DLSP 0 - Stillorgan 22
J3 League - Jan 30, 2005
Stillorgan's current good run in the league continued on a sunny but blustery Sunday afternoon in Kilternan with a reasonably comfortable win over a good De La Salle side.
Syillorgan lost the toss and found ourselves playing 'with' the wind that was blowing diagonally across the field. The opening 10-15 minutes were evenly fought but after a good series of drives Stillorgan forced a penalty which Danny narrowly put wide. Danny was given a chance to redeem himself 5 minutes later with another kick, albeit a more difficult one, but this one didn't even come close! Nil all still but Stillorgan were the ones playing the rugby at this stage. Within a couple of minutes Stillorgan were 5 nil to the good after a good midfield back move sent Gus searing down the line to score in the corner. Needless to say, the kick didn't come close to going over. Half time then - 5 nil to Stillorgan.
For the second half Stillorgan had to play into a strong breeze so we knew we would have to up the performance level by about 38.7%. 5 minutes into the half a difficult penalty attempt into the bowls of the wind by me sailed narrowly wide. Stillorgan had the lions share of possession at this stage which led to De La Salle constantly spoiling our rucks and mauls illegally without any intervention from the referee. Frustrations soon got the better of Stillorgan which led to Fabien taking a rest for 10 minutes. Stillorgan now upped the ante and held our own despite being a man down. With Fabiens return De La Salle started to capitulate. Some good inter-play between backs and forwards saw Hops cannonball his way over the line for the second try of the game. The conversion attempt by me was as bad as any of the kicks that had gone before.
Shortly afterwards, Stillorgan were crossing the line again with Johnny Plunkett and this game was more or less over now. Garrett tried his hand at the coversion but failed miserably also. De La Salle had to run everything now but couldn't make any headway against a solid Stillorgan defence. On the last play of the game, a rash kick from the DLSP outhalf from behind his own goal line made its way straight into the arms of a thankful Gus who did well to run the ball back for his second try of the game. From around 10m to the right of the posts and into the difficult wind, the last kick of the day taken by yours truly dissected the posts to end the game 22-0 to us.
This De La Salle team were definitely better than their league position would indicate so it was a good display by Stillorgan, especially in the second half. There were good performances all round the field but for one particular tackle in the first half that frightened off the rats and crows in the nearby dump with the shockwave generated, the man of the match award goes to Peter DuBerry.
Match report by Leo