A TIME TO REBUILD By Dermot Keyes In the wake of a special meeting held at the Carraig Hotel just under a fortnight ago, it was agreed to take our senior men’s squad out of J1 Rugby and into J2, to play in Division 2C against clubs in our immediate locality. This was far from ideal and wasn’t a decision taken lightly. But given the numbers we’d had at training in pre-season, it’s pretty clear we were facing two likely scenarios, in my opinion. The first, had we stayed in J2 – the prospect of affording the opponents we were due to face on lengthy away trips in West Cork, Kerry and Clare walkovers due to a lack of numbers. Had we the numbers at training, and had we had a solid commitment from 20 to 22 players to commit to such fixtures, we would have travelled for such matches and given it all we could. But the fact of the matter is that we simply weren’t in the position. We didn’t have the numbers. Therefore, a big decision had to made, which brings us to the second scenario, one which a majority of club members felt was the most prudent and sensible approach for 2014/15. Playing rugby is, always, better than playing no rugby whatsoever, so we opted to go down a level, hopefully not a long-term measure of course, and field a team in Division 2C this season, with the league series to be completed prior to Christmas. Captained by Sean Fitzpatrick, we played out first match on Sunday last at home to Clonmel. Given the nature of the pre-season, it was no surprise that many of us wearing the red and blue were a touch on the ring-rusty side; look no further than this writer who lined out at tight head prop! While fitness (more pointedly, a lack thereof for many of us) was evidently an issue, there was nothing lacking amongst our group when it came to attitude. While Clonmel were the better side on the day, it still wasn’t beyond us to have actually won this match, and we deserved the late try which came our way, with loose head John Phelan crashing over the whitewash in the dying moments of the game. Charlie Boland had a good day with the boot, slotting over a couple of penalties and converting John’s try, but he also made a series of excellent decisions with ball in hand; he wasn’t intent to just lash the ball upfield and take the pressure off. Throughout the game, Charlie was looking to move the ball in hand and get us moving upfield while retaining possession. In the back row, John O’Keeffe was his usual commanding self; full of line-breaking ability, fetching several lineouts in a commanding manner (thanks in no small part to solid darts by hooker Jack Murphy), while constantly cajoling and encouraging his team mates throughout a testing 80 minutes. Let’s not sugar coat it: the lack of collective training clearly came to bear over the course of the match, and everyone knows that the shoulder has got to be put to the wheel over the next nine weeks – and that means training. So we’re asking our players to get out to Tybroughney on Wednesdays and Fridays for 7.30pm, and if you cannot make it, then please let captain Sean Fitzpatrick, Brian Phelan or John Lawton know. A text message doesnt require a whole lot of grunt out of anyone so please let the lads know, thanks. The season moved on today, and the lads put in another mighty effort away to Cashel, going down 18-8, with the average age of our backline the youngest it has ever been during my 10-year association with the club. “The lads played out of their skins today,” said Sean Fitzpatrick in the wake of that defeat. “We were ahead at half-time with an extremely young side, but we gifted Cashel a try in either half and that ultimately was the difference between the sides. But overall, I felt there was little to choose between the teams and today represented a step up from the Clonmel performance last Sunday.” Difficulty can provide opportunity and while we cannot expect to uproot too many trees between now and Christmas, I for one am as relieved as I’m happy that we have a Carrick-on-Suir First XV lining out this season. We rebuild this season, we consolidate our playing base, particularly with respect to our emerging talent and then we must, we simply must, grab the bull by the horns when it comes to the 2015/16 season. So let’s be judged by our deeds and not by our words. Next up: a meeting with Waterpark, with kick-off time to be confirmed in the coming days. Today’s squad for the Cashel match read: Ian Mullins, James Murphy, Paul Moore; John Paul McGrath, Joshua Eade; Jamie Steele, Charlie Boland; John Phelan, Jack Murphy, Declan Robinson; Daniel Ronan, Evan Stanley; Sean Fitzpatrick, James Hogan, Edmond Hearn. Replacements: Philip Dalton, Alex Harte, Mike Foley, Scott Wheeler. (John OKeeffe, James Wallace, Kevin Lanigan, Dermot Lanigan and James Hogan also featured in last weeks defeat to Clonmel.)
Posted on: Sun, 12 Oct 2014 19:03:04 +0000
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