|
|
Skerries suffocated by students
Skerries 12 Holmpatrick, October 21, 2000 The inquest into this defeat by Trinity will have continued long into Saturday night in the corridors of power at Rockalyoke. All the usual suspects will have been led in for the identity parade - lack of fitness, flawed skills, myopic refereeing, poor concentration, missed penalties - but only the last two will have been detained for questioning. A much more plausible culprit would be the players' subconscious - a treacherous bugger if ever there was one. Six weeks ago Skerries disposed of Trinity in the Leinster League with considerable panache and even a little disdain. In the interim the idea that the dose could be repeated at will may have gained ground in the recesses of the mind. " No, no we don't underestimate them!" consciousness was declaiming loudly but all the while the subconscious may have been sniggering quietly in a remote corner. Trinity began the game like a team already in pursuit of try-scoring bonus points, ventilating the ball at pace from one wing to the other and from a scrum on his own 22 the quaintly named centre Reuben Aioho came out of the blocks to pierce the Skerries first-line before he was apprehended by the covering EARLY. The foothold thus gained in Skerries territory was aided by a penalty award and then abetted by the collective mind-wandering of the home side. CURNEEN, the Trinity scrum-half played the ball to himself and ran forty yards to score. Skerries subsequent attempt at self-exoneration hinged on a claim that before the start the referee had specifically enjoined both No 9's to allow the opposition time for legitimate retreat before taking a short penalty. But since when has SKERRIES been a team to heed a referee. Fortified by a 5-0 lead Trinity opted to shelve their expansive aspirations and focused instead on asphyxiating the home side's known enterprise. BRADY'S two missed penalties seemed to conform the wisdom of their strategy but Skerries three times won the ball against the run of play. First QUIRKE pattered outside his opposite number only to be hauled down by vigilant cover. A brilliant piece of larceny in midfield - was it McGOWAN? - was nullified by a slow delivery to O'SULLIVAN when the flanker had abundant and eager support on his left. Then DEMPSEY chipped ahead on the opposition 22 when the more rewarding option might have been to purvey to allies scorching up on his right. Skerries did take the lead with two penalties kick by DEMPSEY but lost it again on the verge of the break when MITCHELL goaled from 30 yards. The capitulation of the Universities to commercial concerns is often as stark on the playing field as it is in the lecture room - instead of the scintillation of yesteryear there is now planned negativity and craven attachment to expedience. Trinity continued their policy of choking the home supply - to the extent that WOOD their highly regarded open side flanker was sin-binned for persistent misappropriation of the ball. HORAN the uncompromising Skerries prop misappropriated one too, heading away one of DUFF'S passes in a manner which suggested that he might have a future as an old fashioned stopper centre-half. The students never look remotely like scoring another try and their satisfaction came from two penalties kicked by MITCHELL. Skerries by contrast, squandered two further penalty chances before MITCHELL extended Trinity's lead with a towering dropped goal. By this stage Skerries' composure appeared to be on the verge of melt-down with voices raised more in anger than encouragement. BRADY recalled to kicking duties, reduced the deficit and then with time running QUIRKE again left his immediate opponent in the blocks and bolted 60 yards to set up the phase from which BRADY secured the palliative of a bonus point. QUIRKE is understood to be paying royalties to his father for use of that inimitable running style which puts one in mind of a grape-treader being pursued by a pit-bull. Can Skerries revert from the relative constipation of the last two games to the fluent try scoring made of early season? One thing is certain - on the field congestion in virtually guaranteed in the All-Ireland League and any team with aspirations to play rugby is obliged to build a strategy around the creation of space. Scattering tenners in a corner of the pitch is one way of achieving this but over season that could be a very costly exercise. These days the scrum(even in defensive positions)represents one of the phases most favourable to the back-line artistes, the forwards, the potential spoil-sports being compulsorily corralled. Trinity gave an example of it on Saturday. Again it is more than a coincidence that the maul was once known as the loose scrum - properly executed it should have the effect of cancelling the leave of all those forwards out cavorting in open field, thus leaving the pasture free for the runners. It was an undoubted disappointment to lose on Saturday. It was as much of a disappointment that the planned complicity of dynamic flankers and free-running backs had not quite materialised. But it will. TEAM: J. SCANLAN ; C. LAWLESS ; G. EARLY(Capt.) ; J.BRADY ; M. QUIRKE ; J. DEMPSEY ; G. DUFF ; M. BURKE ; B. MULCAHY ; J. HORAN ; D. McGOWAN ; T. GREY ; D.KEANE ; D. O'SULLIVAN ; B HIGGINS subs used D. GARRY ; R. KELLEHER NOTE : views expressed in these despatches are those of 'DROPOUT' - they carry no official endorsement
|
