St. Marys College 7 - 18 Stillorgan
J3 League - Oct 12th, 2008
A great defensive performance, particularly by Stillorgan\'s midfield defence, saw Stillorgan start their season\'s campaign with an away win against a senior club highly regarded at J3 level.
Stillorgan J3s kicked off their league campaign yesterday in Templeville road against St Marys. This was a repeat of the cup fixture last year which saw Stillorgan proceed on to the semi finals of the cup following an attrition 16-16 draw after extra time with Stillorgan going through on the away team rule ( if it is a draw after extra time the away team is judges to be the victor).
Prior to the kick off St Marys officials moved Stillorgan off OUR match pitch during our warm up to the far side to the far side of the grounds to an area akin to a paddy field to make room for their J1 team\'s warm up. They neglected to move their J3 team from the pitch though. Some things never change, sure we are only a junior club...
The match started with a bit of aerial ping pong. It was obvious from the start that the St Marys backs were a talented bunch putting in some deep testing kicks early on, but our back three were well able to stand up to it. Keaven was particularly up for the challenge opting not to touch down a ball that crossed our try line instead finding touch 10m meters off the half way line. There were also one or two flashes of daring handling during this period with a link up between Padraig and Peter in their own 22 nearly leading to a line break only for a knock on to end the move.
During the first period of the match we gave away a couple of penalties, which St Marys failed to convert. It was obvious early on that the ref was going to hold both teams to very high standards, blowing up a lot of penalties that would normally not be given by our normal referees. This occurred through out the match. Typical infringements included passing the ball back through the ruck, offside and holding on. From the sidelines in the first half I though referees decisions did slightly favour St Marys but not by too much.
Our first score of the game came mid way through the first half. With one of the few possession we established in the St Mary\'s half of the pitch some sound handling in the midfield gave Peter some space coming on to the ball on the opponents 10m line. Given the opportunity he decided to have a cut at this opposite number. He shimmied to go inside and then pinned his ears back and went for the outside. Keavan stayed wide in support to open the door for him. Peter skinned his opposite number and the full back could not get across to cover which gave Peter his first competitive try of his Stillorgan career.
We followed up this try with what was probably the play of the match with a procession of tackles up the middle of the field which had St Marys dazed. It was a frantic bit of play with the ball being hacked on, but every time a Marys man got to the ball he was hit, which sent the ball further down the pitch. The result of all these hits was a penalty to Stillorgan for St Marys bridging (I think). Shobsy (Shane for Tipp) kicked the penalty. St Mary s 0 Stillorgan 8.
Doddsy had the scent of the kill (normally 10 WKD\'s and a few shots on a young ones breath) at this stage and tried to pick up the pace of the game. In a moment of inspiration he played a quick throw in to himself (being the furthest player back for Stillorgan). He did not see the St Marys man 10m in front of him and closing. I am not too sure what was more painful, the hit to this ribs or the hit to his ego. He got smashed the ball went loose and 2 Mary\'s players had our try line at their mercy. But speaking of mercy, the ref showed some to doddsy and called back the lineout. A close escape.
This acted as a bit of a wake up call to St Marys. They then had what was probably the most creative spell of their match. The were asking a lot of questions of our midfield defence with Shane, Finnian and Peter being asked to make some try saving tackles. Initially we coped with the pressure well. In particular there were two phases of play where Stillorgan doggedly defended their tryline with St Marys building phases inside our own 5m line. However their pack were beginning to get a foothold and further pressure saw Danny get a yellow card for killing the ball. During the sin binning the pressure finally took its toll with a St Marys making a break through the midfield to score a try under the posts. St Marys 7 Stillorgan 8.
Stillorgan rebounded from this set back going on the attack for the rest of the half. But time ran out before Stillorgan could capitalise. Half time St Marys 7 Stillorgan 8.
The second half started like the first with a lot of aerial ping pong. St Marys had the majority of territory. However Stillorgan seemed to be coping comfortably with everything they were throwing at them. The telling moments came about 10 mins in. Stillorgan developed some strong field position with the forwards roasting St Marys with a maul. We got to their 5m line. But for what ever reason the ball was turned over. St Mary had a scrum on their own 5m line. Our front row got a shove on. This upset their scrum half who put their fly half under pressure with a poor pass. We got to the fly half who spilled the ball. What happened next is anyones guess but I think someone on our team kicked the ball, which was showing off a bit as we were in the try zone at this stage and all it took was a dive onto the ball to score a try. Not to worry, Peter dived on ball soon after and was awarded a try. St Marys 7 Stillorgan 13
St Marys looked despondent. They had played a lot of the rugby and the gap on the scoreboard was growing. What happened next put the last nail in their coffin. Great midfield defence led to a breakdown in a Marys move on our 10m line. Finnian got his foot to the ball and hacked it up the field. He gathered the ball and put his boot to the floor. St Marys backs are not short of pace and were near catching him but Finnian found Liam R in support. Liam took the ball on for a bit and fed it back to Finnian for a try. St Mary\'s 7 Stillorgan 18
From here on in we were in containment mode. We spent much of the match in our half, clearing our lines and stopping Marys in their tracks. Our defensive effort had taken its toll on Marys and they did not really look like scoring from then on in. We may be lost a bit of composure around the ruck at times but still had enough in our legs to cover the ground to quash any attack Marys had to offer.
A great start to the season for the J3\'s. Although I think it is fair to say everyone thought we could have imposed our game on the match a bit better. Plenty to work on (ruck time, getting our phases going in the forwards etc.). However our defence was immense. As stated the backs were in tackling mode and let very little by despite Marys asking the questions. Well done to all involved.
Match report by Ross Durnin