Roots & All is a project where we pick a few teams that don’t normally make the spotlight week in week out and feature them regularly throughout an entire campaign.
Iveragh senior team made the long journey to Cashel to play the semifinal of the Mick Barry Cup last Sunday week.
Conditions were perfect for rugby with the pitch in great condition. Iveragh had the better of Cashel at scrum and lineout, but the superb back play by Cashel kept Iveragh in their own half save one breakout. Only last minute tackling by the back three kept out wave after wave of Cashel attacks. Their first try came after 20 min from a set move at lineout time and the second from a lineout maul. Incredibly despite the pressure, the score was only 12-0 at half time .iveragh after a series of forward drives earned a penalty on 50 min which was converted to leave the score 12-3.
That was as good as it got as Cashel continued on the attack and the tries started to notch up. Iveragh did pull back a try but the final score was a well deserved 41-10 victory to an outstanding young, well-drilled Cashel team. A lot of our lads were well below their best on the day as can happen to any team.
The following Sunday, we welcomed Dolphin to Iveragh in the first round of the Munster cup and recorded a famous victory against a strong dolphin side. It was one of those memorable days when everyone played to their peak and just refused to accept defeat.
It was a game played in very poor conditions, very cold and blowing a strong gusty wind. Iveragh played into the wind in the first half and kicking and line-outs were close to impossible. Dolphin who had travelled with a full squad of 20 kept Iveragh pinned in their own half for the first 25 mins but only managed 1 chance ,a missed penalty. There were lots of handling errors by both sides which resulted in scrums a plenty. Iveragh had a good strong pack and were constantly causing Dolphin trouble at scrum time. Iveragh had a strong 20 mins before the interval started by a Brian Goggin interception and a run to the tryline. The heavy ground gave the Dolphin defenders time to catch him, but this gave great confidence to Iveragh. The pack started to dominate with strong driving play,only again to be disappointed with handling errors. HT Iveragh 0 Dophin 0
The second half started with the wind behind Iveragh and we took advantage kicking into the corners .Again the forwards were contesting every ball but the pressure started to tell on Dolphin who gave away a number of penalties. The ever reliable Brian OLeary had 2 misses from range not helped by the gusting wind before he managed to put one over from just outside the 22 in the 60th min. 3-0
This drove Dolphin on and after 10 Mins of very strong play the Dolphin pack made slow and steady progress down the pitch. Ball was kept in hand by the forwards and after a tough slog Dolphins No8 Larry Buckley scored a well deserved try in the corner.
The conversion was a kick and hope into the wind and was missed.
Iveragh drove up the field with 10 mins remaining. Possession changed hands a number of times, before great defending by Dolphin stopped an Iveragh rolling maul which was a certain try. The resultant play saw Iveragh regain possession and in a last flurry of rucks Dolphin succumbed to Iveragh pressure and gave away a penalty just outside the 22.and 20 in from the sideline. No kick was easy in such brutal conditions but Brian OLeary stood up and slotted the ball over to make it 6-5 with 2 minutes remaining.
Dolphin had time to kick off and had a line-out with the last play of the game, but were unable to get their forwards going again in the time remaining. FT Iveragh 6 Dolphin 5
This was a great win for Iveragh in brutal conditions, after a disappointing result in Cashel. A big thanks to Dolphin for travelling down to play and to all the Iveragh supporters for braving the weather.
Shaun Hulme. Hon.Sec Iveragh
