Match Report - Old Belvedere v. St. Mary's College on 2 April 2011
MATCH REPORT
THERE AT LAST!......
OLD BELVEDERE 25 ST. MARY’S COLLEGE 19
Another fine day greeted the large crowd who came to Anglesea Road on Saturday to witness the final Division 1A league game between the 2nd and 3rd placed teams in the league. A bonus point loss would suffice for the home team. A bonus point win by 17 points would allow St. Mary’s reverse positions with Belvo and secure 2nd place and a home draw for the league play-offs. However, if St. Mary’s lost the game and Young Munster could win, Young Munster would secure the 3rd position and a chance of the league title in the play-off tournament - an exciting end to the revised league format in place for the last two years.
A pulsating game ensued with Belvo building up a 20-0 lead after 26 minutes and coming agonisingly close to scoring another try before St. Mary’s got one back just before half time. A stuttering 2nd half performance and two yellow cards at critical times against our half-backs allowed St. Mary’s back into the game and with 10 minutes to go and Simon Keogh in the sin bin, we were hanging onto a 20-19 lead and things did not look good. Heads were up when Belvo were awarded a kickable penalty with four minutes to go but the tricky cross wind pulled Andy Dunne’s kick right of the posts and it was back in the melting pot. There was a heart stopping moment when St. Mary’s dispossessed Belvo in a maul and charged up field. The knock-on in the tackle was missed and the charge continued but Belvo were immediately awarded a penalty for not releasing when the ball eventually went to ground. Belvo tried a series of forward drives to keep possession and run the clock down. The ball finally ended up on the right wing, 40 metres from the goal line and in Leo Auva’s hands. Leo ran forward and shaped to pass inside but nobody was there. Please, Leo, just hold onto the ball and run – preferably along the touch line and don’t loose possession. One tackler bounced off Leo, then a second, and a third as he gathered momentum and fitness came through as he scored a spectacular try under the score board to seal the game for Belvo and break the heart of every St. Mary supporter in the ground. It was a fitting reward for a player who has been influential in all games throughout the season and a boost for the Belvo supporters who agonised this time last year when we lost the league semi-final by the narrowest of margins to the same opposition. Once again, the game between our clubs was contested closely and sportingly and there was a fair degree of sympathy for the losers as the news came through from Limerick that Young Munster had won and deprived St. Mary’s of the play-off spot.
St. Mary’s kicked off toward the Anglesea Road end but the ball was short of the 10 metre line and at the first scrum, Academy prop Jack McGrath pushed Stewart Maguire up in the air and memories of the previous week’s match in Garryowen came to mind. However, Belvo settled with a penalty conversion by Conal Keane after 3 minutes, awarded for offside in the back-line. The restart was well fielded by Belvo and at the 2nd scrum, the ball was won against the head and the team started to motor. Belvo gained a free kick at the next scrum and Simon Keogh made a great catch of a high ball while running back towards his own goal-line – all positive actions. Belvo continued to attack with quick passing movements and the breakthrough came in the 20th minute when Leo managed to break left and slip a pass to Danny Riordan who ran strongly to score in the left corner. Conal Keane kicked a difficult conversion to put us into a 10-0 lead.
The impact of this score had hardly been digested when three minutes later, the ball was passed to David Mongan who managed to create and score a superb try in the same corner with little space in which to move. The conversion was missed. With a 15-0 lead, the team started to play with great confidence. An old fashioned foot rush up the middle by the Belvo pack was fielded by St Mary’s. However, the fielder was dispossessed and the ball moved quickly right for Eddie Devitt to run home a score a third try in a six minute period. Once again, a difficult conversion drifted wide of the posts. Belvo were quickly back on the attack. A fourth try looked certain as Stewart Maguire went for the line and men outside but somehow the opportunity was missed. St Mary’s were somewhat in disarray at this point and full back Gavin Dunne allowed a ball to bounce which set up another attack for Belvo, ending in a goal attempt by Ben Woods.
St. Mary’s steadied themselves and worked their way down field for the first time in the 2nd quarter and set up a series of drives in the left corner just before half-time. Belvo managed to turn the ball over but the clearance kick by Danny Riordan did not make touch and was fielded by winger Ronan Doherty. He threw a long pass in field to Ian McKinley who jinked his way superbly through a bemused Belvo defence to score under the posts in much the same way as Cusack, the Garryowen out-half had done in the previous game in Limerick. Gavin Dunne converted to make it 20-7 and one had the uneasy feeling that St. Mary’s were back in the game and are never written off until the final whistle.
Sure enough, our luck started to change. A long kick by Conal Keane touched a St Mary’s player before finally going over the dead ball line and the scrum was awarded back in our half. 4 minutes later, Conal Keane was yellow carded for coming in at the side of the ruck as St. Mary’s attacked in the left corner. St. Mary’s were revitalised and prop Robert Sweeney scored a try under the posts, converted by McKinley to leave the score at 20-14. One suspected that Andy Dunne would be brought on quickly and another player sacrificed as we looked vunerable with no recognised outside half and Eddie Devitt standing in for Conal Keane. Sure enough, the superb McKinley decided to try his luck in the ten Channel and came up trumps with a great individual try three minutes later to make it 20-19. The conversion was missed to a collective sigh of relief from the home supporters. Nerves got the better of Belvo at this stage and a series of loose kicks gave the initiative back to St Mary’s who relished opportunities to run hard at the Belvo defence. A deliberate knock-on by St. Mary’s went unpunished at the start of the fourth quarter and there was a sense of injustice when Simon Keogh was correctly yellow carded for the same offence 10 minutes later. A torrid final 10 minutes ensued with subs Andy Dunne, Erik Jackman, Kevin Buckley and Kevin Bardon all adding fresh legs to the fray. To their credit, the team steadied and focused on retaining possession and somehow forcing a kickable penalty from St Mary’s which they did. The pernicious wind continued to play its part and prolong the agony until Leo’s tour de force ended the game on a high note.
The Old Belvedites will have looked down and felt well pleased with the result but I fancy there was a flapping of angel’s wings in response to the number of loose and misplaced kicks that continually handed back the initiative to St. Mary’s and nearly cost us the game. But all is well that ends well and a big thank you to the players and the coaching team for producing a performance when it mattered and we can now look forward to a semi-final clash with old foes Clontarf in Angleea Road in two weeks time. A big thank you to the large number of home and visiting supporters who were part of a bumper attendance for lunch on Saturday. A number of long-time absentees were among the attendance on Saturday and we would welcome a further influx for the semi-final match where you will be assured of renewing old friendships over the course of what will be a massive occasion for our club. Get your names down now for lunch!
Team:
Danny Riordan, Eddie Devitt, John Kennedy, Ben Woods(Kevin Bardon), Conal Keane (Andy Dunne), Simon Keogh, Vinny Soden , David Gilchrist(Kevin Buckley), Stewart Maguire, Dean Moore, Richie Leydon, Jonathan Slattery(Eric Jackman), Jason Risdon, Leo Auva’a
Posted on 05 April 2011.
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