The Buck is Still a Buck

Skerries 24
Monkstown 3

Quirke, Duff, McGowan, Lawless - Try Half time 12 - 0 Dempsey 2 Cons

A week is a long time in rugby. Three weeks is an eternity. Particularly when there are no matches to devour the adrenalin. So what did the warriors do during the truce? EARLY. DUFF and LAWLESS were to be found in St. Moritz. With the others of thee jet set, as the song says, GREY checked his head occasionally to see if had reached the level of clarity required for rugby. Horan spent the time catching up on his arrears of sleep. BEGGS toured in his new Beggs-mobile. GARRY read a few encyclopedias. CARRON the coach got himself involved in some Mickey Mouse affairs in Orlando. And so on. After all, this was a planned demobilisation. Of more serious import was the news that MULCAHY, DOWLING and BRADY were continuing to carry their injuries. And O'SULLIVAN was reported to be in negotiation with the Man-O-War, whether this refers to the Gaelic Club or the licenced premises is unclear. But the biggest question mark of all hung over the team's ability to digest the demoralisation of the trip to Pearsonstown. Given time for reflection would the loss to Barnhall fester in the soul and undermine the balance of the campaign? The answer to that one would only be found on the pitch. Early indications on Saturday were that the Goats, far from suffering any psychological trauma, had in fact been revitalized by the mid-term break. The buck was still a buck and Monkstown would be the first to know it.

Skerries opening score was a story of a quick-witted place kicker and a not so quick thinking referee. Just this week a golf columnist was recalling the coolness of the great Walter Hagen when his ball came to a halt inside a discarded peanut bag. Ordered to play the shot from where it lay he lit a cigarette, dropped the still flaming match on the peanut bag and took his practice swings as the bag disintegrated. On Saturday as DEMPSEY began his run-up the ball toppled over and the referee indicated that it must be played, DEMPSEY, realising that his kick would be futile , cooly picked up the ball and passed it infield where it found it's way via full-back SCANLAN to TGV QUIRKE who used every centimetre of the 183 at his disposal to stretch for the line. There was something ominously purposeful about assessor BEAMISH'S walk to the referee's room at the close of play. Unfortunate for the man with the whistle for the arbitration had been better than most.

DUFF has made a very appreciable impact in his first year as player-in-residence at the no. 9 slot. Not surprising when you look at his repertoire. He is ceaselessly resolute in defense, his kicking from behind the forwards is increasingly accurate and effective, he is the nagging hassler who tortures the opposition and forces them into error, he has an uncanny knowledge of the extent - variable according to the referee of the day - to which he can operate outside the law with impunity, he has the type of imagination which normally finds an outlet in poetry but which he uses to carve out some improbable openings and for all his individualism he is a model team man. The only entry on his debit side is the comparative restriction of his delivery, a flaw which comes close to being redhibitory ( the jurisprudent McGOWAN will explain the epithet ) when set in the context of his team's aspiration to fluency. On Saturday DUFF did everything possible to relegate his sole defect to oblivion. And it was his superb blind side foray, which set up the phase of play from which he himself scored in the 23rd minute. DEMPSEY converted this one and the score stood at 12 - 0 at the break.

Monkstown are by tradition a team of cloying doggedness and they did nothing to change their trademark on this occasion. At times they looked distinctly like a tug-of-war team which had forgotten it's rope. But they were coming off the back of a draw against the then league leaders Naas and a win against Trinity. So any generosity towards them would be likely to be misplaced. Skerries prudently reinforced their advantage when the faithful McGOWAN secured a try in the wake of what the French quaintly call a penal touché. This left the home side with 25 minutes in which to pursue a bonus point try. It wasn't long delayed and it came in the most exquisite fashion possible, DEMPSEY, leaning back as if he was playing a short iron shot places a cross-kick precisely into the path of the flying LAWLESS. The winger snapped it up without breaking his stride and floated away into the corner.

Torrential rain on Saturday morning had left Rockalyoke in highly adhesive condition and this acted to reduce the firepower of the home side, LAWLESS in the first half and QUIRKE in the second would assuredly have scored with any assistance from the turf. A firm sod too will abet a very mobile back-row. The Goats still have everything to play for in the concluding 6 match - 8 week programmed. Mention must be made of HALLIGAN whose minimising of MULCAHY'S loss on was an exploit and CONNOLLY in who did nothing wrong on his return to the flag-bearing fifteen. And that's not praise, O'NEILLS reintegration too will further bolster the squad.