McHugh strikes late for St Mary's

GARRYOWEN - 18 ST MARY'S 21: The return of Malcolm O'Kelly, Victor Costello and Keith Gleeson and several other contracted players enabled St Mary's College to field their strongest side of the season and they duly proved too strong for Garryowen at Dooradoyle on Saturday.

Nevertheless, they had to rely on a penalty kicked in the fourth minute of stoppage time by outhalf Mark McHugh to claim the points that keep them in the hunt for a place in the knock-out stages of the competition. Garryowen, for their part, are now out of the top four.

The good news for Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan is O'Kelly came through a hard-fought match without any ill effects of the facial injury that has sidelined him for the past month. He is ready to reclaim his place in the Irish second row against England at Twickenham on Saturday next.

St Mary's got off to a bright start with a well-taken try in the left corner by John McWeeney in the ninth minute, but, from there to half-time, Garryowen had the better of the exchanges. Their outhalf Billy Treacy narrowed the gap with a drop goal and although McHugh restored the St Mary's seven-point advantage with a penalty, Garryowen were rewarded for persistent pressure with a try by Killian Keane that left only two points separating the sides at the interval.

St Mary's were probably happy enough with that given the sin binning of front-row forwards Gavin Hickie and David Clare and were in turn helped in when the intervention of a touch judge led to a yellow card for Garryowen prop John Giltenane.

McHugh and Jeremy Staunton, a Garryowen replacement, exchanged penalties before McWeeney's second try in the 74th minute pushed St Mary's 18-11 in front. Garryowen struck back with a try by John O'Sullivan that Staunton converted to leave the sides level at the end of normal time. However, four minutes later referee Dave McHugh awarded St Mary's a penalty 45 metres out from the Garryowen posts that McHugh converted to give his side victory.

Scoring sequence - 9 mins: J McWeeney try, M McHugh con 7-0; 14 mins: W Treacy drop goal 7-3; 16 mins: McHugh pen 10-3; 34 mins: K Keane try 10-8. Half-time. 51 mins: McHugh pen 13-8; 59 mins: J Staunton pen 13-11; 74 mins: McWeeney try 18-11; 80 mins: J O'Sullivan try, Staunton con 18-18. 84 mins: McHugh pen 21-18.

ST MARY'S: P McKenna; J Norton, K Lewis, G Gannon, J McWeeney; M McHugh, C McPhillips; P Coyle, G Hickie, D Clare, E Keane, M O'Kelly, M O'Shaughnessy, K Gleeson, V Costello. Replacements: B Lynn for Gannon (20 mins); J Kilbridge for McPhillips (81).

GARRYOWEN: D Crotty; C Tupiniere, R Niland, K Keane, D O'Riordan; W Treacy, T Tierney; J Giltenane, P Humphreys, R Laffan, J O'Sullivan, E Kelly, C Varley, C Hartigan, P Malone. Replacements: J Staunton for Treacy (49 mins); P Neville for Hartigan (65); S McCarthy for Tierney (75).

Referee: D McHugh (Munster).