U15s v Terenure

And so it begins ……

 

After a stellar pre-season, with wins over Barnhall, Malahide, St Marys and Clontarf in the bag, the first league game of the season, against Terenure, finally arrived on Sunday 11th. This run of victories hadn’t come without a cost however. There were a number of players unavailable for selection for the first game including Peter O’Farrell and Tien (concussion) and Chris Agnoli (Fractured Hairline!!). There was still a strong squad to pick from however, and the coaches had their work cut out for them in this regard.

The starting 15 lined up against a strong looking Terenure outfit, and the first couple of minutes were spent settling into the game. Coolmine settled first. After some good forward play. The ball was quickly moved along the line and out to the left, where Dean was left unmarked and when the final pass arrived, he made no mistake, scoring just to the left of the posts. Louis stepped up and coolly slotted it between the posts. 7-0 after 4 minutes.

Terenure all of a sudden looked nervous. After a dud kick-off, Coolmine immediately had possession of the ball on the half way line and moved the ball forward ominously through their forwards. Ben was proving a handful and made ground every time he had the ball, ably supported by the rest of the pack. A break from the 22 was made by Justin and there was no stopping him as he went in for the 2nd try just to the right of the posts. Again, Louis made no mistake with the conversion. 14-0 and only 7 minutes gone.

2 minutes later it was the turn of Ben. Terenure were in possession but a strong tackle and subsequent ruck forced the turnover, and Colgans strength and speed were not going to be denied. A couple of minutes on, and playing in an unfamiliar back row position Max Gerhardt joined the party. It was one of those runs we have all become accustomed to from the fullback position, but it proved just as efficient when starting from the thick of things. With the score at 35-0, the one man Kiilian show began. In a scintillating 11 minute spell, the former Ashbourne man crossed the line 4 times, with Terenure having no match for his speed and some clever lines. The pick of these was the 4th, where Justin drew the final defender beautifully before laying off the pass for the finish just to the right of the posts. Louis converted all bar one of these to leave the score at 54 – 0, and there were still 3 minutes left in the first half.

There was no let-up though and Conor Kelly showed his strength to get over just before half time. As the referee’s whistle blew, it was 61-0

With the game so one-sided, Coolmine made a total of 13 substitutions for the 2nd half, which gave some of the ever improving squad a well-earned chance for some game time. As was to be expected, such a significant change to the team structure left a few gaps initially with the new look Coolmine outfit, and Terenure took advantage of this, going in at the right corner, with their big forward unstoppable. The conversion was missed, but they were on the board after 2 minutes of the 2nd half. The game then settled down and both teams had their chances, but there wasn’t to be another score for 18 minutes. During this time however, Fionn played in a strong and composed fashion and was impressive throughout (player plug sponsored by Linda).

After 20 minutes, one of the few players that started the game, Justin, crossed the line for the final time for Coolmine. Harry stepped up to take the conversion, but unfortunately just at that time, a huge wind picked up and the ball flew agonisingly wide (and under) the posts. Terenure had the final say with a converted try in the final minutes, but with the score at 66 – 12, it hardly mattered. 

While its early days, one can only look forward to the season ahead. The next competitive game is against St Marys on the 25th. C-O-O-L-M-I-N-E

 

 

 

 

U15s v Greystones

Greystones upset the odds

Coolmine Under 15s travelled to Greystones with confidence high after some great results in the last few weeks. Having seen off the stiff challenges of both Barnhall and Cill Dara in the previous 2 weeks, and with Greystones on a pretty ordinary run of results, there was an expectation that the morning was going to go well.

The first blot on the horizon was the”pitch” that the game was assigned to. With a slope on it that Chris Bonnington would have struggled with, and not a hint of green as far as the eye could see, it wasn’t worthy of the title. 

The muddy conditions brought to mind the Battle of the Somme to many of the parents watching (obviously not from personal experience). Still, it was the same for both teams, and the coaches and team didn’t let it get in on them during the warm up.

Greystones won the toss and chose to play both downhill and with the breeze. Coolmine kicked off and the conditions and the environment quickly set the agenda. For the first 10 minutes, Coolmine couldn’t get out of their own half. They regularly won possession, but the muddy ball meant there were more handling errors in this period than you would expect in an entire game. Scrum followed scrum, followed knock on followed scrum. It was tough going for the forwards and it was obvious that it wasn’t going to be a day for the backs. There were some displays of great defence during this period. Dean stopped his man metres from the line and Max also executed a great stop on their big wing, to keep it scoreless

The one break for Coolmine came from Ben Colgan who got the ball off the back of another scrum and broke the line. He just got to the Greystones half before being stopped, but unfortunately it was only a short respite.

The best attack came from Greystones after 27 minutes. They worked the ball into the left corner and were patiently recycling the ball but super defending of the initial attack as well as the 2 penalties awarded by the ref ensured the home team didn’t cross the line. 

Max made a break just before half time, but his pass inside was judged to be marginally forward and that signalled the end of the half. 

Coolmine were definitely the happier team with the scorelessfirst half. It could not be overstated how difficult it was to deal with the conditions. The underfoot conditions ensured that it was nearly impossible to run the ball out of this part of the pitch, and the wind against ensured that kicking wasn’t an option either. These were going to be in Coolmine’s favour for the 2nd half.

Mick made 3 substitutions, all forwards at half time.

The change of direction had an immediate effect on the game. Almost immediately, Greystones were under pressure from the kick off. Coolmine went through a phase of “buffalo” balls and their patience was beginning to pay off as they move towards the Greystones 22. However an unfortunate knock on returned possession to the opposition. The best move of the match followed. The Greystones 10 took the ball and ran straight at the Coolmine defence. A delightful kick over, which he ran on to and fielded spelt trouble. With only one to beat, he made no mistake and dotted down under the posts. 7 – 0.  “That wasn’t in the script” was how Stewart succinctly summed the moment up.

Coolmine piled on the pressure after the kick off. With quarter of an hour gone, they were parked in the left corner. 5 good phases followed, but the ball just wouldn’t cross the line. 4 minutes later it did. Greystones were under pressure again, and in attempt to clear the ball they attempted to kick up field. Conor Dunne managed to get his hand to it and knock it down. A couple of passes later and the ball reached Cillian who ran the final 15 metres and got in at the left. Thien attempted the difficult kick from the touch line, but didn’t quite have the distance. The 7 – 5 score line guaranteed that a frenetic final 10 minutes were in store. Despite the heavy ground neither team felt the need to bring on fresh legs so both teams were beginning to tire. Penalties were mounting up, and it was probably because of this that the crucial moment in the game came at the 29th minute. Coolmine had been parked in the Greystones half, and were focussed on getting over the line. Greystones went offside and the ref gave the penalty to Coolmine, almost straight in front of the posts. Nobody thought to take the kick and they ran it again. The Greystones defence were up to the job this one final time and 30 seconds later the ref was blowing the final whistle.

A great performance again from the guys, and on a different day and under different conditions, the result might have been different. The league is still very much alive however, as a surprise draw between Barnhall and Wanderers in the other game in the league, means that the game next week is a winner take all affair. C – O – O – L – M – I – N - E