Stillorgan 13 - 15 Guinness
J2 League - 31 Oct 09
This was possibly the most frustrating day for \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'The Parish\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' in some time. As has become usual now all three side were in action but mixed results were recieved. The J2 side took to the field on what started out as a fine afternoon for rugby and it seemed before the kick off that Stillorgan might be able to run the ball, change the point of attack and maje a one dimensional Guinness outfit think and work hard all day.
The game started well for the hosts as they earned a penalty within the first five minutes. Everyone was nervous (including the kicker) as Shane O\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Brien stepped up to kick in the absence of Timmy Twomey, the memory of the original \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Shobsy\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' still in mind! The kick went over and Stillorgan were on their way. From the re-start Stillorgan cleared their lines and soon earned another penalty insode the Guinness half. Despite being a little further out they opted to kick, unfortunately this was not as successfull and sailed wide of the right hand post.
The game seemed to turn in Stillorgans favour soon after as a great counter attack, started by the veteran Garrett Fanning, ended up deep in the Guinness 22, a superb line from Finian Finn off a pop pass from Simon Dodd lead to a try under the post which was duely converted giving Stillorgan 10-0 lead. It seemed as if Stillogan would be able now to push on and possibly put the game beyond Guinness before half time. However the elements turned nasty and a heavy down pour mid-way through the half completely changed the game. The Guinness pack were big, strong and well able to maul. These wet conditions suited them much better then Stillorgan. The half turned messy after that and ended 10-0.
The second half started with more of the same, Stillorgan were unable to come to terms with the conditions dropping ball all over the pitch, in truth some were self enforced. This allowed Guinness to get position deep in the Stillorgan half from which they earned a penalty and their first points of the day, 10-3. Stillorgan responded excellently winning a penalty straight away, wgich was converted, 13-3. Guinness began to dominate the game and once agin Stillorgan found themselves defending. Stillrgan did create some chances but some very unusual refereeing decisions allowed Guinness off the hook. Possibly the most unusual was the sending off Stillorgan Liam Fahy along with the Guinness out-half for absolutely nothing.
Guinness found themselves deep in the Stillorgan 22 and despite some heroic defending managed to force their way over leaving the score 13-8. With little tim remaining Stillorgan wanted to play the ball deep in the Guinness half. However the referee was once again about to make a series of unbelievable decision that he refused to justify and clarify what the offence was. With only 5 minutes remaining Stillorgan were defending a ruck on their line when some counter-rucking resulted in what was a cheap penalty, however the referee bizarrely ran under the posts and awarded a penalty try. When questioned by the captain as to what the penalty try was for he replied \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'ll talk to you after the game\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' and simply said \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'go away\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'! This was not the ned of the madness! As Stilloragn regatherd for the kick off the ref called the Stillorgan captain and pack leader, it was presumed just to explain the decision, he produced a red card to Simon Dodd reducing the hosts to 13 players. Stillorgan had 3 minutes to get into the Guinness 22 and force a penalty. From the restart Guinnes won the ball, took it into contact as Stillorgan looked to turn over the ball a tough conflict developed on the ground, the ref blew the game up and ran to the dressingroom saying \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'ve had enough\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' despite the fact that 2 minutes still remained!
After the game some players attempted to take responsibility for the result. This is rubbish! when we have good days we all take the good time as a club, now that we have experianced our first league defeat in 15 months we have to take it together as a club. This is where we show our unity, regroup and look to end the first rotation of game with 2 wins, hopefully getting at least one bonus point. That would ensure we finish top. Then a game against Bective in Donnybrook on 12th Dec. the day of the Christmas party, will allow us the oppertunity to put daylight between us and the rest before christmas! In my opinion, having studied the league table and fixtures at length last night, that Stillorgan RFC are in the driving seat in this division. We are the only side in the top 3 who have had a week off and are only 4 points behind with a game in hand, We are yet to play the bottom two teams in the league, we wil play the top team before the Christmas break, we will have our weekend off out of the way first in the second rotation meaning that we will have a better run into the end of the league and will know exactly what we have to do as Bective have the last weekend off. We are in a great position and have got there through hard work! Don\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t let this weekend get in the way of a second league title in succession!
Looking forward to seeing all J2 players down for training on Tuesday and Thursday!
Match Report by Shane O\'Brien