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 Quirke's Cross-Border Stud Value Soars Banbridge 15 When news leaked out recently that Clive Woodward had enlisted the help of the England Women's Netball team to improve the footwork of his squad CARRON, the Skerries coach, was quick to react. Since then the Skerries team has been treated to regular re-runs of old Fred Astaire movies and last Thursday training consisted of a visit to Mrs. Carberry's in Drogheda to see some live sean-nos dancing. "We'll have fifteen Michael Flately's on the pitch today" CARRON confidently declared before boarding a bus to Banbridge on Saturday morning. And for forty minutes it looked as if he was right. All that was missing was the footlights. At half-time however he astutely reverted to the idea of using rugby players. The jigs and reels came to an end, the second-half yielded three well-fashioned tries and Skerries remain in contention - albeit peripherally - for a promotion place. For long periods the referee gave the impression that old gold, cerise and blue to him was the equivalent of red to a bull. But Skerries first-half tribulations were by no means wholly attributable to arbitrational aberration. The team went through the entire gamut of error, the knock-on and the misdirected pass seeming to be central planks in the strategy of the day. The contrast with the crisp, purposeful running of the home side was stark. SOPER kicked an early penalty for Banbridge and then the Down men benefited from a slice of good fortune. SOPER'S attempt at a second penalty rebounded high off the left-hand upright. The thought that such a thing could happen hadn't crossed the Skerries mind - or if it had it moved on again - and BICKERSTAFF seized on a benevolent bounce to score. Defense was the sole commodity that Skerries were trading in at this stage. The tackling was never less than resolute. Some, indeed, tackled not wisely but too well. The idea of driving the ball carrier onto the back foot is a laudable one but when he launched at speeds up to twenty miles an hour with high knee lift something other than a head-on collision is recommended. KELLEHER has twice this season been a victim of such bare-knuckle impacts and on Saturday it was BUTLER whose reckless courage consigned him to the horizontal. Martyrdom should be left to the Saints. At a scrum in front of the Skerries posts the Banbridge centre packed down in the back-row leaving the No. 8 to take up the a position as target runner outside the out-half. But the No. 8 was effectively policed and the danger was averted. An examination of MULCAHY'S tachometer would leave not the slightest doubt about his recovery from injury. His mileage and tackle count were impressive and contributed abundantly to keeping the Skerries line intact for the remainder of the half. When BRADY kicked a penalty for the visitors on the count-down to the oranges Banbridge had cause to worry. Their overall dominance allied to their status as the apple of the referee's eye should have seen them into a substantial lead. Ten minutes into the second-half BUTLER had to acknowledge his reduced capacity and he was replaced by a highly focused O'NEILL. Welsh outhalves are said to come off a conveyor belt. The Skerries gene factory on the other hand keeps churning out high dynamo, turbo-propped back-row men. The captain EARLY had shipped an injury in the first-half also and when his damaged hip would take him no further the enigmatic DEMPSEY joined CONNELLY in mid-field. CONNELLY had performed very adequately when handed the No. 12 shirt the previous week and now he was about to make a fresh demo-track to remind everyone of his qualities as a distributor. A crucial half-break and admirably timed pass afforded QUIRKE the opportunity to pin his ears back. And on firm sod like the one in Banbridge when QUIRKE pins his ears back he scores. The Skerries club president was firmly ensconced amongst the Tally-ho-Fetch-me-a-crop-Felicity fraternity on the town side of the ground and much of the talk centred on the colt wearing No. 11. He was entered in the showing class only in the first-half and the northern connoisseurs took careful note - nice configuration, well-tended mane, no obvious anomalies in the trot. But as soon as he put his sprinting ability on display enquiries came in thick and fast about an eventual covering fee. By the end of the day QUIRKE'S cross-border stud value had rocketed. The game was now in a state of equilibrium at 8-all and Skerries at last were finding a bit of cohesion. But what happened next was a shock to the system. WILSON, the young Banbridge out-half took a ball on the lee side of his protectors and accelerated through a gap. By the time he had straightened towards the posts it was too late to realise that this was no slouch. SCANLON'S hand-trip was the nearest anyone got to him but it didn't prevent him from reaching for the line and offering SOPER a simple conversion. There was no apparent panic in the Skerries reaction, the focus was firmly on the rugby. And there was some significance in the fact that the ample home pack was now moving in smaller circles. Moreover, ball presentation to DUFF at the end of the rolling maul was slicker then it had been all season. HORAN, improbably was outside his scrum-half on one of these occasions and CONNELLY took the initiative to score. HIGGINS won a vital ball from the opposition drop-out and Skerries re-advanced to a line-out on the home 22. McGOWAN'S take at the front was adroitly controlled by MULCAHY, DUFF dashed off the pass, midfield conveyance was prompt and there was QUIRKE under the whip again on the far side but making the line with some lengths to spare. The drama wasn't over yet. Home full-back SOPER made an incursion down the right but when wisdom dictated a feed to the outside he opted to veer to the middle and was apprehended. Border Foot and Mouth Controls were conspicuous by their absence on Saturday night. At least a bus-load of Goats made the crossing without difficulty. Partisans of useless information were treated to a ten-round table quiz by The Black Raven on Tour. But does anyone know why Banbridge's ground is called Rifle Park ? TRY-SCORERS 5.QUIRKE |
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