Marist fail to build on bright start as Sligo progress
by Kevin O'Neill Updated: Wednesday, 16th February, 2011 5:30pm
Marist College 7 Sligo G.S. 12
THE MARIST College’s hopes of clinching a first Connacht Schools Senior Cup title since 1977 were extinguished as they were eliminated by Sligo Grammar School in the semi-final stage in Athlone last Friday.
Although the Marist’s pack of forwards were easily outmuscled and outplayed by their physically bigger and stronger Sligo counterparts, the Athlone school will look back on this game with some regret, having only really performed to the best of their abilities very early in the game - when Robert Henshaw’s seventh minute try gave them an ideal start - and then towards the final whistle. During the closing stages, the Marist eventually managed to push Sligo onto the back-foot, but ultimately to little avail.
The Marist went into this game on the back of a quarter-final victory over Oranmore side St Calasanctius and were hoping the skill and quickness of their backs would see them through against Sligo.
However, the Marist failed to capitalise on a fairly positive start and spent far too much time on the defensive.
The Marist also chose to kick for touch on too many occasions and probably would have been better off running the ball and holding onto possession.
They didn’t get captain Conor Fitzgibbon into the game often enough, and unfortunately Fitzgibbon and his team mates spent too little time on the attack.
In the end, cup holders Sligo were deserving winners, although the Marist’s late spurt of attacking verve, which was sprinkled with a slight bit of desperation, could easily have resulted in at least another try and possibly even a late dramatic win.
However, such an outcome would have been harsh on Sligo, who recovered well from the early setback of conceding a try, with Colm Egan kicking very well when called upon.
Egan scored all twelve points for his side, all coming from penalties, but they also had a storming performance from Shane Boyle in the second row, with Boyle winning countless ball in the line-out, which itself was dominated throughout by a superior Grammar School side.
It had all started so well for the Marist, though.
After seven minutes, scrum-half Barry Digby began a sweeping move across the field which finished with Henshaw going over for the game’s one and only try.
Ben Carty was successful with the resulting conversion and the Marist looked to be on their way.
But it didn’t turn out that way, and Sligo were soon well on top.
Egan’s 12th minute penalty gave them some impetus and the Marist then spent a five minute spell (from the 15th to 20th minutes) repelling a steady flow of attacks from the visitors.
The powerful Boyle was integral to Sligo during this period, but they were ultimately left disappointed as they failed to register a score during this undoubted spell of dominance.
Egan’s 22nd minute penalty drew Sligo to within a single point and the scoreline remained 7-6 in the Marist’s favour until the interval, although Egan uncharacteristically missed another penalty opportunity on 33 minutes.
Egan would make no mistake two minutes into the second half, putting over an delicately placed kick that gave Sligo the lead for the first time.
The Marist struggled to regain composure after this, and continued to spent much time defending stoutly.
One shining example of the Marist’s stubborn defensive resistance came when the outstanding Fitzgibbon made a last gasp tackle to deny Egan a certain try in the 47th minute.
Jason McGoldrick was also denied a try for Sligo as the Marist just about managed to stay within touching distance.
With nine minutes remaining, Sligo more or less clinched the game when Egan scored his fourth penalty after the Marist illegally brought down a surging ruck by Sligo.
And although the Athlone side pushed hard in the dying minutes, which included four nail-biting minutes of injury time, it was Sligo who deservedly progressed through to the provincial decider.
SCORERS - Sligo GS: C Egan (4 pens). Marist College: R Henshaw (1 try), B Carty (conv).
MARIST COLLEGE: Robert Henshaw; Eoin Maher, Conor Seery, Ryan Sheridan, Conor Fitzgibbon; Ben Carty, Barry Digby; Brian Teape, Scott Flanagan, Saba Meunargia; Kevin Cooper, TH Thornton; Sebastien Ryan, Eoin Kelly, Michael Duddy. Subs: Cormac Langdon for Kelly (54 mins), Niall Carr for Duddy (69).
SLIGO GRAMMAR SCHOOL: Jason McGoldrick; Michael Martin, John Healy, Keith McGoldrick, Michael Greene; Colm Egan, Enda Gavin; Thomas Feiran, Donal Rooney, Blygh McCormack; Shane Boyle, Diarmuid O’Dowd-Hill, Christopher Brady, Colin Golden, David Heath.
