MUCH HAS been made of Lansdowne's prohibitive four trips to Limerick in this season's First Division. With the best will in the world to a disappointing Old Crescent at Rosbrien on Saturday, undoubtedly the tougher three are still to come. Yet it wasn't so much this win itself as the manner of it which told the tale. Lansdowne look genuine contenders.
True, they didn't spin it wide too often or run the home side ragged in the supposedly more classical manner of a Leinster side, i.e. Blackrock in Garryowen a week before. Against that greasy ball and a disruptive wind didn't allow for such expansive notions, which in a sense made Lansdowne's adaptability all the more praiseworthy.
When the going gets mucky and it's time to get down and dirty, even in Limerick, Lansdowne look well equipped to do so. Their tight five laid the platform for a solid control of the game which they rarely relinquished. Not alone had they the stronger scrum, they controlled their own line-out ball supremely well and were eminently more competitive on Mark Hayes throw.
This was instrumental in the inevitable 32nd-minute breakthrough into a strong first-half wind which thereafter effectively had the game's script plastered all over Rosbrien. What followed also typified the vast difference between the teams.
After Paul O'Connor's steal, Kurt McQuilkin broke through the gain line and, with Stephen Rooney and Andy Doyle up in quick support, set up clean ruck ball - as McQuilkin did whenever he received the ball. David O'Mahony moved the ball quickly to Eric Elwood on the blind side, and he broke Brian Begley's tackle to score.
The first of two superb touch-line conversions contributed to the exemplary Elwood's final haul of 24 points. Faultless, along with the impressive David O'Mahony throughout, Elwood constantly cajoled and organised those around him. Consistently excellent for province and club this season it's doubtful whether any ICL club has a superior out-half.
Ditto O'Mahony and the outstanding McQuilkin. In any conditions, but especially these, he is an invaluable `out' for Lansdowne, taking them over the gain line and recycling the ball repeatedly. How Crescent yearned for a similar weapon.
On occasion, Crescent endeavoured to launch a running game through their adept forwards - noticeably good handlers of the ball - but Lansdowne's defence was ever vigilant. Rarely committing more than two or three men to the ruck, they marshalled the fringes superbly. Rooney was forever messing Crescent up and, as Lansdowne's coaching co-ordinator Donal Spring observed, Elwood adds such a physical presence at out-half that he's "as good a tackler as any back-row in the country".
The Crescent coach, Jed O'Dwyer, conceded: "We didn't move the ball across the gain line and our game doesn't take off unless we do that." All told, he was mightily impressed by the visitors. "That's a very good Lansdowne
We weren't allowed to play, it wasn't a question of us not playing. We were out-classed. In every area they were the better team."
It was a hard one to swallow. The new year return from injury of Len Dinneen will improve matters, but in the interim next week's trip to Ballymena has assumed a pivotal importance. "It's going to take a while but we've got to get one win under our bells before Christmas and see where we go from there."
Meantime, the Lansdowne juggernaut rolls on at home to Instonians next week, affording them the chance to cement their standing as leaders on points difference in an embryonic table. Perhaps significantly, three of the four teams with 100 per cent records are from Leinster.
"The Dublin sides have improved," admitted O'Dwyer, a hint of surprise in his voice. Yet there was little doubt that Lansdowne had impressed the home side more than a comparatively youthful St Mary's. They have a certain wiliness and nous about them. Those three additional trips to Limerick in the first six series of the new year will test their resolve, but, arguably, of all the Leinster sides, Lansdowne have the artillery to cope.
Newbridge College, beaten in the final of last season's Leinster Schools' Senior Cup, qualified for the senior league final on Saturday when they beat CBC Monkstown 47-12.
Newbridge led 20-5 at half-time and Barry Guckian increased their advantage with a try. Monkstown replied with a try by Johnny Goodwin, but they failed to score again
