Murphy's stout leadership backbones Greystones win

IN THE wake of Ireland's demoralising performance on Tuesday, normal service was resumed to Leinster club rugby in the guise of this Smithwick's Old Belvedere Floodlit Cup quarter final last night.

Away from the bright lights of fully fledged professionalism, there was no case for players being transfixed under the floodlights of Anglesea Road.

True, this wasn't the heady environment of international rugby, but in terms of blood curdling commitment this game lacked nothing.

The dynamic intrusions of Greystones hooker and captain, Johnny (Spud) Murphy that pepper any game in which he plays were as numerous as they were consistently effective. Time and again, whether at ruck or maul, he owned the ball, bustling into, around, and if needed be, over opposing players at every opportunity.

He led by example and he needed to. Skerries came intent on causing an upset to earn a semifinal spot against either hosts Old Belvedere or Suttonians. Their entire pack was competitive, relying on its collective will rather than any individual brilliance.

However, they were not helped in their cause by the stray goal kicking of out half Jimmy Dempsey. He was off target with five out of seven shots at goal. In mitigation, he did create and finish a subtle individual try after 26 minutes.

Receiving a quick pass from scrum half Johnny McCabe, Dempsey's delicate grubber kick came off the heel of an unsuspecting Skerries player, and with the defence dithering, Dempsey followed through to claim the touchdown. After that the difficult conversion was easy.

From limping along eight points adrift, Skerries were right back in contention at 8-7. Earlier Richard Murphy's third minute penalty and number eight Alan Dignam's unconverted try - after an astute throw in from Murphy - had given Greystones the upper hand.

Either side of half time, Murphy and Dempsey kicked penalties. Midway through the half Zambian born Jacob Mwafilwira was only denied a try by a desperate tackle from Greystones right wing Andrew McLean.

Greystones recovered to take control. Two further Murphy penalties guaranteed a repeat of last year's victory.