The faces of the Terenure players articulated the depth of emotion that Saturday's victory engendered: a dark and windswept Lakelands awash with delighted purple-and-black-clad bodies as they raucously celebrated a merited victory. In contrast, the St Mary's team looked thoroughly miserable and one suspected that applied doubly to those who spent more of the afternoon in hospital than on the pitch. First to grab a seat in the ambulance was out-half Craig Fitzpatrick with a suspected broken thumb, to be followed shortly afterwards by Conor McGuinness.
The Irish scrum-half was nursing a knee injury prior to the start of Saturday's action - a collision with Terenure captain Joe Kelly saw him damage the other knee. Irish team manager Pat Whelan is optimistic that the problem is muscular rather than a ligament tear, but McGuinness must still be rated doubtful for Saturday week's international against Italy in Bologna.
If that were not enough misfortune with which to contend, they lost left wing John McWeeney after 30 minutes with a hamstring injury, sustained while scoring an intercept try. Prop Emmet Byrne and flanker Trevor Brennan would also later hobble to the sidelines.
The home side did not escape unscathed, with the unfortunate David Coleman suffering the most serious injury - a dislocated and fractured ankle. Despite the litany of interruptions, the match itself was a compelling affair, full of tough, uncompromising rugby, into which moments of flair and vision were sprinkled.
Terenure's victory should hardly constitute a surprise given that they had beaten St Mary's College on their previous seven encounters. But as the visitors' captain, second row Steve Jameson, pointed out afterwards, this was going to be different. Mary's boasted arguably their strongest team in many a season.
"I have to go back six or seven years to recall a Mary's victory over Terenure. The fact that we failed again is going to hurt everyone at the club."
St Mary's reached the interval leading 5-3 and perfectly poised to take a grip on proceedings. Jameson dismissed any notion of complacency. "I said to the lads at half-time, it's 0-0, the game starts now. I want 110 per cent for the first 10 minutes of the second half."
His pleas fell on deaf ears. Instead, it was Terenure who upped their level of performance, principally through their pack, producing some excellent rugby and, crucially, three unconverted tries in the opening 15 minutes of the half. Promising scrum-half Derek Hegarty grabbed the first with a sniping run from five metres.
Slick passing from Hegarty and Ciaran Clarke sent left wing Peter Walsh racing over in the corner before another bout of sustained excellence from the pack allowed out-half Paul Hennebry to cross. Walsh's fallibility with the boot, one from six, allowed Mary's to remain within touching distance.
Rory Sheriff was winning lineout ball, the scrum was solid and the backrow of Kelly, South African Garran Sheahan and the superb Brendan Kavanagh enjoyed prominence in both attack and defence. But as abruptly as it arrived, Terenure's ascendancy vanished as Mary's desperately sought redemption. Costello's try on 68 minutes, converted by Richard Ormond, inspired a frenetic finish.
Four minutes later, Mary's looked to have grabbed another try when replacement wing David Lyons dived over in the corner. Fortunately for the home side, the touch judge spotted a foot in touch: he was in a minority.
Scoring sequence: 1 min - Walsh penalty (3-0); 28 - McWeeney try (3-5); 42 - Hegarty try (8-5); 47 - Walsh try (13-5); 55 - Hennebry try (18-5); 68 - Costello try, Ormond conversion (18-12).
Terenure College: C Clarke; D Coleman, G Dempsey, M Smyth, P Walsh; P Hennebry, D Hegarty; D Hyland, J Blaney, P Bruce; P Holden, R Sheriff; J Kelly (capt), G Sheahan, B Kavanagh. Replacements: S Cullen for Hennebry, 55 mins; B O'Doherty Campbell for Hyland, 63 mins; J Sherry for Coleman, 64 mins; C Potts for Sheriff, 80 mins.
St Mary's College: K Nowlan; D Hickie, R McIlreavy, G Gannon, J McWeeney; C Fitzpatrick, C McGuinness; E Byrne, B Browne, D Coen; S Jameson (capt), F Fitzgerald; T Brennan, V Costello, M Cuddihy. Replacements: R Ormond for Fitzpatrick, 9 mins; E McCormack for McGuinness, 15 mins; D Lyons for McWeeney, 30 mins; M Reilly for Brennan, 56 mins; D Dowling for Byrne 60, mins.
Referee: S Buggy (Leinster).
