Skerries continued their winning start to the AIL 2B season on Saturday, and in doing so, ended an unwanted record, as they overcame Malahide on a scoreline of 27-21, to register their first victory over their Fingal rivals at this level.

Similarly to the last meeting between the two sides last Easter, this was another tense affair at times, with both teams enjoying periods of momentum through the course of an absorbing contest.

Disappointingly for the hosts, they were slower out of the blocks – not for the first time this season – as Malahide landed the first blow within two minutes, with Aussie winger Sam Lindeman getting outside the last man and beating the cover defence to touch down close to the posts. Centre David O’Halloran converted to make it 0-7.

Skerries responded after 11 minutes when Darragh McEneaney stripped the ball in a tackle and a couple of quick passes put Kevin McGrath in some space. With the defence scrambling across, he still had work to do, but a such a potent finisher doesn’t give up chances like that too easily, and he muscled his way through three would be tacklers to score, with Ronan Mulcahy adding the difficult conversion to draw level.

It was another ten minutes before the scoreboard saw any further change, with Mulcahy slotting a penalty goal to put Skerries into a 10-7 lead after a scrum infringement.

O’Halloran had a chance to level things up again with a penalty of his own five minutes later from a long way out but, despite showing he had the distance, the effort fell just wide.

Both teams enjoyed their share of possession and territory but neither could find a way through, until sustained pressure inside the Malahide 22 saw John Healy send Peter O’Neill crashing over with a deft inside pass.

Mulcahy added the extras to give the home side a ten-point cushion with just five minutes remaining in the half but there was time enough for Malahide to strike again, as right wing, Dan Hayes found himself on the end of a crosskick from out-half Michael Hanley out on the left.

O’Halloran again added the conversion with the last act of the half to leave things delicately poised at 17-14 at the interval.

Skerries enjoyed an extended period of possession and territory at the start of the second half, but they came up short as first, a well worked chance was thwarted by supporting players going off their feet, and then Davey Goodman was held up over the line.

They finally found a way through just shy of the hour mark, as O’Neill again found the gap to power over for his second of the afternoon, and Mulcahy extended the lead to 24-14.

Although scores may have been hard to come by, it didn’t mean the game lacked for action and drama, as within 90 seconds, both Ben McKiernan and Mikey Sherlock were sent to the sinbin for high tackles, leaving Skerries to defend a scrum inside their own 22 with only 13 men.

The scramble defence stood to the initial task and managed to relieve the pressure but penalties again allowed the visitors to make inroads again a few minutes later, when Hayes snook over in the right corner for his second, and O’Halloran added another impressive conversion to make it 24-21 with just over ten minutes to play.

Restored to the full complement, Skerries pushed for a killer score but again they met some resolute defence, so when a scrum just inside the Malahide half yielded another penalty, the hosts took the option to go for the posts, with Mulcahy again on target to put six points between the sides at 27-21.

Skerries played out the remaining minutes in business-like fashion and Mulcahy had a chance to extend the lead to nine with the last act of the match, only for the ball to sail just to the right of the posts.

It was far from a perfect performance by the home side but a fourth win of the season and a first ever AIL victory over Malahide – following last year’s pair of losses and a painful defeat in the 2B/2C relegation/promotion play-off back in 2019 – is nothing to be sniffed at, as they look ahead to a trip to Sligo next weekend.

15. Ronan Mulcahy

14. Davey Goodman

13. Luke Mitchell

12. Mikey Sherlock

11. Kevin McGrath

10. Paul O’Loghlen

9. John Healy

1. Trevor Scuffil

2. ⁠Kieran Leonard (capt)

3. ⁠Tomás O’Donovan

4.⁠ Sam Deering

5. ⁠Cian McGuinness

6. ⁠Alex Cleary

7. ⁠Darragh McEneaney

8. ⁠Peter O’Neill

 

16. ⁠Evann Shelley

17. ⁠Paddy Finn

18. ⁠Ben McKiernan

19. ⁠Shane Hannon

20. ⁠Jack Litchfield