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Skerries Late Season Rally Continues (20.02.10)
Cill Dara 12 With one game left in the season, Skerries good run of form continued in Kildare as they defeated local side Cill Dara by 33 pts to 12 and in the process earned a bonus point with a four-try winning display. This result lifts Skerries to fifth place in the league and if other results run the right way in the next two weeks they could see themselves qualifying for next seasons All-Ireland Cup. Skerries travelled to the Curragh determined to avenge the November home defeat by Cill Dara and although the home side were back to full strength, confidence was high in the visiting camp. Skerries started well and having pinned Cill Dara back in their own 22, took the lead through a penalty from out-half McGahan after 6 min’s. Concentration let Skerries down immediately from the restart, as Cill Dara’s pacey centre Sila burst through the defence following an attacking line-out and sent their winger over in the corner, 5-3 to Cill Dara. Earlier in the season this set-back would have caused problems for the Skerries morale but this team has added concentration and application to its undisputed talent and they brought these strengths to the fore as they once again forced Cill Dara on the defensive and McGahan restored the Skerries lead on 18 min’s with his second penalty of the game to bring the score to 6-5 to Skerries. The Skerries defence was holding firm as Cill Dara pushed to get a foothold in the game and on two occasions, intelligent use of the dead-ball rule by full-back Quirke saw the home side pushed back into their own half from a promising attacking position. It was Quirke who put the finishing touch to a flowing Skerries back-line move on 22 min’s when, following a turnover in the middle, McGahan and Keane released Hewitt and his well-timed pass released the fast running full-back to round the defence and score, 11-5 to Skerries. Cill Dara came back at the visitors, principally through their scrum, where James Sherlock at No. 8 for Skerries was performing brilliantly as his fellow forwards were being put under huge pressure. With the speed available to Cill Dara through their wingers, the Skerries defence had to be at their best, but try as Cill Dara might, they could find no way through. The breakthrough looked as though it was about to come on 34 min’s when Cill Dara created a two-to-one overlap in the Skerries right-hand corner. As the final pass was released, Skerries wing Paul Devitt flicked the ball away and from two mtr’s outside his own line raced the length of the pitch to evade the despairing Cill Dara defence and to the delight of the travelling support touched down for a try that he’ll remember for quite some time. McGahan’s conversion brought the score to 18-5 to Skerries and as the half-time approached they were now in the ascendancy in the game. In the second-half it was of vital importance to Skerries that they maintain the defensive line that they had shown in the first and for the opening 15 min’s they kept to their task, as Cill Dara launched their expected attacks. Good work along the back-line, coupled with some big hits from second-row Gissing looked as though it had stemmed the tide, but as Cill Dara chose to put their penalties down the line rather than go for points, their intention was obvious. It was from the third of these penalties that the Skerries defence fell asleep, when instead of facing the attack, they were caught looking at each other and quick thinking from the Cill Dara out-half saw him scoot over between the posts from 10 mtr’s, the conversion bringing the score to 18-12 to Skerries. Just as in the first half, Skerries now re-grouped, and as much as Cill Dara’s attack intensified, the Skerries defence did the same, with each of the players sticking to their task as they repelled the constant pressure from the home side. With 20 min’s gone Skerries worked their way into the Cill Dara 22 with a long-range penalty from McGahan and from the line-out and resulting maul, stunned Cill Dara when scrum-half Eoghan Dempsey, who had been having a torrid time from his opposition back-row, saw a gap on the blind-side and raced in to score Skerries third try and bring the score to 23-12. Two min’s later it was all over. Following a bout of aerial ping-pong, winger Eddie O’Mahony, who had chased everything, finally got his reward and the bonus-point try for Skerries, when he blocked down a Cill Dara clearance to score under the posts to leave an easy conversion for McGahan to bring the score to 30-12. Skerries now had their tails up and as Cill Dara’s attacks became more and more desperate and without direction, they defended from the half-way line to give the home side little to feed on for the remainder of the game. The icing on the cake came with 2 min’s remaining as McGahan scored his third penalty of the game from in front of the posts when the Cill Dara scrum was penalised, 33-12 to Skerries. Even the sin-binning of Connolly, with 10 min’s remaining and the same sanction to hooker Nally just on full time, leaving Skerries to finish the game with thirteen men, was of little consequence. This was the best performance of the season from this Skerries side and if they do manage to finish in the top half of the table it would not be an unfair reflection of their capabilities. Playing like this they fully deserve it.
Skerries Team: 1. Packie O’Connor 16. Derek Dornan
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