Strong second half from Skerries costs Rathdrum
RATHDRUM hosted league leaders Skerries at a bitterly cold Ivy Leaf for their first game of 2018 and their loyal band of supporters were treated to a great game of rugby. Again it was a game of two very different halves for the Rathdrum men.
Unlike previous games where Rathdrum started slowly, it was the home side that got straight in to the action and took the game to the visitors.
Welcoming back experienced players Ronan Phelan, Shane Burch and Danny Tuke from long term injury, Rathdrum were the better side in the first half. As usual, strong running from captain Danny Dowling and Matt Binnions put Rathdrum on the front foot and pinned Skerries back in their own half. A couple of turnovers early on saw Skerries able to clear their lines and relieve the pressure from the home side.
Skerries first attack saw the games first points. Skerries had a line out in Rathdrums ’22 and spread the ball wide to the centres. Rathdrums Conor Parsons intercepted a pass from the Skerries out half to run 80 metres to dot down under the posts and convert his own try.
This seemed to give the home side some belief and five minutes later Parsons added a long range penalty to extend their lead to 10-0.
Skerries realised they were now in a game and dominated the last 10 minutes of the half. Rathdrum defended for their lives and the front row of Tuke, Ronan Smith and Dean Franey were putting in big hits to repel any attacks coming from the Dublin side.
The pressure told just before half time when a lovely miss pass to their right winger allowed him to touch down in the corner for an unconverted try.
That left the scores at half-time 10-5 to the home side.
Skerries came out a different side in the second half and the long Christmas break perhaps caught up with Rathdrum. Skerries’ bigger pack started dominating the set pieces and their lineout was particularly strong.
It was off two lineouts that they scored two of their three tries in the second half. Rathdrum started giving away penalties at the breakdown and this allowed Skerries to get in to the home sides ’22 and use their strong maul to drive over to score two unconverted tries.
Rathdrum kept plugging away but just couldn’t get in to touching distance of the Skerries line. Calvin Swords, Ciaran Phelan and Steven Dowling were working hard all day but the Skerries defence was holding firm.
A third and final second half try from Skerries came courtesy of an intercept pass. This sealed the bonus point for the Dublin side and was converted to bring the score to 27-10 to Skerries with about 10 minutes to play.
It was a day for the intercept pass and Rathdrum ended the day with another. Ronan Phelan stole a ball in his own half and made an interesting break and offloaded to Seanie Kinsella and he duly touched down under the posts. The try was converted by Parsons to finish the scoring with Skerries running out winners with a scoreline of 27-17.
Again, Rathdrum will be disappointed they let this slip when they were in a winning position but they can look forward to a busy few weeks with renewed optimism. Next up for Rathdrum is an away trip to Malahide this Friday the 12th and following that they are at home to Old Wesley on the 21st.
Rathdrum: Ronan Smith, Dean Franey, Danny Tuke, Ciaran O’Neill, Shane Burch, Matt Binnions, Calvin Swords, Danny Dowling, Steven Dowling, Ronan Phelan, Karl Phelan, Ciaran Phelan, Conor Parsons, Aonghus O’Briain, Sean Kinsella, Shane Byrne.
Well done to the club for raising €700 for the Rathdrum Cancer Support group from the collection from the Houndogs game on St. Stephens Day. The cheque was handed over to Bill Porter prior to Sunday’s game. Thanks to all the supporters who braved the cold weather to cheer on both the ladies and men’s teams.