Gritty Garryowen strike late
So it did, an injury-time penalty kick from under the posts by late replacement Eoghan Hickey giving the home side the four points that sees them still atop the league this morning, albeit behind Cork Con on points difference.
An early Christmas present, right enough, but credit also to the resoluteness of a Garryowen side that simply refused to be beaten. Trailing by two points heading into injury time, there didn’t seem to be much hope for them, even when a well-placed Gerry Hurley line-kick ended up in touch just inside the Lansdowne 22.
For most of the game the Lansdowne lineout, with the giant Devon Toner commanding in the middle, had been safe as houses, so it looked like it was going to be another routine take and clearance kick to halfway to run down the clock. Instead, with a supreme effort from the lifters, it was Garryowen soaring to spoil the Lansdowne throw, ball eventually ending up on their side. Maul, then a sequence of pick ‘n go’s with tight-head John Staunton to the fore, edging ever closer to the Lansdowne line, until eventually the penalty was conceded. You had to feel sorry for the visitors, who looked the much more balanced and threatening side for most of the match, but credit where it’s due, and coach Toland was gracious in defeat.
“I know it’s a cliché, but there’s full credit due to both sides for this display. It’s always a wonderful fixture, a lot of history between the two clubs; it turned out to be a right old barnstormer and in typical fashion, won right at the end. Garryowen on their own day would prefer the 15-man game, but today was a real forward-orientated game, for both sides. I was really happy with our lineout, very happy with our scrum, very happy with a lot of things in the game. Unfortunately, the winning tradition in Garryowen over the last few years, always knocking around the top four, had a bearing, it showed in the end.”
From first whistle-blast to last of impressive low-key Ulster referee Mark Hermin, there was very little between these two. The home side opened the scoring, a penalty from Conor Kilroy in the 17th minute, though it wasn’t to prove a fruitful afternoon for the normally reliable full-back. The sides shared two tries and while it was not massively entertaining, it was tight enough to keep the small attendance engrossed.
Lansdowne open-side Niall Ronan struck for the first try in the 24th minute following a block down, but Garryowen replied in the fourth minute of injury time. They had tried doing it the fancy way, but in the enforced absence of the flying O’Boyle brothers, they were all too pedestrian in the backs.
Eventually it was up-the-jumper, muscle it over, inside-centre Frederico Quaglia emerging with the ball. Both tries were converted, leaving it 10-7 at the break, Garryowen with their noses in front.
Third quarter it was the visitors largely in control, though nothing came easy for them. A well-worked backs try off a five metre penalty scrum resulted in their second try, full-back Robbie Dolan breaking a couple of tackles for the touchdown (though Garryowen were short-handed at that stage, Quaglia having been yellow-carded).
A wonderful 64th minute drop-goal by Dolan increased Lansdowne’s lead to 15-10, but Garryowen substitute Alan Kingsley brought it back to two points with a wobbly drop-goal eight minutes later, setting up those late heroics, which made a happy man of head coach Paul Cunningham.
“I have to be,” he smiled. “It looked like it was slipping from us but the boys have shown this kind of character all season. They want this, they want to stay on top of the division. We’re missing players, I’m sure Lansdowne were missing players, but you get injuries during the season, that’s what you have a squad for. It’s the young fellas again, they’re still coming through, and we have a couple of players coming back — big John Staunton, his first game back after being out for a while, he’s got himself fitter than he’s ever been, he’s putting his hand up; Kevin O’Riordan has come back after a couple of years away and he’s doing great — I played with Kevin myself!
“We were disciplined for 90% of the match, lost the head a couple of times but overall I can’t complain. I think Lansdowne are a good side, one of the best teams in the league, without question, possibly the best team we’ve met this year. They play a great brand of rugby, they’ve got strength up front, speed out wide, they’ll be there at the death.”
They both will.
C. Kilroy (1P 1C); A. O’Loughlin, K. Hartigan, F. Quaglia (1T), K. O’Riordan; C. Doyle, G. Hurley; R. Brosnan, D. Varley, J. Staunton; M. Melbourne, E. Mackey; P. Neville (c), D. Sherry, P. Malone.
E. Hickey (1P Doyle 50); D. Sheehan (Neville inj. 57); A. Kingsley (1 d/g Kilroy 69).
R. Dolan (1T 1C 1 DG; N. Walsh, G. Stafford, C. Casey, A. McCormack; M. Ashford, S. Whelan; J. Lyne, K. Corrigan, P. Doran-Jones; A. Maher, D. Toner; D. Lavin (c), N. Ronan (1T), R. Boucher.
D. Coughlan (Whelan 47); K. Cleere (Doran-Jones 69); S. McCarthy (Lavin 72).
M. Hermin (Ulster).
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