Wiping out years of history

Skerries 1st XV v Suttonians, 24th January, 2004 in Sutton

Suttonians 22
Skerries 7

The most eminent theorist in Skerries rugby – he even has theories for which there are no practices – once declared that clubs sometimes have a psychological stranglehold over other clubs. The site he had chosen for his revelation was not Hyde Park Corner but a corner of Oak Park in Carlow. The old gold cerise and blue, fielding a makeshift side, had just succumbed ingloriously to a local fifteen which was preparing its debut season in senior rugby. “That eighty minutes” he said gravely “has wiped out years of history”. His point was that when Skerries graduated to the senior echelon they had left their provincial rivals mentally clamped. But by showing now such meek vulnerability they had effectively handed the midlanders the key to their cerebral release.

These thoughts resurfaced awkwardly at the McDowell Memorial Park on Saturday. Skerries has always been able to strut its veteran senior status stuff in front of the arrivistes from Sutton. Indeed for long thereceived opinion at Holmpatrick was that Suttonians greatest achievement lay in the area of land reclamation – the Herculean filling in of the great amphitheatre which once bordered their clubhouse. When it came to rugby there was a fundamental difference in class. And the occasional narrow loss that occurred – last-minute dropped-goals and that kind of thing – could be readily assimilated to an aberration. But all is now changed, utterly changed. Skerries reserved their most pedestrian performance of the season for what was arguably their most significant fixture. Henceforth, when they take the field against their neighbours from down the road they will not have history as their ally. And the supremacist idea of being a cut above is no longer tenable. That’s the theory anyway.

The McDowell Memorial Ground is wedged into that narrow umbilicus which links Howth with its mother metropolis and the prevailing wind on Saturday was wild west. Skerries, offered first use of it, looked the gift-horse squarely in the mouth. Problem is that the kicking portfolio at Holmpatrick has remained unoccupied since the departure of Keane the Younger. SHEERAN, accomplished rugby player though he is, is not one to harness the zephyrs. And the policy of carrying the ball into enemy territory, perverse in those first-half conditions, was undermined by a seriously staccato team performance. Bum notes – a lost line-out, a dropped ball, an ill-directed pass, a flawed alignment – invariably sounded to disturb the hoped-for harmony. Play, therefore, was confined to the Skerries half for long periods and the suggestion of a sensational recall for Celcus Toye was not made entirely in jest. The superannuated Celly might still be capable of standing outside the scrum-half and pumping the ball methodically into the corners.

O”SULLIVAN DK did make one searing run on 33 minutes but he was scythed down just short of paradise and it was the home place kicker HOGAN who took the only score of the half by stroking over a close in penalty just before the break. The try-lines had been so rarely under threat that one felt it was safe to retreat briefly to the zinc to deal with a suspected case of dehydration. The lees had just been reached when the roar went up. A try to Suttonians! Skerries, it seems, were rampaging deep in the home 22 when a scud missile from BUTLER rapidly lost altitude and lodged serendipitously in the hands of the opposing winger. BEGGS chased valiantly from the blind side but just failed to deprive the 70 yard run of its reward.

BUTLER’S contretemps was unfortunate for he had been and continued to be a tireless worker. Buoyed by their success Sutton acquired a new level of cohesion and, without their raybans to neutralise the early setting sun, the Skerries defenders frequently looked ill at ease. A clinically executed switch pass in midfield breached the Skerries phalanx close to the line and exotic centre RAISA took the score. The third Sutton try on 63 minutes sealed Skerries fate. HOGAN’S towering kick to the line resembled an anti-aircraft launch and left visiting full-back WALSH competing for air space with a trio of ravenous attackers. The rebound favoured the kicker and he aggravated the damage by adding the conversion.

Lord Holmpatrick’s men were by now deeply involved in the salvage business. The proposal of ignominious defeat was unanimously rejected and the O’SULLIVAN siblings came together to strike a late retributive blow. DK made the initial run across half-way and when felled in the tackle he seemed to conclude that his days work was done, But DVD revitalised the movement and when the winger was put in possession again he assumed the responsibility of going all the way to the line. O’NEILL converted.

This defeat puts the Goats within hailing distance of those below them in the table. But the IRFU this week had a message of great warmth and compassion for all those who grieve and are burdened by thoughts of relegation. “Don’t worry” they said. “Our exciting new plans for rugby in Ireland will abolish the All Ireland Leagues”. Does quaintness get any quainter?