’STONES STRUGGLE
Wicklow side come away with nothing in tough conditions
BLACKROCK COLLEGE GREYSTONES 17 9
IN difficult conditions Greystones went down by three tries to nil in their Energia All Ireland League fixture away to Blackrock last Saturday.
The final scoreline of 17-9 meant that ‘Stones came away empty handed and that failure to gain even a losing bonus point means it is all change at the top of Division 2B where two points now separate the top four teams with both Wanderers and Malahide moving ahead of Greystones to jointly lead with the Wicklow men just a point behind followed by Blackrock a further point back.
Greystones can have little argument on an afternoon where they were outplayed for long stretches of the game and failed to get a grip of the deteriorating playing conditions.
Indeed it was only through the accuracy of the boot of Greystones full-back Andrew Kealy that they remained within a score of their hosts for much of game because they had little enough possession with which to threaten.
Blackrock kicked off and within the first play of the game Greystones had spilled the ball to hand an opening scrum to their hosts.
What followed was to set the pattern of the game, Greystones did not get their hands on the ball for the following ten minutes spending much of that time heroically defending on their 22.
Somewhat against the run of play Greystones opened the scoring with a well taken Kealy penalty after twenty minutes but from the restart Blackrock moved the ball better and immediately had their visitors under pressure.
The games first try came just three minutes after Kealy opened the scoring when the ‘Rock centre Danie Poolman, the South African former Connacht player made light of some slack defending in the Greystones midfield to cross under the posts.
It was not all one-way traffic in the first half as Greystones had a ten-minute purple patch before half time when they looked certain to cancel out Blackrock’s opening try.
Camped on the Blackrock line they went through multiple phases and actually crossed the line only for the referee to adjudge the ball was held up in the heap of bodies.
The phase of play came to an end when Greystones forward Barry Treanor was penalised for holding on just inches from the try line, a decision that was greeted by the home support to a cheer louder than any winning try.
Greystones turned to play with the wind in their backs in the second half and having come so close to scoring at the end of the first half had every confidence they would take the game to their hosts but apart from two long-range Kealy penalties neither the ball nor scoring opportunities would come their way.
Instead it was the hosts who went on to dominate the half, avoiding the handling errors that blighted the Greystones game and retaining possession of the ball, no mean feat in the conditions.
They again responded to a Kealy penalty when he closed the gap to just a point with a longrange effort five minutes in with a try on 55 minutes when their pack drove over the line.
Kealy added a third penalty to keep Greystones in touch this time closing the gap to three points on 65 minutes before ‘Rock took advantage of a sin binning that left Greystones down to 14 men for ten minutes to once again drive a maul over in the corner for their third try five minutes from time.
Greystones coach Kevin Lewis was naturally disappointed with his team’s performance after the game.
Unlike the hosts Greystones struggled to master the conditions and turned over hard won possession either through handling errors or by the concession of penalties. Indeed it was the penalty count, ten in total along with some weak tackling that disappointed Lewis the most.
The league resumes in two weeks’ time when Greystones host Dungannon at Dr Hickey Park hoping for some kinder weather and planning for an improved performance to maintain their drive for automatic promotion from a league campaign that will undoubtedly run to the final weekend of matches.
Andrew Kealy, James Quinlan, Con Callan, Jason Curran, Paudie Geoghegan, Matt O’Brien, Killian Marmion, Daniel Mau’u, Darragh Higgins, Conor Pearse, John Campbell, Barry Treanor, Chris Simmonds, Cormac O’Donoghue, Rob Connolly. Replacements: Danny Norse, Iva Takatai, Ronan Mannion, Alex Ryan, Nick Quirk
Brian Colclough, Roghan McMahon, Matthew Dwan, Danie Poolman, Killian O’Leary, Peter Quirke, Mark Edwards, Paul McSweeney, Liam McMahon, Joe Byrne, Brian Cawley, Hugh Doyle, Daniel Foley, Josh Dixon, Colm Gallagher. mReplacements: Steve McLoughlin, Andrew Savage, Job Langbroek, Mick O’Leary, Denis Hurley
Division 2B
Wanderers Malahide Greystones Blackrock Galway Corinth Sligo Galwegians Belfast ‘Quins Dungannon Ballina
P WDL F A Pts 10 7 1 2 245 171 35 10 7 0 3 248 192 35 10 7 0 3 277 189 34 10 7 1 2 215 157 33 10 6 0 4 231 190 30 10 5 0 5 225 192 25 10 5 0 5 204 220 25 10 3 1 6 217 225 19 10 1 1 8 147 254 11 10 0 0 10 95 314 -1