Objectivity is an elusive ideal at the best of times

Skerries 1st XV v Corinthians, 8th February, 2003 at Holmpatrick

Skerries 18
Corinthians 13

Objectivity is an elusive ideal at the best of times. We drink a Beaujolais and, because our mood is good, we shower approval on the wine. “Superb!” we say, neatly shifting the epithet from our humour to the beverage. The same wine taken in less felicitous circumstances will be damned with faint praise. HEENEY, the Skerries coach, was in more than mildly euphoric mood on Saturday evening - a pardonable excess, given that his team had just taken a substantial step towards ensuring its national league status for next season. But one hopes that the Grizzled Guru will not have had his critical faculties blunted or distorted by this victory over Derry. Objectivity insists that he should condemn the by now chronic individual mistakes of his side and that he should do it with the same vehemence he would use if the match had been lost. What we are talking about here are unforced flaws in the basic skills of fielding, kicking, passing and tackling. Flaws that have their source so often in a simple lapse of concentration. Naming and shaming of offenders will become a staple of this column until the contagion of individual error has abated. Only joking. Well, only half-joking.

It may well be that, after the debacle at Shaw’s Bridge, the emphasis this week was on collective reaction for, from the outset on Saturday a shared will to win was almost palpable in the deportment of the Goats. It was a good quarter hour however before this resolve was communicated to the scoreboard. Skerries retained possession after out-half KEANE had launched a howitzer onto the visitors 22 and it was KEANE himself who, running to the right, provided the Stringer-style chistera which set his left-wing namesake free in midfield. In several decades of sectarian conflict Derry will not have seen a more belligerent performer than KEANE, D and the ultimate defender was swatted contemptuously away. KEANE, C – the callow one – kicked the gentle conversion.

But Derry too had power and pace on the flanks and when KEANE, D offered his opposite number a couple of yards start he was punished for his hubris. This may explain KEANE’S subsequent reluctance to pin his ears back and go for the corner when favourably placed. KEANE, C kicked two further penalties with assurance before another example of defensive torpor gift-wrapped a second try to the visitors. A wheeled scrum left the Skerries rearguard looking decidedly porous and scrum half SPEE accepted the manna. Full-back BROLLY missed the conversion but soon kicked a penalty to achieve parity for his side. The oranges were being sliced as KEANE, C restored the lead to the Goats with a third penalty.

Skerries had not exploited the wind to the sea end as they might have and their situation at the restart was perilous. But the first half had indicated that they were likely to be dominant at line-out and, to a lesser extent, at scrum. And so it came to pass. The line-out indeed has become a consistent trump card in Skerries dealings and MULCAHY’S liaisons with the trio of major jumpers DOWLING, O’SHEA and GREY are bordering on the flawless. The rolling maul, likewise, is becoming an increasingly productive ploy. 10 minutes into the second half a kick to the corner from KEANE, C was the prelude to a try from a line-out drive, credited to DOWLILNG and the line-out featured again in the build-up to a splendid try from wing-forward BUTLER on 59 minutes. In between tries KEANE struck another penalty to bring his tally for the day to 14 points. HORAN’S statutory hour had just elapsed when he was called ashore by a yellow card but at least he had the consolation of being able to tell the referee that he was leaving anyway.

Derry, to their credit, did come forward with menace on more than one occasion in that second half. HEWITT had to be at his most resolute to repel the ball-carrier in the right hand corner. CONNOLLY doggedly shadowed his opposite number across the entire width of the pitch before spancelling him irremediably. And O’SHEA looked for all the world as if he was hauling back a recalcitrant child when he managed to get a vital ‘howlt’ on the attacker’s shirt collar. But the visitors only reward was a single belated penalty.

The subtext to Saturday’s game was a fascinating little cameo entitled THE CATAIN and THE REFEREE. Police files are overflowing with examples of how the ordinary can suddenly lurch into the extraordinary. A couple, say, has been living a life entirely without incident for many years – un couple sans histories as the French might put it then, one fine morning at breakfast, he picks up a poker and knocks her head in. Police are normally said to be baffled. EARLY’S sudden rift with the forces of arbitration is not quite as melodramatic as that but it comes as something of a shock nonetheless. EARLY has always been unfailingly cordial, deferential even, in his dealings with referees. Then, out of the blue on Saturday, he is seen to be engaging the man in charge in conversation that is plainly not about the weather. The talk continues into the half time break and is renewed with increased gesticulation in the second period. A penalty award to Skerries is reversed but the consultations continue. Questioned afterwards EARLY said that he had difficulties of interpretation. In this he was not alone. His preoccupations may well have affected his game. At one stage in the first half he made a searing break in midfield but, with HEWITT on his right and KEANE on his left he opted to confront the last defender and was stifled. The cost, as it transpired, was a bonus point. That and the rumoured expatriation of GREY and KEANE, D were the only shadows on an otherwise bright day.

The Celtic League Final drew its percentage of lukewarm supporters to the bar. But one man whose fidelity is undivided is the redoubtable Turlough. Long after the sun had gone down and night had fallen his strident exhortations were still echoing over Rockalyoke.