Waterpark Book League Final Place

On a cold but bright day at Templeville Road Waterpark were the visitors to take on St. Mary’s in the AIL Division 2 Semi Final.

Prior to the game starting there was a minutes silence as a mark of respect of the late Paul Flood who sadly passed away during the week and who had been so influential in the great season that St. Mary’s womens team have had.

Waterpark kicked off against a stiff breeze in the first half and after some good runs by the Mary’s back row, park got their hands on the ball and from some good forwards play won a penalty just outside the Mary’s 22. Unfortunately for them out half Lisa Brick put it just wide of the posts, however waterpark forwards continued to dominate and after some great pick and go work Jo O’Meara eventually got the better of a stern Mary’s defence to touch down near the touch line to put Waterpark 5 – 0 in front.

St. Mary’s took control of the game for a while and heaped some pressure on the Waterpark defence that stood up well to the challenge particularly with some fantastic tackling from centres Fiona Lyng and Evelyn Quigley. An offside infringement lead to Mary’s being awarded a penalty in front of the posts that was well taken to cut Waterparks lead to just 2 points.

With about 10 minutes to go in the half there was a great break from inside Mary’s own half by the No. 8 and despite some last ditch tackling from Waterpark full back Ger Kinane Mary’s crashed over the line for a try which was converted by the outhalf for St. Mary’s to go 10 – 5 ahead.

Waterpark got back on track and moved inside the Mary’s 22 once again and applied serious pressure on the Mary’s defence.  On the brink of half time Waterpark won a scrum, No. 8 Kate Hitchen broke from the back and offloaded to scrum half Clara Bracken who touched down to bring it all square at half time.

Waterpark had their tails up knowing that they had the strong wind advantage in the second half.  They applied most of the pressure in the second half but credit to the St. Mary’s defence waterpark only managed to get one more score, a fine try by full back Ger Kinane after some great play by the waterpark back line.  The waterpark backs came in to their own in the second half and were unlucky to not get at least another couple of tries, one being knocked on right on the line and another being disallowed for a forward pass.  Any time Mary’s did manage to move down the field in to Waterpark territory the ball was turned over and cleared back down inside the Mary’s half.

With about 5 minutes to go St. Mary’s went on a great run of play and were menacingly making their way up the pitch with real purpose but a great turnover by Waterpark substitute Deirdre Upton stopped the attack and ultimately the Mary’s challenge.

There were tears of joy for Waterpark at full time having lost two semi finals in the previous three years but bitter disappointment for St. Mary’s who were so impressive all season having been unbeaten in the league.

In what was a hugely entertaining and seriously competitive match huge credit goes to both teams for the very visible effort that was put in and especially to St. Mary’s who were playing under such difficult circumstances.

Waterpark face Ballincollig in the Divison 2 final in Nenagh on April 19th that promises to be a great final.

Waterpark Team: 1. Angeline Kiely, 2. Deirdre Murphy, 3. Johanna O’Meara, 4. Sinead Fitzpatrick, 5. Wendy O’Keefe, 6. Marie Peters, 7. Orla Buckley, 8. Kate Hitchen, 9. Clara Bracken, 10. Lisa Brick, 11. Nicola Scully, 12. Fiona Lyng, 13. Evelyn Quigley, 14. Emer Larkin, 15. Ger Kinane. Substitutes: Iris Condon for Wendy O’Keefe, Deirdre Upton for Nicola Scully, Kate Canty for Fiona Lyng, Aoife Kearns.