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Skerries Under 17's vs Portlaoise, Quarter-Final Replay (20.02.10)
Skerries 15 A “willing suspension of disbelief" is what the poet and aesthetic philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge would urge one to have in reading the following – a combination of weather, internet, bureaucracy wrote the fiction for all 3 attempts to get a result for this “Q” final game of the Nth. E. Div. 1 League. Indeed the Lisbon Treaty was an altogether easier affair. But fact won out as Skerries u17’s squeezed passed the home side by a single point in a riveting encounter to decide who will face Longford in the semis. The previous meeting in Portloaise (now our sister Club) on the 31-1-‘10 can be researched by clicking here – in doing so we can mirror the first half but change the teams as it was Skerries in yesterdays meeting that had Portloaise under sustained pressure till an intercepted breakaway try under the posts put Port a converted goal to the good. But as Port began to build momentum Eoghan Carron spotted space out wide and delivered an inch perfect cross field kick, on to which, Shane Davis gathered and scored. Portloaise led at the half time whistle 7 – 5. Unfortunately Shane Brown sustained a heavy knock to the left knee early in the match and was replaced by Vinny Watson whose hard work during the season, training with the School S’s side, bore fruit as he had an outstanding match. The back row unit was as effective as ever. Matching their work-rate, the front row, is now a formidable force and will equal any opposition they meet. The backs are now confident in both attack and defence and it was a sweeping move that saw Fergus Grant finish in the corner. Yet another expansive move to the same corner was deemed by the Ref. to have been knocked on in the scoring. Capt. Niall Collins and scum-half Chris Delemere, in tandem, launched an attack from the base of the home side’s defensive scrum and the resulting blocked down kick was pounced on by the diving Collins to score. The jubilation was short lived as Port replied with a try that exposed a concentration drop. A few more minutes of anxiety before the final whistle ended this enthralling saga with the away side prevailing 15 points to 14. The Portloaise squad will go far in the Cup competitions and may have yet an opportunity to visit their twinned friends by the sea.
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