17 Caglar Tuc, 18 Christopher Fisher, 19 Robert Dunleavy, 20 Sam Keating, 21 Aidan Boyle, 22 Paul O'Gorman, 23 Andrew Manning, 24 Ryan Byrnes, 25 James Nolan, 26 Donagh Ryan, 27 Elliot Chambers.

Scorers. Per match report: Tries: Alan McPhillips, Robert Dunleavy, the (unnamed) report writer, Eric Dunne, James Collery. Conversions: Andrew Manning (4).

From the Leinster team sheet.

St. Mary's: 1 Keith Gavaghan, 2 David McGill, 3 Andy Balfour, 4 David Dixon, 5 Jamie Thompson, 6 Rory Litton, 7 James Collery, 8 Padraig Fox, 9 Fernando Vadillo, 10 Colin Foley, 11 Paul O'Gorman, 12 Robert Dunleavy, 13 Eric Dunne, 14 John Healy, 15 Sam Boden.

Replacements: 16 Christopher Fisher, 17 Shane Rylands, 18 Aidan Boyle, 19 Barry Norman, 20 Tom Craig, 21 Sam Keating, 22 Patrick Butler, 23 Owen Clery.

From the Leinster team sheet.

St. Mary's: 1 Andy Balfour, 2 David McGill, 3 Rory Litton, 4 Elliot Chambers, 5 David Dixon, 6 James Collery, 7 Daniel Hegarty, 8 Padraig Fox, 9 Caglar Tuc, 10 Colin Foley, 11 Eric Dunne, 12 Robert Dunleavy, 13 James McHugh, 14 Patrick Butler, 15 Sam Boden.

Replacements: 16 Dean Hayes, 17 Fernando Vadillo, 18 Jamie Thompson, 19 John Healy, 20 Owen Clery, 21 Tom Craig, 22 Ryan Barnes.

From the Leinster team sheet.

St. Mary's: 1 Aaron Doherty, 2 Tom Craig, 3 Paul O'Gorman, 4 Padraig Fox, 5 Elliot Chambers, 6 Dean Hayes, 7 James Collery, 8 James Casey, 9 Ryan Barnes, 10 Colin Foley, 11 Cal Gray, 12 Robert Dunleavy, 13 Eric Dunne, 14 Patrick Butler, 15 John Healy.

Replacements: 16 Jamie Thompson, 17 Fernando Vadillo.

From the Leinster team sheet.

St. Mary's: 1 Andy Balfour, 2 Aaron Doherty, 3 Rory Litton, 4 David Dixon, 5 Padraig Fox, 6 Paul O'Gorman, 7 James Collery, 8 James Casey, 9 Colin Foley, 10 Ryan Barnes, 11 Caglar Tuc, 12 Eric Dunne, 13 Robert Dunleavy, 14 Idriss Mulenga, 15 Aidan Boyle.

Replacements: 16 Gary Masterson, 17 Christopher Fisher, 18 Jamie Thompson, 19 Tom Craig, 20 Elliot Chambers, 21 Fernando Vadillo, 22 David Rohan.

From the Leinster team sheet.

St. Mary's: 1 David Browne, 2 Aaron Doherty, 3 Gary Masterson, 4 Padraig Fox, 5 David Dixon, 6 Daniel Hegarty, 7 James Collery, 8 James Casey, 9 David Daly, 10 Colin Foley, 11 Caglar Tuc, 12 Robert Dunleavy, 13 Owen Clery, 14 Patrick Butler, 15 Eric Dunne.

Replacements: 16 Andy Balfour, 17 Barry Norman, 18 Christopher Fisher, 19 James Hynes, 20 Tom Craig, 21 David Rohan, 22 James McHugh, 23 Paul O'Gorman, 24 Fernando Vadillo, 25 Niall Donovan, 26 Niall O'Faolain, 27 Ryan Byrnes.

From the Leinster team sheet (as submitted; match conceded by Ratoath).

St. Mary's: 1 Sam Keating, 2 Aaron Doherty, 3 David Browne, 4 David Dixon, 5 Padraig Fox, 6 Gary Masterson, 7 John Cosgrove, 8 James Casey, 9 Conor Quinn, 10 David Daly, 11 Paul O'Gorman, 12 Cian Cahill, 13 Owen Clery, 14 Eric Dunne, 15 Caglar Tuc.

Replacements: 16 James McHugh, 17 Donagh Ryan, 18 Ryan Barnes, 19 Tom Craig, 20 Andy Balfour, 21 James Hynes, 22 Barry Norman, 23 Elliot Chambers, 24 James Collery, 25 Daniel Hurley, 26 Fernando Vadillo, 27 Aidan Boyle.

From the Leinster team sheet.

St. Mary's: 1 Gary Masterson, 2 Aaron Doherty, 3 David Browne, 4 Padraig Fox, 5 David Dixon, 6 James Collery, 7 James Casey, 8 James Hynes, 9 Conor Quinn, 10 Colin Foley, 11 Daniel Hurley, 12 Robert Dunleavy, 13 Cian Cahill, 14 Eric Dunne, 15 David Daly.

Replacements: 16 Alan Osborne, 17 Jonathan Kelly, 18 Fernando Vadillo, 19 Paul O'Gorman, 20 Donagh Ryan, 21 Oscar Byrne, 22 Christopher Fisher, 23 Caglar Tuc, 24 Daniel Hegarty, 25 Ryan Barnes, 26 Barry Norman.

From the Leinster team sheet.

St. Mary's: 1 Aaron Doherty, 2 Donagh Ryan, 3 David Browne, 4 David Dixon, 5 Jack Cosgrave, 6 Rory Litton, 7 James Collery, 8 Gary Masterson, 9 Conor Quinn, 10 Michael Daly, 11 Caglar Tuc, 12 Robert Dunleavy, 13 Owen Clery, 14 Cian McBrien, 15 Eric Dunne.

Replacements: 16 Elliot Chambers, 17 Tom Craig, 18 Andy Balfour, 19 Ryan Barnes, 20 Patrick Butler.

From the Leinster team sheet (as submitted; match conceded by Normans).

St. Mary's: 1 Donagh Ryan, 2 Aaron Doherty, 3 David Browne, 4 Rory Litton, 5 Padraig Fox, 6 Daniel Hegarty, 7 Gary Masterson, 8 James Casey, 9 Conor Quinn, 10 Colin Foley, 11 Owen Clery, 12 Michael Daly, 13 Robert Dunleavy, 14 Cian McBrien, 15 Eric Dunne.

Replacements: 16 Jack Cosgrave, 17 Elliot Chambers, 18 David Dixon, 19 Cian Cahill, 20 Ryan Barnes.

From the Leinster team sheet.

St. Mary's: 1 Donagh Ryan, 2 Aaron Doherty, 3 Gary Masterson, 4 Jack Cosgrave, 5 Padraig Fox, 6 James Hynes, 7 James Collery, 8 James Casey, 9 Conor Quinn, 10 Colin Foley, 11 Eric Dunne, 12 Robert Dunleavy, 13 Cian Cahill, 14 Cian McBrien, 15 Daniel Hurley.

Replacements: 16 David Browne, 17 David Dixon, 18 Elliot Chambers, 19 Caglar Tuc, 20 Ryan Barnes.

Scorers. Try: James Casey. Conversion: Daniel Hurley. Penalties: Daniel Hurley (2).

From the match report (the Leinster team sheet for the final is blank).

Source: reports-2015-2020/J5 XV Cup Semi Final Preview 2019 (website post by Maurice).

Guilfoyle-James Cup Metro J6 Semi Final Preview

St. Mary’s College R.F.C. v Coolmine R.F.C.

Templeville Road – Saturday 6th April 2019 5pm

St. Mary’s take on Coolmine this Saturday in the Guilfoyle-James Cup Semi Final. These sides are already familiar opponents, having faced each other in Metro Division 10 this season. St. Mary’s winning by 2 points in Ashbrook last December, Coolmine then returned the favour just last month in Templeville Road winning 36-34 in a 12 try match.

The previous game between these sides featured several excellent tries on both sides and plenty of defensive lapses, leading to a very entertaining game with a real of end of season feeling with little at stake. St. Mary’s will need to be much more solid in defence in this encounter as they know all too well that Coolmine possess a persistent scoring threat.

St. Mary’s defeated Monkstown (30-21) to reach this stage and Coolmine got past Barnhall (28-18). In the other side of the draw is Metro Division 11 winners Clontarf R.F.C. who play at home to Stillorgan-Rathfarnham R.F.C.

The game will take place on the main pitch after the AIL game versus Malone. The team will be looking for a strong home support to get out and support them and drive them on to the final.

Source: blitz/D.P. Smyth J5 Blitz 2019.

The 2019 edition of the D.P. Smyth J5 Blitz touch place on Thursday 18th April 2019 (Holy Thursday) took place in Templeville Road.

The "D.P. Smyth" trophy was presented nearly twenty years ago by the family of Dermot Smyth to the Rugby Club to be used as a J5 Cup. Dermot was a past pupil of St. Mary's College and was captain of their first ever JCT win in 1934. He went on to captain the Rugby Club (1939 - 41) during which he won 2 caps for Leinster (1940). He was elected President of the Rugby Club (1960 - 63). As well as President of the Leinster Branch he was also an Irish Selector and served on many committees over the years. Dermot's two sons, son in law and four grandsons have all played for St. Mary's College in recent years

The Smyth family were represented on the day by Dermot’s grandson Colin and great grandson Tim.

Taking part were St Mary’s J5, Emerald Warrior and DLSP. In this three team blitz each team played each other once in the Pool stages with games twenty minutes long. With the pool winner going straight to the final and the other two teams playing off to make the final.

Colin Burkley and Marco Petri were the referees.

St Mary’s beat Emerald Warriors and followed that up with a win over DLSP to make the final.

DLP beat Emerald Warriors in the play off to reach the final.

In closely fought final St Mary’s overcame DLSP to successfully hold on to their title for another season.

The 2020 competition will take place on Thursday 9th April 2020 (Holy Thursday). This is a significant year as it marks the 20th Season of the competition. Over the years it had been won by St Mary’s and Terenure 7 times each while Clontarf and our Argentine visitors in 2013 Club Buenos Aires Rugby each won once.

Make sure to join us in Templeville Road in April!!

Source: Club website preview (as on the Guilfoyle-James Cup page).

St. Mary's College R.F.C. v Stillorgan-Rathfarnham R.F.C. — Energia Park, Donnybrook Stadium — Wednesday 17th April 2019, 8pm

Despite the great recent successes of the J4 / J5 squads in the league in recent years, the Cup has generally proved more elusive. Until this year, you would have had to go back to 2014 for the last time the team had reached a semi-final, in that year losing out to neighbours Terenure. For the last time St. Mary's tasted cup success at this level, you will have to go back to 2012 when they beat Clontarf in extra time in the O'Connor Cup. A few players from that campaign are still around this team, and you can read the report from that great night on the St. Mary's website.

The route to the final this year for St. Mary's has been a little unusual. In the first round they produced an excellent display to defeat Monkstown in Sydney Parade. In the quarter-final they were paired with their old friends Kilkenny Normans, who unfortunately had to concede the game due to injuries. In the semi-final they faced Coolmine in Templeville Road and were defeated 30–17 — however, in the following days it transpired Coolmine had fielded ineligible players, and the game was awarded to St. Mary's.

Stillorgan-Rathfarnham have had some very strong wins against Railway Union and Clontarf to reach this final, and their J4 team are competing in the O'Connor Cup final, so they are chasing a cup double. St. Mary's and Stillorgan have not played this season but have had several encounters in the previous season, with several closely contested games.

Captain James Casey and his squad know they are going to have to put in a top performance on Wednesday to secure victory. They have been given a great chance to cap off the hard work put in by the squad and coaches all season, and will need great support from the sidelines to cheer them on. The team are looking for a strong St. Mary's presence in Donnybrook to get past Stillorgan. In one of the final competitive games of the club's calendar, we need everyone to come along to Donnybrook!