Irish seal deal in 2nd half as Scotland fail to deliver

THE stage is set for a St Patrick’s Day showdown with England following Ireland’s 32-14 Six Nations Championship victory over Scotland at the Aviva Stadium last Saturday.

It promises to be quite an occasion. England are on the crest of a wave after beating France 24-22 in Paris on Sunday and will go into the meeting with Ireland as favourites.

There’s plenty at stake for both teams, although Wales are strongly fancied to capture the Championship and Grand Slam in their final outing at home to France. England are the only side that could deprive them of the title should they beat Ireland well and Wales lose heavily to France.

From Ireland’s point of view, defeating England at Twickenham would be the perfect way to finish the season. If they do so, they will more than likely finish second in the table.

Not bad given the poor start to their campaign Ireland had when losing their opening game at home to Wales. Saturday’s victory over Scotland showed that they have come on quite a bit since then.

It wasn’t the perfect performance by a long way. Coach Declan Kidney would have hoped for more possession and there were too many errors.

There’s also the fact that Scotland are a somewhat limited team. But you must also factor in the absence of the injured Paul O’Connell and Sean O’Brien from the Irish team.

Scotland arrived in Dublin firmly believing that they were in with a great chance of victory. Besides Ireland’s injury problems, scrum-half Conor Murray was also missing, there was the worry that they could run out of steam following their efforts against France six days previously.

So, many observers believed it was set up for a Scottish victory. But, in many ways, it was the same old story for the Scots, lots of possession without any real cutting edge.

They managed just one try from their impressive second-row Richie Gray. Ireland, by contrast, managed four, while Jonathan Sexton was in outstanding form with the boot.

Rory Best, filling in as skipper for O’Connell, deserved a good deal of credit, scoring Ireland’s opening try and generally making the right decisions before his second half substitution. But the Man of the Match was undoubtedly his Ulster teammate Stephen Ferris.

The flanker was a powerhouse throughout, his immense physicality causing Scotland huge problems. Rob Kearney at full-back was another to have a big game, both in terms of his fielding and his running out of defence.

Overall, however, the thing which must have pleased Kidney most was Ireland’s finishing. Unlike the Scots, they were clinical inside their opponents “22”.

Their first try after 14 minutes was typical. They badly needed something to happen after Greig Laidlaw had put Scotland 6-0 in front with two penalties.

It did after they were awarded a penalty. Instead of going for the posts, Best opted for the line-out close to the line following consultation with Sexton.

Best duly forced his way over in the corner for the try which Sexton converted. From there, Ireland moved 17-9 clear with scrum-half Eoin Reddan doing really well to scramble over in the same corner for their second try.

But the sheer size, power and pace of the six foot nine inch Gray brought the Scots back into contention three minutes before half-time. His barnstorming run earned a try which reduced the defict to 17-14 at the interval.

That though was to be the Scots last score. Ireland added two more tries in the second half, the first saw right-wing Andrew Trimble doing really well to get over the in the corner, while substitute Fergus McFadden added another in the closing minutes.

In between, Trimble was involved in a nasty clash of heads which saw Scotland wing Lee Jones stretched off. Sexton continued the good work with the boot, landing three of the conversions and kicking two penalties.

Interestingly, he once again found himself at inside centre for Gordon D’Arcy in the final quarter with Ronan O’Gara on at out-half. It’s an option which clearly could be used again in the second half at Twickenham.

Munster pair Donnacha Ryan and Peter O’Mahony did very decent jobs in the absence O’Connell and O’Brien. Ryan is sure to stay there for the England game but O’Brien could be fit enough to resume in the back-row.

Kidney was more than happy, describing it as “a really good win.” There was also a good deal of praise for the way Best fitted into the shoes of the absent O’Connell and Brian O’Driscoll as captain.

Ulster colleague Ferris commented: “I think his leadership from day one has been great.

He was the perfect man to come out and lead us today.”

Hopefully, he will also be the perfect man against England. But everyone in the Irish camp appreciates what a difficult task they will face.

“It’s a huge task.” insists Kidney. “You don’t just rock up to Twickenham and say ‘that was great lads, we’ll do the same again.

“They are on a high after beating France in Paris. So, we are going to have to produce a really exceptional performance if we are to finish our campaign with a victory.”

BBC America will broadcast the England vs. Ireland game at Twickenham on St. Patrick’s Day, beginning 1 p.m. Eastern.

Big guns set pace

THE cream has quickly risen to the top with Kerry, Cork and Dublin heading up Division One of the National Football League.

Kerry are out in front on six points, with Cork on five and Dublin on four, alongside Mayo. But Dublin and Mayo do have a game in hand because of their match which had to be abandoned because of fog a number of weeks back.

Mayo became the last Division One team to lose their unbeaten when going under by 1-13 to 0-11 to Down at McHale Park in Castlebar. Crucially they lost their midfielder Aidan O’Shea with a straight red card after just nine minutes.

Unsurprisingly, the biggest crowd of the day was at Croke where 24,886 turned up to see a double-header involving Dublin and Armagh on the football front and Dublin and Cork in hurling.

The Dubs fans were rewarded with one handsome victory and a narrow defeat. The victory came from the footballers who brushed aside Armagh by 4-17 to 1-10.

This was much more like what you would expect from the All-Ireland champions. The ran Armagh ragged, scoring 2-1 within the opening nine minutes.

Armagh manager Paddy O’Rourke was suitably impressed, stating: “Without doubt they are miles ahead of anything we have met, miles ahead.”

That’s how good Dublin were on the day. And no one was better than Diarmuid Connolly who contributed three beautifully taken goals along with three points.

Mossy Quinn, the scorer of Dublin’s fourth goal, was also highly impressive. Eoghan O’Gara continued his recent good form, contributing 0-3, while Michael Darragh Macauley was hugely influential, alongside Eamonn Fennell in midfield.

What’s more, manager Pat Gilroy must also have been pleased with the way some of his young substitutes performed. On the subject of Connolly, Gilroy agreed that he now must add consistency to his undoubted talent.

Despite the absence of Colm Cooper, who has decided to take a few weeks break from the game in order to refresh himself, Kerry were much too strong for Donegal at Fitzgerald Stadium. They finished 2-16 to 1-8 winners, which was am impressive scoreline against a side to Donegal’s defensive talents.

Manager Jack O’Connor was understandably pleased but warned against getting carried away. He said: “Donegal started well but were then a bit slugglish. Once we got stuck into them and started pressing, we took control and played some clever football.”

Eight players got on the Kerry scoresheet, with free-taker Bryan Sheehan finishing with 1-7. He scored from the penalty spot, while Kerry’s other goal came from Patrick Curtin.

It was also an easy day for Cork who responded well from their defeat by Donegal by disposing of Laois by 2-14 to 0-10 at Portlaoise. The title holders were inspired by Colm O’Neill who finished with 2-3.

Even the dismissal of Cork midfielder Pearse O’Neill for a second yellow card in the 40th minute failed to spur on Laois. That was in marked contrast to the situation at McHale Park where the early red card to Mayo’s Aidan O’Shea had an obvious bearing on the outcome.

Down took advantage to go on and record a 1-13 to 0-11 victory. O’Shea and the Mayo camp in general thought that the sending off after an altercation with Daniel Hughes was harsh.

But credit must also go to Down. They gave a much improved display with the turning point coming when Conor Maginn scored their goal in the 19th minute.

Tyrone are still clear in Division Two, defeating Westmeath by 2-11 to 0-8 to record their fourth win on the trot. Galway are in second spot, three points behind, after just getting the better of Meath by 1-12 to 1-11.

Other results saw Kildare continue their improvement by beating Derry by 2-13 to 2-8, while Monaghan proved too good for Louth, winning 2-24 to 1-15.

Longford, successful by 1-16 to 1-8 against Sligo, continue to lead Div ision three with Fermanagh on top of Division Four. They accounted for Wicklow by 0-11 to 0-9.

Cats are top

THERE’S no great surprise to see Kilkenny on top of Division One of the National Hurling League.

The chalked up their second succesive victory with a 2-21 to 1-15 success over Waterford at Walsh Park. Waterford did make a match of it for quite a while but had no answer when Kilkenny scored 1-4 within 10 minutes of the start of the second half.

Manager Brian Cody summed it up when stating: “We were very average in the first half but we improved in the second.”

Richie Power finished with 0-10, eight of which came from frees as Kilkenny finished comfortable winners. Cork are the other side to have won both of their opening games, after edging out Dublin 2-18 to 2-17 in a thriller in the double-header at Croke Park.

It’s a very good start for Jimmy Barry-Murphy’s young team. At the same time, Dublin supporters will understandably feel disappointed to have lost, especially as the defending champions are now joint bottom of the table.

They had an excellent chance to get the draw but the normally reliable Paul Ryan saw an injury time free drift wide.

Barry-Murphy was delighted with the way his team recovered after going behind. Once again, Conor Lehane showed great promise, contributing 0-3.

But the Man of the Match award went to another promising youngster, Dublin’s Danny Sutcliffe. He managed five points from play.

In the remaining game in Division One, Tipperary returned to winning from by edging out Galway 2-20 to 2-18 at Semple Stadium. Late points from Johnny Ryan and Noel McGrath proved the difference.

Clare remain on top in Division Two after beating Antrim by 0-20 to 0-12. Elsewhere, Wexford edged out Offaly (3-18 to 2-20) and Limerick got the better of Laois (1-24 to 2-12).