As we reached the halfway point in this season’s Leinster League campaign, Balbriggan travelled to Roscrea, a place which has never been a happy hunting ground for the North Dublin side. In almost 50 years since Balbriggan’s men first started playing Roscrea, the men had never won a tie in Streamstown, either in the League or the Cup. It was just as well that this year’s side, infused with fresh blood from the U18s, were unaware of this doleful history as they travelled in good spirits with high hopes of building on their fine win two weeks ago against North Kildare.
In the first half of the match, Balbriggan were playing up the slight incline in the pitch, into a strong wind and with the low winter sun shining into their faces. Despite these hurdles, the men showed early on that they had a plan for the difficult conditions. They seized control of the ball from the off and held possession for much of the early stages of the game. The game plan in that first half soon became obvious. The forwards picked and drove with phase after phase of drives against a Roscrea side that defended stoutly. The Balbriggan forwards slowly but surely inched their way up field, gaining a toehold in the Roscrea 22. From this position, the forwards drove forward, and Conor Caldwell went over near to the posts for the game’s opening score. The conversion was good by Jack Scannell and Balbriggan had a precious early lead against the elements: 0 v 7. At this stage, Roscrea had not enjoyed any possession at all but were to enjoy their only real purple patch soon after the Balbriggan try. First, they were awarded a penalty between the halfway and Balbriggan 10 metre line. With a strong wind at their backs, they opted for the posts and the kick sailed over the bar with plenty to spare. They then had two further penalties awarded, both of which were narrow misses, one glancing off the upright and into goal. Their fourth penalty resulted in a fine kick and the score narrowed to 6 v 7. With a few minutes of the half remaining, Balbriggan gained possession inside their own 10 metre line and, through a wonderful passage of play, set flying winger Cal Sterio off up the left wing to score close to the corner flag. Balbriggan had stretched the lead again to 6 v 12. The drama of the first half was not yet finished. With a couple of minutes remaining in the first half, Roscrea, gained possession between their own 22 and 10 metre line. They swung the ball out wide to their left only for Balbriggan winger Jack Scannell to be adjudged to have deliberately knocked the ball forward. Young Scannell was given 10 minutes in the bin and Balbriggan now had to work with 14 men. The lads held out and were pleased to reach half time with a 6 v 12 lead against the elements.
If the first half was good from a Balbriggan perspective, the second was even better. An early penalty allowed U18 debutant, Daragh McFadden, to kick at goal from just inside the Roscrea 10 metre line. The kick was a beauty and Balbriggan were now 6 v 15 to the good. What followed immediately was possibly the only real scare in the game. Balbriggan had been pressing again inside the Roscrea 22 when a turnover led to a kick and chase up field by Roscrea. The attempted clearance was blocked by Roscrea who suddenly found themselves inside the Balbriggan 22. A short passage of play led to a Roscrea try close to the posts. With the conversion added, Roscrea were suddenly back in the game with the score 13 v 15. Balbriggan struck back shortly after with their third try of the match. This try was the result of a magical interchange between forwards and backs, including a mighty burst through the Roscrea defence and offload by prop Adam O’Connor. Callum Breeds, who put in a fine display all afternoon, went over for the try. With the conversion added by Daragh, Balbriggan had stretched the lead back out to 13 v 22. Balbriggan were back on top again and did not let up. Further pressure in mid field led to two penalties, both of which were kicked by Jack to stretch the Balbriggan lead to 13 v 28. To cap off a great day for the lads, Daragh McFadden scored the bonus point try under the posts. The conversion was added giving the final score of 13 v 35. Roscrea never gave up and came close to getting a consolation try near the end. A superb tackle by full back Tomas Murphy forced the Roscrea player to drop the ball as he was diving over the line. That hard work, even when the game was long since won, epitomised the spirit of this Balbriggan team.
There were three U18 debutants on the day. Daragh McFadden who played the full 80 minutes, was joined on the pitch in the second half by Calum Beasley and Conor Mullen. Both Calum and Conor made a great impact when they entered the fray. Calum put in a number of hard tackles on the Roscrea forwards and won a lineout ball that was thrown to him. Conor propped up the scrum at loosehead with ease. That in itself was a fine achievement for such a young man playing against wizened heads in the opposition front row. A significant piece of history was made yesterday through a combination of the old and the new. Congratulations to coaches Mike and Graham, captain Tomas and to all the team for this well-deserved win.
Photographs below taken by Caroline McFadden.
