St Mary's almost let victory slip away

OVER 60 points scored but very little to illustrate the brave new world of professional rugby. St Mary's, who on two occasions seemed intent on inviting their opponents back into this match and Garryowen, whose surges and ebbs were even more handsomely extravagant than their hosts, produced a contest that neither team were capable of dominating.

it was a match that St Mary's had to come back and win three times. Once when they went ahead with two tries and two penalties, again when they were 18-0 and let the Limerick side back to 18-13 and finally at 30-13 when Garryowen were again allowed come up and breath down their necks at 30-27 before Kevin Nowlan finally put them away with a try in injury time.

"I thought that in the last 15 minutes of the first half they came into it and dominated, mainly through the lineout. They were very strong in the lineout and they mauled very well and scored two tries off that," said St Mary's coach Ciaran Fitzgerald afterwards.

"I think that in the second half it was a question of who was going to get ahead first and that's what we tried to do. The danger was that they were going to start the second half with their tails up. So we had to counter that straight away.

"We've a very young side. There are only fours players on this side who played against Garryowen last year. To put a side around four players takes a fair bit of doing. In the pack Barry Browne, Brian Keane and Victor Costello played last season as well as Davy Lyons on the wing."

St Mary's had to go back to the 1991-92 season for the last time they beat Garryowen in the AIL. That might even indicate progress, but really there was no evidence. St Mary's at least came away with the booty after a very strong opening phase.

Two penalties from Craig Fitzpatrick gave St Mary's their initial platform before David Lyons ran in his two tries. The first came from a lineout near the right corner. The ball was moved along the line through Gareth Gannon to Lyons before Garryowen's Killian Keane's blind pass ended up in St Mary's hands. The ball was again skilfully spun left along the line to Lyons on the gallop and into the corner.

At 18-0 Garryowen looked in disarray. But Keane gathered from a maul and went over on the blind side before adding a penalty with Dan Larkin adding another try on the blow of half-time. The visitors were back in it.

But Fitzgerald, worried about the Garryowen momentum, sent his team out to resume their original urgency. Straight away Conor McGuiness put John McWeeney away down the right channel from the serum and St Mary's could again breath. Kevin Nowlan then put a high speculative kick into the air which looked like falling into enemy territory. Still, he made the run and when the Garryowen cover momentarily drifted asleep and the ball took an awkward bounce, Nowlan was there to add embarassment to injury.

Killian Keane, however, went over again after Steve McIvor delivered from a scrum close to the St Mary's line before substitute, Paddy O'Grady successfully charged his opponents' line and Keane converted to take his side to within three points with just 17 minutes left.

But the home side remained composed and were able to regain the edge that they had on the two previous occasions during the game. Gannon finally hit Barry Everitt with a heavy tackle and Nowlan picked up the pieces, running in for his second try of the day.