Skerries 1st XV ensured their supporters have plenty to cheer heading into the Christmas break as they upset AIL 2B league leaders Wanderers at Holmpatrick on Saturday evening in their final competitive outing of 2024.
Yet again, the result came right down to the wire, and for the second successive home match, it was a penalty from the unflappable Ronan Mulcahy with the final act of the game that earned the spoils by 26-24.
It was another slow start for Skerries, as former Leinster man Mick McGrath – lining out in the centre for Wanderers – got the scoreboard ticking over after he spotted a gap in the defence and raced in for a try from 50m out, inside the opening three minutes.
With the conversion missed, Skerries looked to respond immediately and after kicking an initial penalty to the corner, another infringement from the visitors almost in front of the posts gave Mulcahy the opportunity to open his account and the fullback duly made it 3-5 with eight minutes on the clock.
Wanderers enjoyed an extended period of dominance thereafter, as they set up camp inside Skerries’ ’22 and after some initial efforts were thwarted by strong defence, they eventually worked an opening for Alex Walsh to cross for their second try, which again went unconverted.
Another swift response from Skerries this time produced the got the full seven points as they forced a scrum from the dropped restart and after play went wide to the left, some slick handling fed substitute Brían Walsh on the right and the winger beat three defenders to score, with Mulcahy’s conversion levelling things up at 10-10.
Still only approaching the end of the first quarter, the try capped an eventful hour or so for Walsh, who was only added to the matchday squad ten minutes before kick-off when Mikey Sherlock was forced to pull out, and was into the action with five minutes gone after the luckless Taidgh Keane Boylan was carried off with a hamstring injury.
Back came Wanderers though, as the visitors notched their third try on 22 minutes, as this time a lineout maul did the damage and hooker, Jamie Kavanagh claimed the score, with centre James Moriarty adding the extras to make it 10-17.
The next notable opportunity went the way of the visitors but an but an offside penalty call at a five-metre lineout relieved the danger for Skerries and the home side then enjoyed their own purple patch in which they were disappointed not to add to the score – initially opting for a tap penalty from a kickable position and then seeing Mulcahy uncharacteristically hit one wide.
The second half got underway with the much-fancied league leaders in the driving seat but with flankers Alex Cleary and Paddy Finn leading the charge and hungry for defensive work, they forced an early scrum and from that, a high tackle on Paul O’Loghlen set up Mulcahy to cut the deficit to 13-17 with an impressive strike.
It was by no means error-free from Skerries and they had to be patient in possession but on 57 minutes, the gap was down to one after Mulcahy dusted off a late and high hit on himself to crack over another penalty from distance.
Two minutes later, the hosts were in front for the first time as a promising move on the left was thwarted by another dangerous tackle on Mulcahy and the referee duly awarded a penalty try and a yellow card to Wanderers scrum-half Peter McDermott.
With the momentum well and truly in Skerries’ direction, the home crowd played their part superbly, but Wanderers showed why they have been the team to beat in the division, as McGrath beat two tacklers to race through under the posts and Moriarty’s conversion made it 23-24 with about ten minutes left to play.
Those final ten minutes featured no lack of action, but when a quick lineout missed Peter O’Neill’s hands with the line abegging, and then a try-scoring pass from Mulcahy to Kevin McGrath was deemed forward by the referee, it seemed it wasn’t to be Skerries’ day.
Mulcahy had a difficult chance from the tee with play almost up but his kick from wide on the right sailed agonisingly past the upright and Wanderers unsurprisingly sent the restart long, knowing that the next time the ball went dead, the game would be up.
Amazingly, there was still plenty of drama to come, as a Skerries penalty from the restart set up an attacking platform just outside the Wanderers ’22, only for the lineout to be stolen by Wanderers.
Instead of getting the ball of the pitch at that point, the visitors were turned over by the miraculous Finn and after a strong carry by Davey Goodman brought Skerries to within touching distance of the tryline, another ruck infringement by Wanderers a couple of phases later left Mulcahy to tap over his easiest kick of the afternoon to seal the win.
It’s a sixth victory of the campaign for Skerries that sees them leapfrog UL Bohs and Clogher Valley and return to third place in the league table, with a welcome four-week break to come before the return fixture against Wanderers at Merrion Road on January 11th.
Skerries versus Wanderers:
- Trevor Scuffil
- Kieran Leonard (capt)
- Evann Shelley
- Cian McGuinness
- Sam Deering
- Alex Cleary
- Paddy Finn
- Peter O’Neill
- John Healy
- Paul O’Loghlen
- Davey Goodman
- Tim Deering
- Kevin McGrath
- Taidgh Keane-Boylan
- Ronan Mulcahy
- Darragh McEneaney
- Tomás O’Donovan
- Ben McKiernan
- Shane Hannon
- Brían Walsh