[caption id="attachment_70357" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Andrew Trimble of Ireland tries to pass the ball after being tackled by England’s Ben Fodenn during the game at Twickenham."]
IF nothing else, last Saturday’s 30-9 final Six Nations Championship defeat to England at Twickenham has shown up flaws in the Irish rugby system.
It has long been argued that Ireland were much too dependent on the fitness of their tight-head-prop Mike Ross. How were Ireland going to manage should Ross suffer an injury?
The answer was given in the most emphatic fashion at Twickenham. Once Ross sustained an early neck problem the Irish scrum fell apart.
Ross soldiered on until the 37th minute before being replaced by Tom Court. Embarrassingly, the scrum was to get worse with virtually all of the England points coming from this area.
There was some sympathy for Court in that he plays his rugby for Ulster at loose-head. No doubt, the scrum could have been better had someone of Paul O’Connell’s bulk been available to contribute from the second-row but that really is clutching at straws.
England were second (8 points) and Ireland ended the Six Nations in third place, edging France, also on five points, but with higher scoring margins. Wales (10 points) beat France to take the Grand Slam, while Scotland ended up with the wooden spoon after losing to Italy.
The Irish difficulties are all too obvious and have been conviently ignored by some of those who rubbished the recently announced IRFU policy to cut back on overseas players within the Irish provincial system. True, middle ground needs to be found in all of this but Saturday’s events undoubtedly proved that there is major problem in terms of the props, or, more specificially, tight-head-props.
Munster and Ulster have two of the best on the planet in Springbok BJ Botha and All-Black John Afoa. That doesn’t leave much much chance for the more promising Irish tight-heads in the respective provinces to get a chance at Heineken Cup level.
It’s a desperately difficult situation. Munster and Leinster’s success in winning the Heineken Cup four times between them has proved a massive boost for Irish rugby but the interests of the national team are also of huge importance.
The truth is that last Saturday’s match was a pretty dreadful affair. For starters, the rain which poured down all day left holding on to the ball practically impossible and many fans wishing for a roof which would close.
Not that a closed roof would have done any good in terms of the Irish scrummaging. Ross, in trouble with a cricked neck, just couldn’t contain Alex Corbisiero, in the England front-row.
Eventually, the Leinster man had to accept the inevitable and depart the field. Remarkably, when half-time arrived Ireland were only 9-6 adrift, Johnny Sexton having kicked two penalties compared to three from England’s Owen Farrell.
The two players duly exchanged two more penalties to leave the score 12-9 before England managed a decisive score 17 minutes after the break. Tomas O’Leary, on at scrum-half for Eoin Reddan, was forced into conceding a five metre scrum.
Although he was under severe pressure, O’Leary should probably have tried to kick the ball clear. Because England were now in prime position to secure a penalty try.
It duly arrived, along with a further try from a tapped penalty from England substitute scrum-half Ben Youngs. Farrell’s conversion and two further penalties meant that Ireland were much relieved to hear the final whistle.
To no one’s great surprise, Irish coach Declan Kidney backed up the call for some change. He said: “You can complicate this all you want, but we turned over the ball, that gave them the scrums and they got the penalties out of the scrums.
“Game over. It’s not something you can fast-track and have a solution tomorrow, but I think it’s something blatantly obvious that needs to be sorted.
“We must take affirmative action, we just have to have some Irish tight-head-props coming through.”
Some good news for Leinster fans is that Ross should be okay to feature in the Heineken Cup quarter-final against Cardiff Blues next month. Kidney choose not to comment on the alleged bite marks to Stephen Ferris’s right hand.
Next up, on the international front, things could not be tougher. Ireland will face a summer tour to New Zealand, hardly the place to be tried out inexperienced front-row’s.
Loughgiel win hurling,
football final draw
IN stark contrast to the events at Twickenham, the All-Ireland Club finals on St Patrick’s Day at Croke Park served up some great entertainment.
Loughgiel Shamrocks from Antrim secured the Senior Hurling Championship after an outstanding 4-13 to 0-17 success over Offaly’s Coolderry. The football decider proved to a thrilling affair with Crossmaglen and Garrycastle finishing level (0-15 to 1-12).
For once, Crossmaglen weren’t quite able to apply the finishing touch which would have brought about an Ulster double but no one would deny Garrycastle their right to a second chance.
Unfortunately, there was no second chance for Coolderry as they were dealt a number of early hammer blows by Loughgiel Shamrocks. By half-time Loughgiel had moved 4-6 to 0-9 in front and, realistically, there was no way they were going to be pegged back.
No one was better than Liam Watson who finished with 3-7, which included 2-2 from play. It was a truly remarkable effort.
His efforts enabled Loughgiel bring the Tommy Moore Cup back to Antrim for the first time since 1983. Coolderry manager Ken Hogan had no complaints.
He said: “We have it our best shot. A few things went against us in the first half and Loughgiel took full advantage. We left ourselves with far too much to do.”
Loughiel manager PJ O’Mullan was full of praise for every member of his panel but, unsurprisingly, Watson got special mention.
“He’s up there with (Henry) Shefflin, (John) Gardiner and Donal Og (Cusack), this man is possessed when he trains. We have a new generation of hurlers here.
“We did our homework on Coolderry and it paid off. We knew that, if we got the ball quick enough to our front men, we would get goals.”
There was, by comparision, just one goal in the football final. It came, 21 minutes into the game, from Garrycastle’s Paddy Mulvihill.
His effort enabled the Westmeath champions go in with a 1-8 to 0-7 interval advantage. In a pulsating second half, both teams had a man sent off, Tom McHugh (Garrycastle) and Paul Kernan (Crossmaglen).
Dessie Dolan was in outstanding from for Garrycastle but inevitably Crossmaglen roared back with Oisin McConville finishing with 0-6, five of which were from frees.
Afterewards, their manager Tony McEntee argued that Crossmaglen could very easily have won.
He said: “We drew level with five minutes to go and surely missed five chances before the end. All we needed was a bit more composure.”
Cats maintain stay top
KILKENNY are now the only Division One A National League hurling team with a 100 per cent record.
But only just. They featured in an amazing game at Nowlan Park which ended with Kilkenny beating Dublin by 5-16 to 6-12.
With 30 seconds left, the Dubs were still in front but up stepped substitute Matt Ruth to bang home the winning goal for Kilkenny. At one stage, the Cats had trailed by 6-12 to 3-15, so it was quite a comeback.
Dublin had played so well to accumulate such a total, particularly as they had Ryan O’Dwyer sent off for a second yellow card in the 43rd minute. The impressive Danny Sutcliffe’s contribution of 2-3 enabled them to establish what looked like a winning lead.
But Kilkenny were never going to lie down and it was them who emerged victorious in a pulsating finish. Richie Power (1-8) and Richie Hogan (1-3) were their main contributors.
“I’d say it was a great game if you’re a neutral, but hard when you are in the middle of it.” summed up Dublin manager Anthony Daly.
Unfortunately, the defeat means that Dublin are still searching for their first league points, and bottom of the table along with Waterford. The latter were well beaten (0-31 to 2-15) by a Tipperary outfit that appears to be improving with every game.
Noel McGrath and Pa Bourke helped themselves to seven points each and, in all, 11 Tipperary players were on the scoresheet.
In the remaining Division One game, Galway opened up the battle for semi-final places by inflicting a first defeat on Cork. Given that they trailed by eight points at one stage, it was a top class victory.
The spectacular winning goal came from Niall Burke a minute from time. In all, Burke scored 1-10, with seven points coming from frees. The impresive youngster Conor Lehane managed five points from play for Cork.
Kilkenny now lead the table on six points, two clear of Galway, Cork and Tipperary. Clare still head Division One B after beating Laois by 2-22 to 2-13.
Kerry take Cork
KERRY look to be a strong position to qualify for the semi-finals of the National Football League following a hard-earned 0-13 to 0-11 success over Cork at Pairc Ui Chaoimh on Sunday.
Dublin, on the other hand, lost out to a very committed Down side 0-15 to 1-10 at Newry, leaving them with a lot of work to do. After the previous weekend’s demolition of Armagh, it was a big disappointment for the Dublin fans.
But credit must go to Down who have now moved into second stop in what has become quite a congested table. The exception are Kerry who lead on eight points with just one defeat.
They were ahead by 0-8 to 0-2 at the end of the first half against Cork, despite playing into the wind. It was only then that Cork came to life but, in the end, they had left themselves with too much to do.
Bryan Sheehan and Declan O’Sullivan contributed eight points evenly between them, while Donncha O’Connor scored 0-5 for Cork.
Dublin manager Pat Gilroy had no complaints for his team’s two point defeat at the hands of Down. “We didn’t get close to last week’s level and paid the penalty.” he admitted.
Down fully deserved their victory Mark Poland was in marvellous form throughout, setting up some good chances for his colleagues and contributing two points.
Kevin McManamon took his goal well for Dublin but, in truth, the All-Ireland champions never looked like winning this one.
Elsewhere in the top flight, Donegal had a very good 0-17 to 1-7 victory over Mayo at Ballyshannon, while Laois got the better of Armagh (1-15 to 1-10). Although playing with 14 men after the sending off of Rory Kavanagh just before the break, Donegal had no real problems against a disappointing Mayo.
The main reason was the sublime form of Michael Murphy. He finisHed with 0-5 and generally ran Mayo ragged.
Armagh, still missing their Crossmaglen contingent, are bottom of the table following their five point defeat to Laois in Portlaoise.
Tyrone still lead Division Two after a useful 1-14 to 0-13 away victory over Galway, while second placed Kildare got the better of Louth (2-15 to 0-17) in Drogheda. The two other games saw Westmeath beat Monaghan (1-19 to 2-11) and Derry overcome Meath (0-13 to 0-10).
