McCormack engineers sweet victory for St Mary's

A FINE second-half performance, inspired by man of the match Eoin McCormack, earned St Mary's the first trophy of the season yesterday in the final of the Leinster League at Donnybrook.

It was a sweet victory for St Mary's, who had looked unlikely candidates for even a semi-final place two weeks ago. However a huge win over Suttonians enabled them to edge Blackrock out on the basis of points scored. and last week a late try gave them victory over Clontarf.

A depleted Lansdowne made most of the running in the first half yesterday, but had no answer when St Mary's, also without a number of key players, raised their game in the final quarter.

The changing fortunes of the two teams were reflected in the displays of the opposing ssrumhalfs. In the first half the Lansdowne forwards won a huge amount of ball for David O'Mahony, and a succession of clever kicks and breaks from quickly tapped penalties from the scrum-half had St Mary's on the run.

Declan Fassbender had Lansdowne in front as early as the second minute when he converted a close-range penalty. Almost immediately St Mary's outhalf Craig Fitzpatrick spurned a good opportunity to get his side back on terms when he missed a penalty from Lansdowne's 22. but made no mistake five minutes later with a kick from in front of the posts.

However it was Lansdowne who looked sharper and hungrier and Fassbender had them back in front with another penalty on 14 minutes. Four minutes later they were further ahead. From a scrum inside Mary's half the ball was moved to the left. Rody Corrigan drew the cover but managed to get the ball away to Bobby Geraghty to race through and score in the left corner.

Lansdowne then appeared to relax a little and two penalties from Fitzpatrick, after Lansdowne's forwards were penalised at a ruck and a scrum, left St Mary's trailing by only two points at half-time.

The second half opened with Fassbender landing a penalty for Lansdowne, to stretch their lead to five points. However, from the restart the St Mary's forwards swarmed into Lansdowne's 2 From a ruck the ball was recycled quickly and moved out to the left. Centre Gareth Gannon timed his release to David Lyons perfectly and the winger crossed in the left corner.

Fitzpatrick kicked the conversion and Mary's were in the lead for the first time. Another penalty from the out-half seven minutes later stretched their lead further and though Fassbender narrowed the gap with a penalty, Fitzpatrick re-established a five-point margin with his fifth penalty at the start of the fourth quarter.

McCormack was running the show by this stage and a succession of fine breaks had Lansdowne beating a retreat. The decisive score came 11 minutes from time, with McCormack the initiator, as he made ground up the right wing. Full-back Kevin Nowlan made a great inside break and the sudden change in direction left Lansdowne in dissarray. Ray McIlreavy got the ball away to Gannon, for the centre to score

Fitzpatrick added the conversion, again from close to touch, and Mary's were on their way. Steve Jameson embellished the scoreline further with a close-range try five minutes from time.