St Mary's College RFC Yearbook 2020-21

On the attack
at home to the
neighbours.
ultimately went on to win that match by the
slim of margin of 5-3.On the morning of the
return fixture we had at one stage only 11
players available but eventually a team was
cobbled together, the back line ultimately
including a flanker, three scrum halves and a
rejuvenated David Lyons playing like he was
half his age. When we went 14-0 down after
ten minutes the worst was feared but the
team, led that day by Niffer, refused to
buckle and showed utter commitment,
exemplified by Sean Heeran and Conor
Corcoran who were both immense that day.
On the final whistle David Sloan scored the
bonus point try, having also been integrally
involved in the simply outstanding team try
scored earlier by David Fanagan, one which
rivals Alex Dix’s superb solo effort against
Greystones for the J1 try of the season. That
win guaranteed our promotion and place in
the final which unfortunately was not to be.
A big thanks to that J2 player who played
for us that day. Barnhall took to referring to
him as Hodor due to his gigantic physique
and ability to completely end hopes of them
pushing us backwards in the scrum. Thanks
again Alan Hodor Blake! A nickname like
that is a tribute.
It was a truly enjoyable season and there is
much promise in this young and exciting
squad. The hardest part of the season was
nominating only four of the players for the
55
Player of the Season Award as the entire
squad were worthy recipients of it.
Ultimately the squad voted that the
accolade should be awarded to the everpopular
Podge Dundon as a mark of his
commitment, both physical and verbal,
throughout the season.
Whilst we gained an assistant coach in Paul
Brennan this season, we are due to lose our
head coach Tom Lynch as Tom is scheduled
to take up a work position in Hong Kong.
Tom is a young coach with a bright future
ahead of him and one of the most
disappointing things about the final being
cancelled is that we didn’t get to send Tom
off with a trophy on his coaching resume.
Thanks for everything Tom. Maybe a little
good will come out of this Covid-19 hell and
your move to Hong Kong will be postponed
allowing you to continue as coach – anyway
if half the stories from Mexico ’19 are to be
believed it is unlikely that you would survive
long on foreign shores without Corky, Tally
and Benn to look after you!
We are not sure when it will come to pass
but we look forward to having a few pints to
mark a good season when these restrictions
are lifted – when the battle of the splitting
of the H and the G will resume!!
Paul Conlon