’Stones hungry for win in Galway this weekend

GREYSTONES travelled to Cork on Good Friday to take on second placed Highfield in their re-fixed Ulster Bank League Division 2A encounter seeking vital league points to boost their efforts to stave off relegation and came within ten minutes of grabbing a crucial victory.

As it was they had to content themselves with a losing bonus point that keeps ’Stones just outside of the relegation places in eight, two points clear of Galwegians in ninth and three clear of bottom club Galway Corinthians.

A heavy downpour an hour before kick-off left the playing surface at Woodleigh Park far from ideal for the type of expan- sive rugby Greystones like to play with underfoot conditions proving particularly difficult.

This Highfield side, from one to 23 probably the most physically imposing outfit in the league were always going to play to their Munster heritage and use their bulk to bludgeon Greystones with a game plan built around driving through the opposition rather than around but for much of the match Greystones stood firm with outstanding performances in defence by Oisin Lennon, Robin O’Sullivan, Mick Doyle and Conor Pearse amongst others.

The tone for the game was set from the kick off. With Highfield mounting their first attack Greystones Mick Doyle put in a monstrous tackle on centre Luke Kingston that reverberated around the ground however referee Richard Horgan judged the tackle high and penalised the Greystones man. This was to be a recurring problem for Greystones particularly in the first half as they stood resolute in defence only to be penalised for high tackles leading eventually to a yellow card for outhalf David Baker just after half-time.

Despite possession and pressure from the hosts the match was scoreless for the first quarter and when the breakthrough came on 23 minutes it was Greystones who opened the scoring. A rare foray into the Highfield earned a penalty that Andrew Kealy coolly converted.

Highfield responded within two minutes however when left wing Paul Stack joined the line to exploit a gap in the Greystones defence and fed centre Luke Kingston to score to the left of the posts. The conversion attempt skewed wide leaving the score at 5–3.

Kealy added a second penalty five minutes later to retake the lead but Highfield cancelled that out with a penalty just before half time to give the hosts an 8–6 lead at the interval.

The second half saw Greystones with an actual and metaphorical hill to climb as the Highfield pitch features a distinctive slope that the home side sought to play to their advantage by pressing the visitors back into the corners with probing kicks by outhalf O’Hea but Greystones were not backing down.

Repeated forward drives with the imperious Lennon and O’Sullivan to the fore gained territory into the Highfield half and when referee Richard Horgan penalised the hosts for infringing the offside line Kealy was on cue to convert giving the visitors a narrow lead. Greystones continued to impress into the final quarter with backs Con Callan and Padraig Geoghegan exploiting opportunities to run at Highfield.

On 65 minutes Greystones extended their lead with a four from four kicking return by Kealy when he converted from the ten-meter line pushing the score to 8-12 and a four point advantage. Highfield, who are chasing automatic promotion to Division 1 pressed Greystones back as they came in search of a try. Following a line out five meters out from their line Greystones repelled the drive from the Highfield pack but were penalised for infringing offside.

While Greystones were preparing to defend the penalty left wing, Paul Stack grabbed the ball and ran to the spot indicated by the referee and took a quick tap and raced into the corner for a score.

O’Toole added the points with a difficult conversion from the touchline. Greystones continued to bring the game to their hosts and came close to grabbing all the points when Kealy played a sumptuous cross field kick for Jack Keating to gather but the ball held up in the wind and he failed to gain possession and the chance was gone. With the clock in the red Highfield were happy to kick the ball dead and claim the win.

Despite the performance Kevin Lewis was disappointed with the result commenting afterwards that these are the type of games they need to hold on for a win. The maths are now simple for ’Stones. With two games remaining they travel to Galway next Saturday knowing a win subject to other results going their way will all but secure their position in the league for another season.

Greystones: Andrew Kealy (Capt), Jack Keating, Con Callan, Barry Lynn, Padraig Geoghegan, David Baker, Andrew Roberts, Robin O’Sullivan, Bobby Clancy, Mick Doyle, Oisin Lennon, Eoin Marmion, Conor Pearse, Ben Tou, Michael Douglas. Subs: Barry Fitzpatrick, Cormac O’Donoghue, Daniel Norse, Kevin Moes