Guinness Rugby Football Club

U17 First Round of the Cup - 7th March 2010 - Guinness 22 - Terenure 12

Written by Conor Scanlon (Team Captain), Mark Aspland and Fiona McSweeney

Guinness started badly with the offence lacking cohesion and precision as well the defence being unorganised. This resulted in the first score of the match coming from a Terenure try after about fifteen minutes. Guinness began putting on the pressure and camped on the Terenure line. However good defence from Terenure didn’t allow the conversion of pressure to points. Opportunistic play from Terenure and carelessness from Guinness allowed the ball to be stolen from the hands of a Guinness forward. The Terenure player sprinted from the half way line to score under the posts. A conversion followed. Guinness were now 12-0 down. Just before half time outhalf James Fields (Jem) put Guinness on the scoreboard with a penalty.

12-3 starting the second half. Guinness started the second half as they had finished the first, again putting pressure on the Terenue defence, making many valiant attempts to get over the Terenure line. In one ruck Diarmuid Lyons was unfortunately injured and had to be taken to hospital. Diarmuid’s injury was the turning point for the Guinness team. Their resolve to put points on the scoreboard was soon realised. Soon after the restart, Gareth Byrne, a recent addition to the team, went down the blind side from a ruck and scored a try in the corner. Unluckily the conversion was unsuccessful. The determination grew, as only four points separated the teams, but some scrappy play at breakdowns continued. Guinness were making it hard for themselves to score. The clock ticked on. Then Danny Lyons picked the ball from a scrum and ran. He was tackled but the pack pushed him onwards towards the line. As he hit the ground eventually he popped the ball to Mick Kelly to score another Guinness try. Jem converted. Guinness now 15-12 up and putting even more strain on the Terenure defence. A text to Diarmuid cheered him up. After sustained pressure Jem got the ball and grub kicked it through. Upon trying to recover the ball he was taken out with nobody in front of him. Hence a penalty try was awarded. Jem converted to make a final score of 22 to 12 for Guinness. Diarmuid was released from hospital later that afternoon.

Guinness Team: 15 Colin Keogh; 14 Sean Douglas; 13 Nathan Griffin; 12 Conor Scanlan; 11 Gary Carr; 10 James Fields; 9 Ian Francis; 1 Conor Bowden; 2 Karl Stafford; 3 Sean Doyle; 4 Robert McEvoy; 5 Gareth Brady; 6 Diarmuid Lyons; 7 Michael Kelly; 8 Daniel Lyons

Replacements Jason Fulham and Craig McGarry

Photos by Dave Scanlan and Fiona McSweeney