v St. Mary's College
Super 4’s v St. Mary’s RFC.
Saturday was a fine day for rugby and indeed we were in fine form for our last match against one of the top 3 teams in our league. Having lost to Parkmore 3 weeks ago by narrowest of margins (6-0) and with an awful lot of help from the referee who… I’ll stop there as my colleagues already have excellent defamation practices… this was our last chance to beat a team in the top 3 of our league and our last chance to prove to ourselves that we belonged in the top 3. Most of us had been packing bags in Superquinn for the morning to raise funds for our tour to Edinburgh next weekend and also the IRFU charitable Trust and thus we were all on time and ready to go.
The game opened very well for us and within minutes we were awarded a penalty but unfortunately the kick went askew from the golden footed Mulpiter and sailed narrowly past the left upright. However the pack, led by Mick Barton with help from Matt Leonard as usual were dominating up front and we were managing to keep Mary’s pinned back down in their own 22. The Cockroche was playing very well at scrumhalf in the absence of the injured Gilly and the center berths were being well filled by Rob Lee and Tom Hill. It was a combination of the pack mauling down the field and the speed of foot from Roche which led to him literally skipping through the Mary’s defence for our first try which was wonderfully converted by Padraic. Collidge 7 – Mary’s 0. This was the start we needed.
Barton, Duffy and Moriarty the back three in the scrum were as always magnificent and were making great yards with the ball every time they took it on. Their defence was mighty and no one was getting past the fringes. But in a rare incursion into our 22 St. Mary’s were awarded a penalty which they took well and our lead was down to four points. We came back down the hill though with a fire in our bellies and went on the rampage. Conor “the white Habanna” O’Driscoll, Reilly and Comiskey all took great ball on and came close to scoring. But we had to wait and the Mary’s players were pushing back up the hill more and more often through some intelligent kicking. Eventually Padraic put a great kick down the pitch which was followed by the Cockroche who was like a greyhound from the traps. Their winger failed to deal with it and he deftly kept it in play with his boot before picking it up and going over in the corner. The Mary’s players complained bitterly but in doing so showed a severe lack of knowledge in the rules of the game. If a player is in touch, but the ball is still in play he may use his boot to keep it in play! (Coach John Shuttleworth 3.16)
We went into the break 12 – 10 up after they scored a very soft try arising from a bizarre series of errors in which we failed to deal with a very simple kick. The Second half left us with the hill to climb that has so often been our friend. They were quick off the re-start and came flying down the hill and within minutes they had took 7 points to go 17 – 12 up. We fought back though and didn’t give an inch. The player formally known as the Mud Phoenix now Collenzo and CUD (Conor O’Higgins) were massive in the lineout and we had plenty of options but another try from their backs brought them to 22. We were on the ropes but to be fair the game was far from over and we didn’t look out of it at all. Dempsey who had a cracking game made way for Niall McGoldrick who tackled like a terrier and Padraic who had his ear near ripped off came off for a blood injury. He was replaced by Ciaran Scallan one our signings over the Christmas break. A native of Canada, Ciaran comes with a price tag of 3.5 million Canadian Dollars and is considered to be the most expensive signing in Collidge history . His brief stint on the pitch looked impressive and I have no doubt he will be well worth all that money in weeks to come.
With minutes to go Mary’s breached our defense once more and this time it was a fatal blow. We now trailed 29 – 12 in a score line that flattered St. Mary’s. We had too much to do and not enough time. Comiskey looked dangerous but to no avail and at one stage Barry Sheehan carried the ball a massive 30 yards but to no avail and the score line was left at that. John Crean and Scallan were poised to come on again but the final whistle went and it was all over.
Our back room staff grew some more this weekend and as always special thanks goes to David and Neville Jones, John Shuttleworth, our physio Aoife and our ever growing support base. We welcome Paul O’Higgins and Fergus to the Super 4’s fan club. Our next game is against Bective on Wednesday evening kicking off at 7.30 on the new all weather pitch in Belfield. After that we go abroad to take on Edinburgh University on Saturday. It’s a rollercoaster and we’re far from finished yet!!!!
Fred Gilligan