Another Thursday afternoon on Templeville Road, and once again the sun was shining. This match was always going to be a challenge, as quite a few of our starting players from our win over Castleknock were unavailable today. (William probably won't even bring back something nice for everyone after his holiday!) Still, while we never like to be over-confident, we knew that we would put up a good contest and if someone was to beat us, we would not make it easy on them!
Johnny English wasn't available to ref us today, but Dara O'Kelly was taking over duty on the whistle. He got us going at one o'clock, with St David's kicking off. We quickly gathered the ball and made our way into their half. Mark Reneghan (lock) put in an enormous carry and pushed deep through their lines. It was our plan to be in their half for most of the game! We quickly recycled the ball through our forwards, with pick-and-go being the weapon of choice for the first few phases. Once we kept play in tight for a while we quickly moved the ball out to the wing where Ben Daly (winger) scored our first try after just two minutes. The angle was too tight for Jake Carroll (inside-centre), but five-nil up after two minutes was a great start.
St David's restarted and James Murphy (fullback) fielded it brilliantly, turning their kick into our advantage. They did manage to turn the ball over though and had a strong ruck in place on the half-way line. Our counter-rucking was fantastic though and helped us a number of times throughout the match. After another minute or so of scrappy play we had a line-out just inside their ten-metre line. We won the throw and Jake Miller (scrumhalf) used a box-kick to put pressure on St David's and to force them to react to our play, rather than be able to create any of their own. Luke Hill (lock) carried the ball (and at least two of the opposition players!) right up to their lines. St David's held the ball up and so we went out for a scrum-five. Some quick passing and then Conor Ryan (outside-centre) broke through for our second try, which Jake successfully converted. Eight minutes on the clock. Twelve-nil on the scoreboard.
This time it was Jake Carroll who gathered their restart kick and put pressure back on St David's. We were pushed into touch though and it was St David's turn to use their line-out to put us under pressure. James Murphy showed his defensive strength again and managed to steal their ball. Unfortunately we conceded the first of two quick penalties. St David's had a strong play for their penalties involving crashing their forwards up through the middle. While we could slow them down, we couldn't stop them and after fifteen minutes they were on the scoreboard. Three minutes later St David's had scored again, and converted it. We were level, but they were the ones celebrating! We went back to our clinical ways, bashing up through the centre through our forwards, drawing defenders in, then sending Ben over again for his second try. The work done by Charlie Clarke (flanker) and Billy Hamilton (tighthead prop) in rucking and carrying was phenomenal. We kept pressuring them, through our line-outs and their scrums, and again we put in immense counter-rucking displays. Eventually we broke across the line and Jake Carroll scored a fantastic team-try. He converted it and we took our half-time break with a 24 to 12 lead.
We restarted and when they carried they ball into contact we counter-rucked and secured possession for ourselves. Unfortunately we quickly conceded a scrum for knocking-on. St David's won their scrum but then knocked-on themselves. We won our scrum and made a great break up their wing. Unfortunately we lost possession, but St David's were forced into touch. They stole the ball from us at the following line-out and we could see St David's starting to grow in confidence.
Matches are made up of little moments that only last for a second, but that can have an influence throughout, and even beyond the match. Jake Carroll stealing the ball from St David's on the four-minute mark, in a text-book rip. Our pack winning the scrum on the opposition put in twice in the second-half. Owen Flood (winger) putting in a tremendous tackle to stop St David's in their tracks. Owen and Mark Ryland (outhalf) tackling together to force St David's into touch. Aaron McDonagh (loosehead prop) dashing down the wing like a back contesting for a loose ball. They had the possession and the territory in this phase of the match but our defensive display was so strong that they couldn't make use of it. All of these scrums were starting to take their toll, especially on Cillian Smith (hooker) who had been forced to move in from his usual position propping and so with half of the second half gone we moved to uncontested scrums. We were happy to see time ticking by with no scores appearing for either side but it couldn't last and three minutes later, from a line-out near our lines, St David's broke through and scored. Their successful conversion meant there was just seven points separating the side with ten minutes remaining.
The pressure seemed to get to both sides, with lots of sloppy possession until wiser heads, like Andrew Hayden (number eight - captain) settled everyone down. We knew there were just five minutes left in the game and that St David's would have to score twice to beat us. Rather than getting defensive though we decided to attack. It paid off when Conor Ryan got his second of the game and put us beyond their range. We finished 31 points to 19 and we had secured our place in the semi-finals of the Junior Development Cup.
Well done to all involved, and thanks again to St Mary's College RFC for allowing us the use of their facilities.
Project Maths.
Tries. St Mac Dara's 5 (3), St David's, Greystones 3 (2)
Possession. St Mac Dara's 42 minutes. 72%. St D 19m. 28%.
Territory. St Mac Dara's 66%. St D 34%.
Line-Outs. St Mac Dara's 8 (5) St David's, Greystones 3 (3)
Scrums. St Mac Dara's 5 (4) St D 10 (7)
Penalties conceded. St Mac Dara's 4. StD 1.
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