The St Mary's College RFC team celebrate with the trophy after the Energia Men's All-Ireland League Division 1A final match between Clontarf FC and St Mary's College RFC at the Aviva Stadium Photo by Sportsfile
St Mary’s tops in All-Ireland League final
ST MARY’S College have won the All Ireland League Division 1A Championship after a dominant second half display in the Aviva Stadium was enough to dislodge reigning champions Clontarf last weekend.
It was a decisive victory for Mary’s in the end with a 46-31 scoreline proof of their exemplary efforts.
A crowd of 6,894 bore witness to the game with Mary’s defeating Clontarf for the third time this season. The win is perhaps even more impressive given that this season is just their second back in the top flight after a spell in the second division.
The first half of the game was incredibly even with both sides landing heavy hits on the opposition. Defence proved to be the key component here with the teams making multiple interventions.
The second half of the game, specifically the third quarter would see the game open up with St Mary’s managing to build themselves a lead.
They started quickly with Michael McCormack getting over the line quickly, a successful conversion saw the Templeview team go 10 points clear.
That lead would then be extended just over six minutes later with Ruairi Shields getting on the end of an excellent pass from Captain Conor Dean putting Mary’s firmly in the driver’s seat.
They would hold on to that lead for the rest of the game and pick up their first AIL title in 14 years.
St Mary’s coach Mark McHugh spoke after the game.
“Losing a semi-final last year was massively disappointing, massively deflating,” said St Mary’s head coach Mark McHugh, who won the AIL as a player with the club 26 years ago.
“We were determined to go better [this year]. That doesn’t always happen, but it was very clear that we had the makings of something very special and we could do something very special and here we are.
“I’m just delighted that our guys managed to show the best version of themselves.”
St Mary’s dominated the aerial battle through man-of-the-match Myles Carey, though the first half was a high-tempo shoot-out that was played at a rattling pace.
