A warm summer's day saw a great crowd mark our first home game of the season as we hosted Terenure in our final pool game of the Leinster Senior Cup. Recent games between Lansdowne and Terenure have generally been very close affairs and this game was certainly no different as the result was in doubt all the way to the final whistle. With the All Ireland League just around the corner a win was equally important for both teams to generate some positive momentum. The Lansdowne squad saw another two debutants “earn their stripes” as newcomer Chris Poole and under 20’s graduate Louis McGauran came off the bench to make their first appearance for the Senior team. Some further rotation saw Clive Ross come in for Jack Cooke, and Rory Parata replace Andy Marks, whilst a late cry off by Harry Van Eeden saw Donough Lawlor make his first appearance of the season. 

 

Some early pressure saw Terenure penalised at the ruck about 30m out from their own line and Stephen Madigan seized the opportunity to put Lansdowne in the lead with a straight forward penalty, 3-0. Six minutes later and a high tackle from Terenure saw Madigan extend the lead with another penalty to 6-0. Despite a slew of penalties against them Lansdowne generally had the better of the play with Rory Parata and Sean Galvin both coming close to crossing the whitewash. With both defences dominating we went into half-time 6-0 ahead.   

 

The 2nd half started much like the 1st, with Madigan kicking over an early Lansdowne penalty to make it 9-0. All of a sudden Terenure sparked into life and after multiple phases eventually got in behind the Lansdowne defence and scored under the posts to narrow our lead to 9-7. Lansdowne responded well and won a lineout off the kick off from they launched their next attack which Madigan would eventually finish off by crashing over the line for our first try which he duly converted. A chance to increase our lead went a begging as a penalty attempt went narrowly wide. We continued to apply the pressure with Juan Beukes in particular to the fore and just when it looked like we would score as we moved the ball wide, Terenure wing Conor Philips snatched an intercept and ran 90m to score for Terenure – He is making a habit of this as he scored a similar try last season in Lansdowne! 16-14 and all to play for!

 

Terenure attacked off the kick-off and their centre Peter Sylvester broke through our defence to make it into our 22, a couple of rucks later we conceded an easy penalty under our posts which Terenure took full advantage of to make the score 16-17 - we had fallen behind for the first time in the game. An intercept by Beukes spurred Lansdowne into action and a trademark outside break by Andy Marks established us firmly in the Terenure 22 where we continued to apply the pressure until finally replacement outhalf Steve McMahon dived over in the right hand corner to score our 2nd try after Cathal Eddy & Chris Poole had both narrowly missed out. We had regained the lead 21-17 with about ten minutes left to play.  

 

A box kick from Jack Matthews off the subsequent kick off got us back into the Terenure half and ultimately earned us an attacking lineout. Terenure were penalised again for offside and Steve McMahon slotted over the penalty and we were 24-17 ahead. With the clock ticking Terenure raised their game again and despite some dogged defence scored in the left corner but thankfully for us the penalty was narrowly wide and the game was finely balanced at 24-22 as we entered the final moments of the game. Terenure looked to run the ball off the restart but the Lansdowne defence held firm and the referee blew for full time giving us a narrow but well earned victory. 

 

We now play Clontarf in the Leinster Senior Cup Final this Saturday coming in Energia Park (Donnybrook) at 4pm. We will be looking to win this cup a record 30th time in the great history of this most prestigious cup, so please come down and support your club as we seek to make history.  

Lansdowne 24 Terenure 22
Lansdowne Scorers: Tries: Stephen Madigan 1, Steve McMahon 1 Cons: Stephen Madigan 1 Pens: Stephen Madigan 3 Steve McMahon 1.

HT: Lansdowne 6 Terenure 0

 

Referee: Cillian Hogan

LANSDOWNE: Cillian Redmond, Cathal Eddy, Harry O’Riordan, Rory Parata ©, Sean Galvin, Stephen Madigan, Tadgh Brophy, Jerry Cahir, Jack Treanor, Greg McGrath, Ruairi Clarke, Juan Beukes, Clive Ross, Paul Wilson, Donough Lawlor.
Replacements: Chris Poole, Ben Popplewell, Tom Connolly, Luke O’Connor, Louis McGauran, Jack Matthews, Steve McMahon, Andy Marks

Match Report - Stephen Rooney