Leinster League Div 1A

Skerries 25
Dundalk 5

Skerries stayed five points clear at the top of the league with a win against Dundalk on Saturday – but they had to work hard to get it.

At half-time, with the home side 5-3 down and about to play into the bitterly cold wind, the Holmpatrick faithful had been given a reminder of how precious the league lead is. Dundalk arrived as relegation contenders, and for 40 minutes looked like the team with most to play for.

But Skerries emerged from their now familiar half-time huddle with new energy and purpose, shook off the lethargy and showed why they are league leaders with just two matches to go.

Dundalk could have been further ahead at half-time, but didn’t deliver on their possession and territory. They were largely dominant for the first-half, when they were more aggressive at the breakdown than Skerries, turned over ruck ball several times, held on to the ball better and disrupting the Skerries line-out over and over.

Awarded early penalty kicks, Dundalk would ordinarily have punished the home team but unwilling to take their chances in the wind they opted to kick for the corners instead. But on 16 minutes, they got their reward when sustained pressure led to flanker McConnon touching down on the left wing. With the conversion missed, it was 5-0 to the visitors.

After half an hour, Skerries out-half David Hewitt was sin-binned, but Dundalk couldn’t make the superiority count. Dundalk blew a glorious chance when spilling the ball on the line, and Chris Keane’s relieving kick saved Skerries. Then, at the end of the half centre Conal Keane slotted a penalty kick to close the gap to 5-3.

The second-half was all about Skerries. There was better running from the outset, with wingers Paul Devitt and Kevin McGrath far more involved. David Lee came off the bench and was involved in much of the action, hooker Chris Tonge was a constant running threat, and second row Rick O’Mahoney’s huge work rate saw him put in a man of the match performance.

The tries began to come after 55 minutes when McGrath caught a ball at half way and sprinted deep into Dundalk territory. From the subsequent possession, scrum-half Chris Keane dummied and ran in under the posts. Conal Keane’s conversion made it 10-5.

Skerries spurned an overlap minutes later, but a penalty kick into the wind put them 13-5 ahead. Then Chris Keane bagged his second try following some perfect interplay with McGrath.

Now full of running, and owning the ball, Skerries came close on a couple of more occasions until full-back David Quirke darted down the right and released Devitt for the try. The conversion made it 25-5.

Continuing to attack in the final minutes, Skerries couldn’t quite get the bonus point try but could be very satisfied with the win. With second place Tullamore also winning over the weekend, Skerries stay five points clear. The next league game is against Coolmine on February 26th. But this latest win was a reminder that even with only two games to go, there is still a lot of rugby to be played.

15 David Quirke
14 Paul Devitt
13 Conal Keane
12 Ed Caraher
11 Kevin McGrath
10 David Hewitt
9 Chris Keane
1 Mark Nally
2 Chris Tonge
3 James Ngatupuna
4 Rick O’Mahoney
5 Joe Glennon ( c )
6 Thomas O’Hare
7 Kevin O’Connell
8 Ross McAuley

Subs:
Packie O’Connor
David Lee
Eoghan Dempsey
Eoin Matthews
John Gavin