St Mary’s 0-10
UCD 0-7
John O’Shea reports from Mallow
DEFENDING SIGERSON CUP champions UCD exited at the hands of St Mary’s on Saturday afternoon, with the Belfast side coming out on top by three points in their semi-final meeting in Mallow.
The opening half went very much the way of St Mary’s, winners of the Sigerson Cup in 2017.
After what was generally a tight start to proceedings, it was St Mary’s that edged into the lead with the opening score of the game on the 10 minute mark.
Stephen McConville converted with an effort from a free. That would not be the end of his scoring contribution in the opening half, as he would score three more points, including two of those from frees.
UCD were finding it difficult to break down what was an organized St Mary’s defence in the opening half, while they also were playing against what was a strong breeze.
St Mary’s got a number of fine scores from distance in the opening half of play. Jarleth Og Burns let fly and converted with a fine score, as did Liam Rafferty from all of 45 yards out.
Things were very much going the way of the Belfast college and they led 0-7 to 0-0 at the half time break. UCD’s first score of the day came in the 36th minute through a point by Barry Dan O’Sullivan.
Despite their best efforts, St Mary’s were to keep in front and book their place in the Sigerson decider against UCC or NUIG.
Scorers for St Mary’s: Stephen McConville(4f) 0-6, Ryan Coleman 0-2, Jarleth OgBurns, Liam Rafferty,0-1 each.
Scorers for UCD: Evan O’Carroll(2f) 0-4, Barry Dan O’Sullivan, Darragh Kennedy , Peter Healy, Cian O’Connor 0-1 each.
St Mary’s:
1. Mark Reid (Down)
2. Liam Rafferty (Tyrone)
3. Caolan Dillon (Armagh)
4. Miceal Rooney (Down)
5. Colm Byrne (Tyrone)
17. Ryan McSherry (Armagh)
7. Aaron Duffy (Armagh)
8. Jarleth Og Burns (Armagh)
9. Liam Devlin (Down)
10. Stephen McConville (Down)
11. Shane McGuigan (Derry)
12. Aaron Boyle (Armagh)
13. Niall Toner (Derry)
14. Ryan Coleman (Tyrone)
15. Cathair McKinney (Armagh).
Substitutes:
18- Conor McAllister (Derry) for Boyle (48).
24- Ronan McGrath (Down) for McConville (61)
UCD
1. Tommy O’Brien (Monaghan)
2. Brian Byrne (Kildare)
3. Mark Dempsey (Kildare)
28. Peter Healy (Antrim)
25. Mike Breen (Kerry)
6. Cillian O’Shea (Dublin)
7. Cian O’Connor (Dublin)
8. Darren Gavin (Dublin)
9. Stephen Coen (Mayo)
10. Conor Meyler (Tyrone)
11. Conor McCarthy (Monaghan)
12. Luke Fortune (Cavan)
13. Con O’Callaghan (Dublin)
14. Evan O’Carroll (Laois)
15. Barry McGinn (Monaghan).
Substitutes:
17. Barry Dan O’Sullivan (Kerry) for Breen (16)(b/c)
19. Gary Walsh (Laois) for Meyler (21)(b/c).
23. Brian O’Seaachain (Kerry) for McGinn (44).
18. Darragh Kennedy (Cavan) for Fortune (47).
Referee: James Bermingham (Cork).
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I love reading stories like this. For all the fantastic players that have come through the schools system, the majority started off life in the club system. It’s a testament to the players, coaches, parents, committees who put in the hard work in keeping these clubs going
Great story. There are large areas of the country that are open to this type of development.
@kieran horgan: Completely agree. When youngsters playing in less traditional areas see those a few years ahead of them feature in provincial and national squads, it will hopefully boost rugby in those areas. Look at Munster and West Cork, in the last number of years alone there’s been the 2 Coombes, 2 Wycherleys, Crowley, Hodnett, Hurley. Plenty of untapped areas to be explored
@Niall Boyle: Farmer strength is a term often used. You know what it means when you’ve played against it be it in Gaelic or Rugby. It would be fertile ground for rugby players if the seeds are planted particularly forwards. It’s also part of what makes NZ rugby
@Michael Corkery: farmer strength is something that applies only in the amatuer arena. Kids from farming backgrounds in NZ( also SA and Aus) who are decent at rugby with a view to the Pro’s, generally head off to boarding school for secondary, unless they’re commutable distance to bigger towns/cities. They develop physically using modern development practices, not shifting bales by hand…
@Sea Point: True, the bales of hay and tractor tyres have been replaced by dumb bells and Creatine.
@Sea Point: rubbish, certain people have natural strength which has been acquired during generations and their youth as they needed to have it for their livelihood. Of course, that alone is a base strength that is built on when they get into a more professional setup be it a private school or academy.
@Niall Boyle: and Mike Ross before them
Great to see, jj returning and possibly 2 good lads getting into the academy will be great for munster and the kingdom.
@Treaty Jim: would love to see Jack Daly get a run without injury disruption also
@Niall Boyle: totally agree.
@Niall Boyle: Doesn’t look great for Jack, ‘last chance saloon’ maybe.
The Blackrock catchment area is pretty large…
Kudos to their scouts, but I thought that there was a Leinster School’s rule about how long a player had to be in a school before playing for their SCT?
@Phil O’ Meara: Kerry is part of cork too. These powerful schools always find a way around these “rules”
@Phil O’ Meara: Would be interesting to know what discussions took place that resulted in O’Sullivan ending up at Blackrock, rather than another Leinster school or a Cork or Limerick school. However I think the rule to which you refer (and stopped Dylan McNeice playing for St Michael’s this year) is to stop Leinster schools poaching from each other. The previous school can give permission for their former pupil to play for his new one. Doesn’t apply in this case where it seems that everyone’s a winner
@Kevin Ryan: Everyone bar Terenure!
Jaysus Whitehouse is a painful ref