Skerries 1st XV suffered their first home defeat of the season on Saturday, as they slipped to a 22-24 loss to the visiting Malone at Holmpatrick.
It was a disappointing defeat for Skerries – who had been keen to get back to winning ways after losing out to Sligo in the driving rain two weeks ago – as they looked in control for long periods, and had led by ten points at one stage in the second half.
Unfortunately for the home side, they never really got out of second gear, and the well-drilled Belfast outfit showed plenty of nous gained from a number of years in AIL 2A and were efficient in possession, scoring three tries and a late penalty, to take the spoils.
The game got off to a rapid start when, inside the first minute, visiting second row Jacob Edwards hit a fantastic line to break through the Skerries defence and rounded the last defender to touch down, with out-half Matty Smyth adding the extras.
The hosts shook off the shock and responded well, building pressure with their first foray into Malone territory, they earned a penalty that Ronan Mulcahy dispatched to make it 3-7.
Mulcahy then struck for a trademark individual score soon after the restart when, almost from nothing, he played a chip over the top from inside his own half, beat three Malone men to the bounce and raced through to touch down in the corner.
The conversion from wide out was narrowly wide but Mulcahy extended the Skerries lead with another penalty in the twelfth minute to make it 11-7.
The scoring rate slowed down thereafter and, although the hosts enjoyed plenty of territory or possession, they fell short in adding to the scoreboard – due to a combination of errors and some resolute Malone defence.
Approaching the half-time break, an offside penalty call on a clearance kick gave Mulcahy another shot at goal and he duly obliged to leave the scores at 14-7 at the interval.
Skerries picked up where they left off after the resumption and when Mulcahy kicked his fourth penalty of the afternoon on 47 minutes to open a ten-point gap, it seemed the home side was in the driving seat.
To their credit, Malone didn’t go way, and after patiently working their way into the Skerries ’22 through a series of strong forward carries, they were rewarded when wing Jack McMurtry finished off their second try in the corner, converted again by Smyth.
Back came Skerries and some impressive build-up play eventually saw Paul O’Loghlen find Mikey Sherlock lurking on the wing with a lovely floated pass and the centre strolled in untouched.
Uncharacteristically, the conversion went wide but Skerries were 22-14 to the good with 18 minutes remaining.
Five minutes later though, the gap was down to a single point, as a series of penalty concessions allowed Malone to advance again and replacement Bailey Young went crashing over just to the right of the posts, as Smyth made no mistake with the conversion.
Discipline ultimately proved crucial to the outcome of the game and having initially opted to go for the corner from a seemingly kickable position, Malone’s endeavour was rewarded when another Skerries infringement gave Smyth a gimme of a shot that was too good to turn down and he duly kicked his side into the lead with five minutes left.
Of course, there was still time enough for Skerries to respond but their useful habit of scoring late tries deserted them on this occasion, and Malone held on for a two-point win.
15. Ronan Mulcahy
14. Taidgh Keane-Boylan
13. Kevin McGrath
12. Mike Sherlock
11. Davey Goodman
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. Tim Deering
20. Jack Litchfield