Afternoon all, we’re getting set for the last big GAA Sunday of the year with the AIB Leinster senior club football final set to bring the 2016 provincial club campaign to a close.
Dublin’s St Vincent’s against Offaly’s Rhode in O’Moore Park, Portlaoise at 2pm.
Cast your mind back two years ago when these two crossed paths at the final stage. It was a routine win for St Vincent’s that afternoon at Páirc Tailteann in Navan, 1-12 to 0-6.
These clubs couldn’t have more contrasting club final records in Leinster football. St Vincent’s have appeared in seven Leinster senior deciders previously. They’ve six title wins to their credit – 1972, 1975, 1984, 2007, 2013 and 2014 – with just a single final loss back in 1977.
In contrast Rhode have been luckless at this level. They have lost four finals and all in the last decade – 2006 to Moorefield, 2008 and 2010 to Kilmacud Crokes and 2014 to St Vincent’s.
Meanwhile across the water, the All-Ireland senior football quarter-final is on today. Derry’s Slaughtneil face London’s St Kiernan’s and the winners play the Leinster champions in February. One-way traffic so far.
Here’s the starting teams.
St Vincent’s
1. Michael Savage
2. Michael Concarr
3. Jarlath Curley
4. Craig Wilson
24. Nathan Mullins
6. Ger Brennan
7. Cameron Diamond
8. Daithi Murphy
9. Shane Carthy
10. Gavin Burke
11. Diarmuid Connolly
12. Cormac Diamond
13. Ruairi Trainor
14. Enda Varley 15. Tomas Quinn
Rhode
1. Kenny Garry
2. Brian Darby
3. Shane Sullivan
4. Jake Kavanagh
19. Darren Garry
6. Eoin Rigney
7. Niall Darby
8. Alan McNamee
9. Conor McNamee
10. James McPadden
11. Niall McNamee
12. Pauric Sullivan
13. Paul McPadden
14. Ruairi McNamee
15. Stephen Hannon
St Vincent’s 0-1 Rhode 0-1
4 mins – First white flag of the day is raised after Gavin Burke swings over a point off his right. Rhode retort quickly through Paul McPadden.
Goal for St Vincent’s by Diarmuid Connolly!
St Vincent’s 1-1 Rhode 0-1
6 mins – Cracking finish by Vincent’s talisman. Connolly drills a shot with his left foot to the bottom corner of the net.
St Vincent’s 1-1 Rhode 0-2
8 mins – Brian Darby is fouled after surging forward for Rhode and Niall McNamee taps over the resultant free.
St Vincent’s 1-2 Rhode 0-3
10 mins – Stylish shooting from the chief marksmen on both sides, first from Niall McNamee for Rhode and then Connolly for Vincent’s.
St Vincent’s 1-3 Rhode 0-3
12 mins – First score of the day for Mossy Quinn, he pushes St Vincent’s ahead by three.
St Vincent’s 1-3 Rhode 0-4
14 mins – Patient play by Rhode, couple of nice breaks by Niall McNamee and Brian Darby to inject urgency to their attacks which culminates in Conor McNamee tapping over a point.
St Vincent’s 1-4 Rhode 0-4
15 mins – St Vincent’s are able to counter each time and pick off their points. Connolly sprays a pass crossfield and it is Shane Carthy who simply knocks over a score. Three in it again.
Mossy Quinn sees his free hit the post and after St Vincent’s gather the rebound, the pass is recycled before Gavin Burke shoots wide off his left.
St Vincent’s 1-5 Rhode 0-4
21 mins – Enda Varley has been a fine addition to the St Vincent’s attack this season. The Mayo man curls over a point to push the Dublin champions four clear.
St Vincent’s 1-6 Rhode 0-4
22 mins – Plenty good kickers in this Vincent’s team. Cormac Diamond pops over a point off his left.
St Vincent’s 1-6 Rhode 0-5
24 mins – A converted Niall McNamee free cuts the deficit Rhode are facing.
St Vincent’s 1-6 Rhode 0-6
25 mins – Another point for Rhode, Darren Garry on this occasion. They’re hanging in there as half-time approaches.
Penalty for Rhode and black card for Ger Brennan.
St Vincent’s Michael Savage saves the penalty taken by Ruairi McNamee!
Half-Time: St Vincent’s 1-8 Rhode 0-6
St Vincent’s 1-10 Rhode 0-8
32 mins – Quinn and Burke raise white flags for Vincent’s, Niall Darby and Darren Garry have scored for Rhode.
Fiachra Breathnach came on for Ger Brennan for St Vincent’s after he was shown a black card.
St Vincent’s 1-10 Rhode 0-9
34 mins – Another for Rhode, this time from Ciaran Heavey.
St Vincent’s 1-11 Rhode 0-10
37 mins – Varley picks off a point for Vincent’s, McNamee grabs a free in response for Rhode.
St Vincent’s 1-12 Rhode 0-10
42 mins – Mossy Quinn makes amends for a couple of earlier efforts as he slots over a free.
St Vincent’s 1-13 Rhode 0-10
49 mins – Another Mossy Quinn point and Vincent’s go six clear.
St Vincent’s 1-15 Rhode 0-10
51 mins – They’re turning on the style now, St Vincent’s. Joe Feeney and Ruairi Trainor both point. The gap is out to eight.
St Vincent’s 1-15 Rhode 0-11
54 mins – McNamee bags a free for Rhode but it’s hard to see them staging an improbable comeback.
Two minutes left, this game is winding down to another St Vincent’s victory. James McCusker comes in to their defence for Cameron Diamond.
Rhode nearly get in for a consolation goal but Conor McNamee’s shot goes whistling past the post.
St Vincent’s 1-16 Rhode 0-11
60 mins – No mistake at the other end as Shane Carthy splits the posts. Job done for the Dublin champions, Slaughtneil beckon in the semi-final in February.
St Vincent’s 1-16 Rhode 0-12
62 mins – Niall McNamee blasts a close range free towards the goal, the ball is tipped over the bar by a Vincent’s defender.
Full-Time: St Vincent’s 1-16 Rhode 0-12
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“That Leinster failed to score a try and only twice came within obvious striking distance – through Jamie Heaslip in the first half and Zane Kirchner in the second – might be cause for concern, but O’Connor felt that was simply the nature of this game.”
Yep. That’s been the nature of a lot of Leinster games this season.
Such a contrast to the quarter final against Cardiff 3 years ago when leinster carved them apart with their backplay. Yesterday they looked so toothless and lateral in attack. O’Connor really is destroying Leinster.
Can joe take charge of leinster for 1 game?
Maybe 2?
Delusional I’m afraid. No expectation for semi if it’s against Toulon.If Joe Schmidt was leading them i’d give us a good chance.
I’m sick of reading Leinster fans moaning about MOC. The guy won the league last year, got to a Heineken QF and now this year the champions cup semis. As BOD said on TV yesterday. “He’s doing allright”. You guys are, to quote John Inverdale, lookin at Joe Schmidt era through rose c*n+ed glasses. In case you missed the six nations, Ireland under Joe didn’t play a whole lot of champagne rugby and not many complained. Leinster yesterday were more entertaining than Ireland v France. Also if you take the likes of Sexton, BOD, Necewa, Darcy, Elsom, Leo, Shaggy, Thorn and for most of season, SOB and Healey out of any squad they will struggle to maintain same levels. This Leinster squad is nowhere near as good as Heineken winners but they are doing allright. Leinster fans need to get real and enjoy where they are. Other fans only dream of winning leagues and Euro semis
Just like Munster under McGahan, Leinster’s problem is how they are doing the basics, not the flash stuff:
> Slow line speed in defence and gaps in close;
> Slow kick chase (& poor organisation)
> Passive defensive rucking
> Limited options in attack (making them easier to defend against)
> Ineffective kicking
Leinster made the breakthrough with high intensity rugby (and not champagne rugby). The minute before half time they showed how effective they could be in defence if they took this approach.
I would prefer to see Kurt McQuilkin back in the set up than Joe S, as Joe is doing quite a good job for Ireland.
There are lots of Irish coaches who could improve Leinster (Bradley would be my preference). But I think Shaun Edwards would probably make the quickest improvement.
Alan.
We may have lost a few of our talismen in the past couple of years, but there is a genuine gripe to be had. We could accept a dip in performance, but we’ve all seen how well THESE players are capable of playing. They set their own standards which we came to expect, now they’ve dropped them under MOC and seem to be just making excuses for him. Joe’s régime was built on honesty, and now there’s a lack of honesty which the supporters find distasteful.
You guys do understand that you are in a semi final right?
It’s remarkable that some fans will only be happy when their team reached their unrealistic expectations
Leinster are not as strong as a couple of seasons ago but c’est la vie its the way of things
It’s your only
job as a supporter to support them.
Then again
I’ve been a connacht supporter for the last few years so maybe I have a different perspective…
Don’t get leinster fans wrong we’re delighted to be in the semi’s but you can’t deny were lucky to be here, arguably the easiest pool and we scraped through it scoring the least amount of tries of any of the quarter finalists, we’ve lost players such as sexton, BOD, isa etc. so obviously we aren’t going to be as good as we were a few seasons ago but we still expect better than what we’re seeing, yes we’re in a semi final but there’s also a very realistic chance we won’t get into the playoffs of the rabo which simply isn’t good enough.
Reg would you accept if Conaught finished bottom of the pro 12 or would you not expect to get better year on year.
I will not accept Leinster playing poorly with no plan for the future and a seriously lack of any attacking ability in the backline.
For all the huha regarding Luke coming back we still can’t score a try with our Backline.
Mark as you said we have lost seriously great players over the past few seasons but is it not the coaches job to one plan for continuity and replace from outside if he needs to.
MOC had spent a vast amount of money replacing those players.
We signed a current aus secondrow
A current springbok to replace Isa
and a top rugby league player to play 13 not to mention The vast amount spent on a temporary deal for a winger who hardly played a game for us.
None of these players can be considered a success do far but who’s fault is that? Personally I believe it’s the coach Job to get the best from his team.
We have the best academy by a long way in our league if not Europe ( if you consider the schools system that feeds it).
He has not done his job simple as that.
Did Sean o’brien carry any ball today? If he did he didn’t do enough and that appears to be tactical….
Good win, but baths mistakes helped and a hiding awaits in the semi if the performance is similar
Sometimes he can have equal use my having 2 players mark him in defence. Plus he did an awful lot of heavy clearing out today at ruck time.
The face on Heaslip in the top picture…bemused looking to say the least.
What was the plan in the second half? Kick the ball away aimlessly and hope the opposition aren’t good enough to make you pay?
I fear it would take something like Toulon getting an early red card for Leinster to have a realistic chance in the semi
Funny enough john that was the tactic the last time we faced them, everytime we got the ball we kicked it away.
I would argue that Leinster will have a good chance because we are in a semi final with nothing to lose and with our backs to the wall. Sort of like Ireland vs All Blacks. We have a few weeks to learn from our mistakes against Bath also. Tighten up defence etc.
Here’s for hoping… We can beat Toulon, but not on the back of today’s performance. No penetration & purpose in attack. Thankfully we’ve Madigans boot.
Toulon are favourites, Leinster have to eliminate f*uckups to have a chance
Great win, as all wins at this stage of a major competition usually are, how you do it becomes incidental the win is the only answer.
All points from scrum penalties.it’s a step in the right direction albeit a small one
I think part of the problem lies with the headline. If our coach thinks that we did a “pretty good job” then we are in trouble. We played against a really poor pack at home with a big crowd in support and were hanging on at the end. We should have put 20 points on them and anything less was an underperformance.
You can’t expect to win with the old men at half back.
There’s no reason whatsoever to play Gopperth as madigan takes all the kicks from hand and tee and we could shore up our midfield with darcy at 12.
We need someone somewhere on the pitch that can defend.
We’re are the try’s gone that was such apart of Leinster game ? Same players different coach . Let’s hope they bring back their attacking game for the semi , well done on result today guys