Garryowen FC Notes w.e. 21st Jan 2007
The AIL
resumes on Saturday when we make the away trip to play UCD in Belfield at 2.30.
The team will have been encouraged by their brave 16-13 win over Buccaneers in
the first round of the AIB Cup at a windy and rain-swept Dooradoyle last
weekend. We had plenty of possession in the first half but the scoreboard only
registered three Eoghan Hickey penalties. In the difficult conditions, 9-3 was
a less than comfortable lead but we raised the tempo after the interval and our
pack drove forward to pin the Bucks deep inside their half. The visitors soaked
up quite a bit of pressure but eventually an error forced the concession of a 5
metre scrum. The ball was ball moved quickly to midfield where Conan Doyle
split the defence with a neat grubber kick and Kevin Hartigan won the race for
the touch down just short of the dead ball line. The conversion might have tied
up most games but some slack defence saw our lead cut to 16-10 and when Tom
Cregan exacted another three points from a penalty, it was a case of backs to
the walls for the final 12 minutes. Our position wasn’t helped by the sin
binning of Peter Malone for being too adventurous at a ruck near our line. A
huge win at a lineout by Donal Sheehan lifted the siege temporarily and there
were some great performances in the pack as we gamely hung on to our slender
margin. No 8 Frank McKenna stepped up to the plate and some of his driving in
the loose put us over the gain line as we attempted to wrestle the advantage
from an ever improving Bucks team. It was stirring stuff once again although we
have become accustomed to some nail biting finishes in the past month. The
final whistle cheered the numbed home faithful and quite a few hot toddies were
consumed in the welcome surrounds of the clubhouse afterwards. Overall we
deserved our victory but we need to be a bit more economical with our
possession as we get to the business end of this competition. Liam Og Casey,
Pat Humphreys and Eugene McGovern were excellent in the front row and
scrummaged well throughout. The battle for places continues from week to week
across a number of key positions. While the team is not as yet the finished
article, the courage and commitment of the players has never been more evident
in Dooradoyle. Our win will give the players confidence for a number of
“banana-skin” games in the Metropolis in the next fortnight. Our 3rdXV went
down 28-5 to ULBohs in a friendly in Annacotty and will be hoping for a better
performance in the McInerney Cup game v Young Munster in Derryknockane at 2.30
on Saturday. In the MSL our junior team had a narrow 15-10 over Young Munster
and have an away friendly v Kilfeacle at 1.00 on Sunday. The U14’s had a 50-17
win away to Thomond in the NML. The quality of rugby played by both sides in a
very sporting fashion is a credit to all concerned. In all we managed to run in
8 eight tries, five converted by Rory Collins. The game was a lot closer than
the score-line suggests with Thomond coming into the game very strongly in the
second-half. Some great tries were scored with Ben Drew on the right wing and
Paul O’ Sullivan at second centre excelling in their new positions. The best
try was saved to last when after great work from the pack, a clever inside
break by Collins who offloaded to first centre Adrian Hanley to score under the
posts. The squad has been rotated in the first three games and the benefits
were seen in Sunday’s games with all squad members making sizeable
contributions to the win. This Sunday they are at home to Bruff and the U16’s
who had a narrow 3-0 win over Young Munster take on