Mahon try secures replay for Marist in thrilling finale
Marist College 22 Sligo Grammar School 22
By Kevin Egan
It’s a rivalry that has been building and building for years, and Marist College and Sligo Grammar School didn’t disappoint when they ran headlong into each other last Wednesday afternoon in Creggs.
The two clearest of front runners for Connacht Schools Cup glory next March played out a thrilling draw that means they will have to meet again in the new year to decide the Connacht Schools Senior League title, though even now it feels like it’s all about the build up to what seems like an inevitable clash for the biggest prize of all.
Sligo Grammar come into this season on the back of league and cup doubles in 2022 and 2023, but this is the playing group that the Marist have been waiting for to end that hegemony. They edged out the Sligo side 10-7 in a memorable Junior Cup final two years ago at the Sportsground, and while the slight deficit in terms of experience and power was still evident against a Grammar outfit that had eight of last year’s Senior Cup winning team lined out in their starting 15, the winning habit is also visible in this Marist group.
There was a fearlessness and a sense of abandon and confidence about their play, and that was the big equaliser against Sligo, who were simply rock solid in the set piece, powerful in the tight exchanges and steady in their decision making throughout.
After going from 15-10 up to 22-15 behind, having had to put in a backs to the wall performance for the vast majority of the second half, it would have been easy for the Marist to simply play out the game and bank this as a learning experience, a template from which to build for an assault on the Cup in the new year.
If Sligo Grammar School had seen out stoppage time in the same clinical manner as they had played the previous 35 minutes, then that’s exactly what would have happened. However instead, out-half Earl Norris saw a chance to go for the kill in the fifth minute of overtime, and he went for an ambitious crossfield kick in a bid to give Jack Draper the chance to kill off the contest.
His kick was misjudged, and Tom Sheehan – the match-winning tryscorer in that 2022 Junior Cup final – gathered the ball and spotted a chance for salvation. He cleared his lines but played to the opposite wing, where he saw a Marist overload.
There was still a lot of work for Kyle Mahon to do, but the replacement winger delivered the goods in style. He gathered, drove forward and then kicked ahead from just inside the Grammar school half, just about keeping the ball in play. It was time for the Gods to have their say, and on this occasion they blessed the Marist winger as the ball bounced up perfectly for Mahon to easily gather without breaking stride, meaning that he was able to cut in and knock around 15 degrees off the angle of Charlie O’Carroll’s conversion.
O’Carroll still had plenty of work to do, particularly when the pressure of the kick was factored into the equation, and he didn’t give himself a lot of margin for error – but a couple of feet inside the near post was all he needed, and it seemed like the replay was locked in.
It might not have been. There was time for one more play, and Marist went right back on the front foot when Mahon again kicked down the line to put real pressure on the Sligo line. As they attempted to break through from five metres out, if Charlie O’Carroll opted to whip the ball back to Daniel Reid, the out-half would have had a drop goal chance straight in front of the posts, just 20 metres out. Instead, O’Carroll went for the line and didn’t quite get there, and a knock on in the subsequent ruck allowed referee Cathal Roddy to blow the long whistle.
The story of the first 70 minutes of the game, before all that stoppage time drama, can be broken into three chapters. There was the first 15 minutes, when Sligo Grammar School were devastatingly effective. They started right on the front foot when Jack Draper’s powerful run down the left wing set them up with front foot ball inside the Marist 22, and with the pressure mounting, Marist finally won a turnover but were forced to simply boot the ball clear from under their own posts.
Not finding touch proved fatal as Dara Holmes fielded the high ball on halfway and exploded down the right hand touchline, breaking two tackles before leaping across the try line to open the scoring.
A barnstorming run from Dylan McCloat set up his back row colleague Quentin Moughty for a second score with less than ten minutes gone, albeit this one was also in the corner, so Earl Norris wasn’t quite able to find the target with the conversion on either occasion, though he did hit the upright after Moughty’s score.
Some 20 minutes had gone before Marist had their first attacking possession, but just like their northwestern opposition, once the Athlone boys found paydirt, they added a second score three minutes later. Daniel Reid’s outstanding run set up Conor Dowling for the first of the two while a Thomas Cotton intercept gave them a second score, and a 12-10 lead when O’Carroll added the simple conversion in front of the posts. Another penalty from O’Carroll made it 15-10 and that was how it stayed up to half-time.
Sligo Grammar turned around to play with the wind in the second half, and while neither side leaned heavy on the boot as an attacking ploy, Marist now found it much more difficult to clear their lines in the face of incessant pressure.
Props Jack Deegan and Arran Platt terrorised the Marist defence with their powerful drives; Diarmaid O’Connell was all over the pitch and very hard to stop; while Andrew Lawlor Kerr was a huge threat every time he joined the attack line.
But Marist had their heroes too, particularly defensively. Thomas Cotton and Tom Sheehan got through any number of tackles, Callum Kelly and Kailin Blessing were the best of the pack for the Marist, notwithstanding Patrick Egan, who was utterly defiant in some of his defensive plays. He couldn’t be everywhere, however, and when a moment of magic from Andrew Ryan set up Gerard Hunter for a score under the posts, Sligo were 17-15 ahead and looking good.
Liam McNamee Mas was the fourth Sligo player to put his name on a try when he went over in the left corner, and they could have added a fifth through Draper with two minutes of normal time to play, only to be denied by an outstanding tackle from Andrew Henson. At the time it felt like a great play, but not one that would prove to be hugely consequential in terms of the outcome of the game.
Little did we realise that these teams were about to deliver a finale worthy of this slow-burning rivalry between the two undisputed powerhouse sides in Connacht schools rugby right now.
Player of the match: Patrick Egan (Marist College). Sligo Grammar School duo Arran Platt and Diarmaid O’Connell didn’t put a foot wrong and O’Connell, in particular, put in a display that would have been well worthy of this accolade nine times out of ten. But on this occasion he’s pipped by Patrick Egan, who made some remarkable tackles and was the leading light in Marist’s defensive effort, particularly in the second half.
Scorers – Marist: C Dowling, T Cotton and K Mahon 1 try each; C O’Carroll 2 conversions, 1 pen. Sligo GS: D Holmes, Q Moughty, G Murtagh and L McNamee Mas 1 try each; E Norris 1 conversion.
Marist College, Athlone: Andrew Henson; Lorcan McCormack, Thomas Cotton, Tom Sheehan, Conor Dowling; Daniel Reid, Charlie O’Carroll; Kailin Blessing, Evan McMickan, James Heaslip; Matthew Fallon, Rian Claffey; Kyle Byrne, Callum Kelly, Patrick Egan. Replacements: Max O’Sullivan for Heaslip (44 mins), Kyle Mahon for McCormack (44), Heaslip for Fallon (52), Stephen O’Connor for McMickan (54), Fallon for O’Sullivan (70+3).
Sligo Grammar School: Alan Lawlor Kerr; Dara Holmes, Gerard Murtagh, Max Hunter, Jack Draper; Earl Norris, Andrew Ryan; Jack Deegan, William Draper, Arran Platt; Isaac Marsden, Liam McNamee Mas; Dylan McCloat, Quentin Moughty, Diarmaid O’Connell. Replacements: Jacob Kilcoyne for Lawlor Kerr (half-time), Kamsi Mojekwu for Marsden (40 mins), Ambrose Devine for McNamee Mas (52), Senan Fallon for Deegan (59), Bertie Bamber for W Draper (67).
Referee: Cathal Roddy.
*See this week's Westmeath Independent for more photos from the game.