Wednesday of this week was an awful day. It started to rain during the night and then stayed raining throughout the day, as if the Irish Sea was being spilled onto Dublin. It was looking like our fixture for Thursday against Castleknock Community College was under threat!
The sunshine on Thursday was glorious. Some of our players even got a little sunburn. It wasn't just the sunshine that was glorious though; the rugby was pretty spectacular too!
This was our second fixture in the Junior Development Cup, and we kicked off slightly later than usual at 1.15. Johnny English was back refereeing us again and he has to be given a lot of credit for allowing a fast game of rugby to be played and giving both teams the opportunities they needed to play.
Castleknock kicked off but we quickly gathered the ball and put great pressure on them. We stayed in their half recycling the ball quickly from the breakdown and pushing forward through our backs. After just two minutes Mark Ryland (Winger) crossed the line and dotted the ball down. Everything seemed to be going our way, as we won a scrum on our put in, and were awarded a penalty, all in Castleknock's half and before five minutes had been played. Castleknock CC showed great composure though and contested strongly at the lineout following our penalty, stealing our ball and breaking through into our half for the first time. We sustained the pressure, despite some great probing attacks from their number 13, and were able to get the ball quickly to Ben Daly (Winger) on our right wing to score. The angles for conversion kicks so far were tight, and Paddy Martin (Outhalf) was finding it difficult to make his kicks, although his luck was soon to change.
Mark Reneghan (Lock) was having an awesome game and while Luke Alford (Number 8 and Captain) was off having his broken finger taped up Mark was able to break through the Castleknock lines to score. Great credit has to be given to Dylan Hamilton for filling Luke's giant shoes while he was off, and to Paddy Martin for making this kick. Play got a little scrappy at this stage and the next ten minutes or so saw two scrums being given, one to each side, including one that had to be reset. The ref warned both teams that they had to take responsibility for the scrums and they would go to uncontested scrums if another collapsed. Message received, and no more scrums collapsed!
Our backs put on a great display throughout the game, with amazing probing attacks coming from Conor Ryan (Outside Centre) putting great pressure on the Castleknock defence. James Murphy (Fullback) also used a very clever kick near to put the ball behind Castleknock and to force them backwards. Just before half-time Jake Miller (scrumhalf) was able to capitalise on this pressure to get us a fourth try, which Paddy Martin converted successfully. 24 to nil at half-time, thanks to great team work and a great display from all on the pitch.
That pressure that was put on Castleknock in the first half was exerted again straight after the restart. Our forwards protected the ball, with great rucking from Luke Hill (Lock) and Charlie Clarke (Flanker). The ball was quickly recycled out of the rucks and across to the wings, and then back through the centre with blinding speed. After just four minutes Jem O'Ciaráin (Inside Centre) gave us another try. Luke was very quick to warn the team not to be complacent though and to watch out for the opposition's probing attcks, again through their Outside Centre. Aaron MacDonagh (Loosehead Prop) had a great run up the middle of the pitch, carrying three of the opposition players with him as he went. We traded set-pieces for the next few minutes, until, with ten minutes gone in the second half, Castleknock conceded a penalty for holding on while on the ground. William Kelly (Hooker) and Cillian Smith (Tighthead Prop) had been tackling like demons in the sequence running up to this penalty, and the decision they took to tap-and-go helped Jem get his second try of the day. 36 - nil, and the sun was still shining.
With fourteen minutes left in the game Castleknock were able to exploit our right wing and managed to cross the line for their first try. Nathan Devitt and Craig Smith were making their debuts for the team and had shown a little hesitation which Castleknock were quick to take advantage of. Castleknock tried to come down that wing again, but Craig put on a remarkable defensive display that slowed them down and helped us regain possession. Castleknock kept probing our lines though and were able to break through twice more. With nine minutes left in the game they had 19 points to our 36. Some of our players were beginning to get worried. Once again Castleknock tried to break through on our right wing, hoping to break through Nathan. He put in a massive tackle on a guy almost twice his size, pushing Castleknock back in the process and saving us from a definite try.
Pressure switched back into the Castleknock side when Mark Reneghan stole the ball from them and was able to link up with Andrew Hayden (Flanker) and help Andrew score between the posts. With Paddy's conversion the whistle was blown and after an incredible team display, St Mac Dara's Community College Junior Boys Rugby squad are through to the Development Cup Quarter Finals.
Well done lads.
Number Crunching.
Tries. St Mac Dara's 7 (4), Castleknock Community College 3 (2)
Possession. St Mac Dara's 43 minutes. 72%. Castleknock CC 17m. 28%.
Territory. St Mac Dara's 75%. Castleknock 25%.
Line-Outs. St Mac Dara's 3 (3) Castleknock 2 (1)
Scrums. St Mac Dara's 5 (5) Castleknock 9 (7)
Penalties conceded. St Mac Dara's 3. Castleknock Community College 7.
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